Na Wao
The Realms of Hawaiian Hall
Hawaiian Hall reopened in 2009, after its first major renovation in over a century. Following extensive consultation with the Hawaiian community, it became clear that this new Hawaiian Hall needed to reflect a native world view, layered in meaning and authentic in voice.
This mutual understanding led to a decision to have each of the three floors of Hawaiian Hall embody a wao, or realm, of the Hawaiian world. Imagine an island with multiple horizontal layers. Each cross section represents different natural flora and fauna, different human activities, and is occupied by different akua, or gods.
Here in Hawaiian Hall, the bottom floor represents Kai Akea — the wide expanse of the sea — of oceans and migrations, the birth of the islands, and the arrival of the gods and then man.
The second floor represents Wao Kanaka — the realm of people and daily life. As you emerge from the sea and move upwards, you encounter cases on deep sea fishing, shoreline fishing, agriculture, and food preparation. Each passing case represents an activity as you move up higher and higher. Rail cases evoke the lunar cycles, which guided what was planted, what was fished for, and who was worshipped.
The final floor, Wao Lani, is the heavenly realm, reserved for that which is closest to the gods. It is here we encounter the world of our chiefs, our founding collections, and the monarchs of the Hawaiian Kingdom. In Hawaiian thought, that which is most precious is elevated most high. Experience some of the most spiritually and culturally significant items in all of the Museum's collections.
Dr. Sam Gon explains further
What we see is the connectedness of those three different realms: The Wao Lani, the Wao Kanaka, and the Kai Akea. Water connects all of these things. From the clouds in the sky, the water rains upon the land, the water runs down the waterfalls and into the streams, and through those streams, run into the Wao Kanaka providing life, providing water for agriculture, and those very same streams run down to the shore and into the ocean, to the Kai Akea, where the nutrients from the land provide the basis for the nurseries of fish and for all of the ecosysytems that built on that down there.