Hundreds of years ago, this site which fronts the Halekulani Hotel was known as Kawehewehe and the sick came
to bathe here. Wearing seaweed lei of limu kala, they removed the lei
in the ocean while asking forgiveness for past wrongdoing (misdeeds
were believed to be a cause of illness and "kala" means to
forgive).
When the Maui Chief Kahekili launched his invasion of Oahu in 1780,
his warriors and their canoes blanketed the beaches at Waikiki from
Kaalawai (near Diamond Head) to Kawehewehe. He completed his conquest
of Oahu in 1786 after massacring the peoples of Kona and Ewa
and killing all the Oahu chiefs.
more
on Kawehewehe

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