“PAPA” HENRY AUWAE
“In Hawaiian healing the mental is not separate from the spiritual and physical.”
“Papa” Henry Allen Auwae (1907–2001) was a Hawaiian healer from Hawaiʻi Island. He was best known as a kahuna lā‘au lapa‘au, or master herbalist, using knowledge that he learned from his great-great-grandmother. He did not accept payment for his work, and educated many students to help perpetuate Native Hawaiian medicinal practices throughout the Islands.
Advisor to the 1997 restoration
In 1997, a committee formed by the Queen Emma Foundation invited Papa Auwae to come to Oʻahu to provide cultural advice for the restoration of the stones of Kapaemahu, to which they gave the name Nā Pōhaku Ola Kapaemāhū a Kapuni. His involvement was critical, as his knowledge of lāʻau lapaʻau is a reflection of the healing tradition passed on from ancient times, the tradition exemplified by the healers from Tahiti. Papa Auwae served as spiritual and cultural advisor to the committee and to all who participated in the project. A group of his former students, Na Haumana Laʻau Lapaʻau o Papa Auwae, were designated Kahu of Nā Pōhaku Ola Kapaemāhū a Kapuni at its installation and have been caretakers for the stones since 1997.