Submitted by Alexandra Orlan on the 2016 winter session program in Hawaii sponsored by the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition…
So far, the part of the program that stuck out to me the most was visiting the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. While we were at the park, we visited the petroglyphs, which are images carved into the lava rock by the early Hawaiian people. Earlier in the week, when we visited the ‘Imilioa Astronomy Center, the tour guides were telling us about the piko, or center, and how the umbilicus is considered a piko on the human body. They continued to tell us how the parents would often bury the umbilicus to represent a long, meaningful life for their child. At the petroglyphs, we saw the exact spots in the lava rock where the early Hawaiian people buried the piko; it was truly an amazing sight. I just wish we were able to translate the drawings in the rock, but visiting the petroglyphs is definitely worth the trek.