Kahuna Falls is the other large falls in Akaka Falls
State Park; the one you also see if you take the entire loop, and don’t just go
down to Akaka Falls and back. One of the reasons it was called Kahuna Falls
(The Priest’s Falls) is that there’s a pool right at the top of the falls
that’s supposed to heal ills if you bathe in it. People were supposed to take
their sick family members to it in stretchers and everything so they could
bathe in the pool and be healed.
Sounds a lot like a lot of healing springs and pools
around the globe, right? There’s just one little difference. They won’t let me
embed from Google Maps, so here’s a link to the best picture Google Maps' street view seems
to have of it.
If you’re have trouble
figuring out the picture, the falls comes from about 5/6ths the way up that
cliff, where slightly gentler cliffs up to the top of the ridge from there. I think most healing pools and springs are a little more
accessible, especially since you really were supposed to climb up from the
bottom of the falls. {pause}
My first impression is that anyone who can climb up there
didn’t need much healing, but it’s not that simple. Especially not with stretchers
and lots of relatives with good, strong backs to make that climb, and help pull
their sick relative up it. Because in Lilo and Stitch, Disney understated the
importance of family in Hawaiian culture. If Auntie is sick, they’ll get her
there. It may take a lot of amicable bickering while arranging the ropes and
the stretcher and all, but they’ll do it for Auntie.
P.S. I’m sorry this one
doesn’t have more of a story, but this is what I had time for after making the
last chair cover and fighting a suddenly difficult mouse (unsuccessfully so
far). {half-smile}
