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Hawaii legends

Hawaii is a land of myths and legends. Ancient Hawaiians lived in harmony with nature, they respected animals and natural phenomenons and imputed divinity to them. For example, they beliived that the spirit of a deceased ancestors moved to an animal to protect and guide the family. Thay call these spirits 'aumakua.

In the beginning in Hawaiian mythology, Po (land) was vast and empty. Only one life form dwelled. It was the spirit of Keawe. Then Keawe created sky and the sun, and the first gods: Kane and Na Wahine. They gave birth to other gods: Ku, Lono, and Kanaloa.

Ku was the god of war, and also the god of woodlands and crops. Kanaloa was responsible for the southern Pacific Ocean, and, according to Hawaii legends, he helped seamen and fishers. Lono, as lord of the sun and of wisdom, caused the earth to grow green. As a god of medicine, he had a particular interest in keeping herbs and medicinal plants flourishing.

Among the major divinities was the goddess Papa, queen of nature, and the man she married, called Wakea. As Hawaii legends say, Papa and Wakea's first child was born deformed like a taro root. From the child's grave, the first taro plant grew to furnish sustenance to the rest of the human race, which had its origins in this first couple.

Living close to active volcano couldn't influence on Hawaii legends. One of the most striking characters of Hawaiian myths is Pele, goddess of the volcano. According to the Hawaii legend, Pele came to Hawaii a long time ago, in the period, when the air was surrounded with spiritual beings and a thin veil divided the living from the dead, the natural from the supernatural.

Pele is volcanism in all its forms. Her poetic name is Ka wahine `ai honua, the woman who devours the land. When her body moves, the land trembles and the sky is afire with a crimson glow. That is how ancient Hawaiians imagined the menacing power of volcano.