Easter Sunrise Service at Pūowaina, or the “Hill of Sacrifice,” at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Punchbowl Crater, is a crowd favorite for local residents and visitors alike.
According to organizers, “it was the site of many secret Ali‘i burials, as well as the place where offenders of certain kapu were sacrificed.”
“The Easter Sunrise Service observances started at this sacred site nearly 125 years. Back in the ’50s and ’60s, it was the only show in town,” coordinator The Rev. Samuel Domingo told Aloha State Daily.
Central Union Church credits the founding of this ecumenical tradition to one of its Sunday school classes in the early 1900s, which trekked up Pūowaina in the morning “to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.”
This year’s event will start Sunday, April 20, at 6:15 a.m. featuring a message from Kahu Kenneth Makuakāne of Kawaiahaʻo Church of the Hawai‘i Conference UCC, with music from the Royal Hawaiian Band, ASD previously reported.
Makuakāne, who has served as Kawaiahaʻo Church’s senior pastor since 2018, holds many titles, including minister, author, songwriter and recording artist, among others.
Many hands make light work, Domingo told ASD, “We have an excellent staff that preps the cemetery.” He expects more than 300 people to attend.
“We’re still rebuilding from Covid,” he said. “People are slowly, or not, coming back to worship in-person.”
Born and raised in Kalihi, Domingo “pastors a local congregation” in Wahiawa and serves at the Hawai‘i Council of Churches Fund, which sponsors the annual Punchbowl Easter Sunrise Service. “We also work on other ecumenic efforts with support from Roman Catholic Church and Protestant churches,” he said about the fund’s role today.
Other event sponsors include Hawai'i Conference of the United Church of Christ, Hawai'i District of The United Methodist Church, Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, The Episcopal Diocese in Hawai'i and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
“The focus of Easter is on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the new life God gives us,” Domingo said.
This year's program reads, "As we celebrate in worship this morning, let us be mindful that there is one sacrifice which surpasses all, that of Jesus Christ on the cross — and that for neither Christ nor for us is death ever the last word. The final word is always, 'Alleluia! Christ is risen!'"
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
