Prominently displayed within the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian is a basalt lava stone from Hawaiʻi Island that holds a sacred place among Native Hawaiians.
On Saturday, Kānepō Ka Lua made its public appearance in Washington, D.C., with a ho’olaule’a, or Hawaiian celebration. Kānepō, which is from the Ka'auea area, is one of four stones that mark the cardinal directions around the national museum.
Helena Kapuni-Reynolds, an associate curate of Native Hawaiian history and culture, said Kānepō serves as a reminder to museum goers that Native Hawaiian beliefs and practices are still alive.
“They may not necessarily be front liners in newspapers, but they are definitely preserved and carried on within individual families and in communities,” he said.
Kapuni-Reynolds started working at the museum in 2023, a year before the first Kānepō was returned to Hawaiʻi after being on loan at the museum for 20 years. The second volcanic stone will also be on loan to the museum for 20 years before returning home.
The loan is a partnership between the museum and the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park through its kupuna consultation group, which is comprised of Native Hawaiian elders with genealogical ties to the lands at the park and retired park personnel.
The project started in 2004, when the national museum was being built. The idea was to bring together four stones across the Western Hemisphere to represent the scope of the museum.
“Hawaiʻi's special inclusion at NMAI, they decided that the Western cardinal marker should be from Hawaiʻi, since that kind of represents the westernmost extent of our museum's reach,” Kapuni-Reynolds said.
The volcanic stone making a public appearance comes as museums across the nation have stepped up efforts to repatriate artifacts.
There has been some debate in the past on whether the stone should go to the national museum.
Kapuni-Reynolds said there were immense conversations with community members in Hawaiʻi and with the consultation group. He noted that the group voted a majority to send Kānepō to the museum.
The ones who voted against it, Kapuni-Reynolds said they respected the majority vote but said “they were thinking about the pōhaku being lonely.”
The second stone, according to Kapuni-Reynolds, is a ballistic rock that could've fallen off a small cliff. The first stone was a lava ball that was found along a road.
Kapuni-Reynolds underscored that the stone is viewed as a living being rather than an object.
The project also pushed the boundaries for Kapuni-Reynolds as a curator, which included conducting ceremonies before the stone left Hawaiʻi and ensuring its situated safely at the national museum.
“It only took us one try to get the stone to sit perfectly in its new location,” he said. “So I took that as a great sign.”
Kānepō is also on display for Native Hawaiians in the diaspora who want to reconnect with their culture.
Manu Ikaika, a kumu hula at Hālau Hoʻomau I Ka Wai Ola O Hawaiʻi, performed at the weekend celebration of the stone exhibiting to the public.
Ikaika emphasized the importance of hula to tell stories of their gods and goddesses.
“I think that brings together who Kānepō is, where he's coming from and why we continue to perpetuate this to educate others,” he said.
