HONOLULU (KHON2) — Bishop Museum hosted a ceremony honoring the return of cultural stones to the Mariana Islands on Aug. 9.
Traditional offerings of natural materials, a lei presentation and blessings took place on the gallery lawns of Bishop Museum.
“This is not an exchange of artifacts. This is an exchange of respect. So with love, we say, please accept and return these cultural items which are yours to your home,” said Gov. Josh Green.
The Latte Stones displayed outside Hawaiian Hall are included among the items returned to the Mariana Islands.
“The partnership between the Bishop Museum and the government of Guam is symbolic of our resistance and our unrelenting pursuit of dignity for our people,” said Josh Tenorio, Guam’s lieutenant governor Guam.
For Tenorio, the stones are more than just stones — they signify the hope of Guam’s people.
“This moment is not only the culmination of a multi-year inter-institutional collaboration, but a victory in the decades long pursued by Chamorros to raise their voices, as early as the 1930s calling for the reclamation of pieces tied to their ancestry,” Tenorio said.
The ceremony was part of the Bishop Museum’s larger goal of returning more than 10,000 artifacts to the islands after the museum’s Board of Directors unanimously voted to return the pieces.
For almost a century, Guam’s government has been requesting the artifacts back, with the present-day Bishop Museum fulfilling their wishes, citing ethical museum practices.
Artifacts will be sent back home to Guam on a rolling basis until the more than 10,000 pieces are able to all make their homecoming.