Na Aikane O Maui is beginning 2023 with an important project.

U’ilani Kapu wrote, “We will be having a Mokuhinia cleanup, inviting the community to the New Year, and what a better way of starting the New Year with respecting our Sacred Places.”

The event is set for Saturday, Jan. 14, at 562 Front St. (next to the tennis courts) from 8 a.m. to noon.

Volunteers should bring a water flask; Na Aikane O Maui will provide lunch. For more information, contact U’ilani at (808) 250-1479.

With the dissolution of the Friends of Moku’ula, it’s been a long time since we’ve heard any news about Moku’ula and Loko Mokuhinia, King Kamehameha III’s Royal Complex that is buried underneath the parkland next to Na Aikane O Maui’s base.

Moku’ula is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1997) and Hawaii State Register of Historic Places (1994), and it’s recognized by the Sacred Sites International Foundation.

Friends of Moku’ula explained the significance of Moku’ula Island and Mokuhinia Pond in Lahaina: “The freshwater pond contained a one-acre sandbar island called Moku’ula, which was home to the high chiefs of Pi’ilani since the 16th century and a royal residence for the Kamehameha line in the 19th century. It was guarded by the mo’o goddess, Kihawahine.

“Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) ruled Hawai’i from Moku’ula between 1830 and 1845, when Lahaina served as the kingdom’s capital. In the early 20th century, Mokuhinia was filled with coral rubble dredged from the Lahaina roadstead, and by 1918, the acreage was handed over to the County of Maui for use as Malu’ulu o Lele Park.”

According to the author of “Moku’ula, Maui’s Sacred Island,” Anthropologist and Ethnohistorian Paul Klieger, “This is probably one of the most sacred and most cultural sites in the Hawaiian Islands.”

Saturday’s event will help care for and raise awareness about this site, which deserves to be considered among the most important and historic in Lahaina and Hawaii.