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Local customs in Kauai


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Sacred Heiau

The heiau is a Hawaiian temple, a structure built from lava rocks used for religious purposes. They had a rectangular outer wall inside which the structure was built. Today only the outer walls still exists. The ceremonies within the heiau were conducted by priests named kahuna. In some heiau human sacrifices were made, in others people offered gods things like fish and fruits hoping that the gods will help them.
 

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Don't take the dogs

We were wandering in the tropical forest in Kauai trying to find the trail and we saw quite a few signs with the following message "Please don't take the dogs. They are not strays. Their owners will come to pick them up". Just when we were wondering what they meant with those signs, the brown dog in the picture showed up. We played with it for a while, it was a cute dog and I understood why they had to put up the signs. Lots of people would be tempted to take these dogs home. The dog left at some point and we continued on the trail. When we came back from our hike late in the afternoon, we did see a pickup truck full of dogs, so their owners did come back for them at the end of the day. I don't know if this custom is specific to Kauai, it was the first time I'd seen something like this.

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