Polynesian Mythology

Polynesia Mythology
Story: Pele's Creation
Country: Hawaii (Polynesia)
Intro: When people think of Polynesia they think of crisp blue waters and sandy beaches. It truly is a
'Paradise.' There is a lot more to these islands than just glamour... it includes a variety of cultures,
different variations of beliefs, and a rich history of over 1,000 islands. Legends that originate from
these islands may vary, but also connect to different cultures around the world. These legends also
open a window to how these societiess live and their cultures. One famous goddess known
throughout the islands, especially Hawaii, is Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, (fire, patron of dance,
etc.).

Summary: There are many stories and legends on Pele's life. Pele was adventurous as a girl and
always dreamed of travel and far-away lands. At last she asked her father if she could go discover
these places and after agreeing to send her away, he got her a large canoe, (prepared by the God of
Sharks, one of her brothers,) which could carry lots of people, food and supplies, for many days at
sea. After leaving with her brothers in tow, Pele kept her un-born sister Hi'iaka safe by protecting her
egg, she later transformed into a beautiful little girl and Pele favored her most out of all of her brothers
and sisters. After reaching the islands of what is thought to be present tense Hawaii, Pele fell in love
with Kama or Lohiau and even got married. She didn't want to settle however, so she traveled from
island to island trying to build fire pits, or caves that she and her lover could live in. She used a magic
tool to carve the living spaces called a Pa-oa. The top islands ended up being to small to house her
lava built homes, and they would collapse into the sea. After trying and retrying this many times, Pele
finally reached 'The Big Island' where she built her home. By the time her fiery palace was built
though, her dream marriage was at an end. Her little sister Hi'iaka ended up marrying Lohiau/ Kama
after many adventures involving him. Hi'iaka wasn't very amd though like you would think she would
be...after all Hi'iaka was her favorite and closest sister and relative. The fact that Pele wasn't very
angry and didn't destroy Hi'iaka is a pretty big deal for her because in other legends, myths and
stories she is said to have rivalries, fights, and even battles with her older sister and brothers. Hi'iaka
and Lohiau/Kama even ended up living in the Volcano palace that Pele originally made for her and
Lohiau/Kama. Pele is even said to live with them in this home.

Story Analysis:
The story of Pele basically describes the journey of a curious girl, a dreamer, who wished to be sent
off to discover a new land, and establish herself there. The story was developed and told for many
reasons, whether it be about volcanoes, respect for the islands, or personal morale. There are many
variations of the story, but all have the same purpose, and moral. The legend explains volcanic
eruptions in Hawaii, and gives tourists and residents reason to respect and worship the ancient
Goddess. When Pele is angered, becomes jealous, or otherwise aggravated, she produces an
explosion. It is believed in Hawaiian culture that the Goddess often disguises herself as an ugly old
woman, in order to test people, which is probably a warning to the people to show respect, always, or
you could quite possibly become cursed. The myth was probably also told, in order to preserve the
parks, and prevent tourists from destroying the natural beauty of the islands. It is believed that Pele
cursed all who stole volcanic rock from her home without reason. Although this is simply an urban
legend, many people claim terrible misfortune after bringing home island artifacts. To some
Hawaiians, stealing a volcanic rock is taken very seriously, and is considered a crime. A very large
part of Hawaiian history and culture includes volcanoes, making Pele a widely known Goddess, and
an important part of Polynesian mythology today.

Culture Analysis:
When reading any mythology, stories, legends, books, magazine, etc. there are usually some type of
hints toward the culture/ where the literature was written or from. You may have to look deep to find
these clues... but it's really not so in the story and life of Pele.
According to The Book Of Goddesses  by Kris Waldherr, Pele is the Hawaiian/Polynesian goddess of
all kinds of fire, and especially the fire flowing from volcanoes, (lava.) Legends say that when Pele
stomps her foot the result is an earthquake, and when she moves under the earth in her home, or is
angry, the result is volcanic eruptions or dangerous fires. The characteristics of what Pele is a
goddess of points out what the weather is like in her origin, (which yes, the Hawaiian/ Polynesian
islands have volcanoes, fire, and earthquakes.)
Weather patterns on islands show that "before a volcanic eruption earthquakes crack open the ocean
floor. The earthquakes create gargantuan tidal waves. The tidal waves crash down on the land and
sometimes carry away beaches, cliffs, and mountain sides." Craighead, George and Powers,
Daniel. Dear Katie, The Volcano Is a Girl. New York, New York: Hyperion Books for Children,
1998. These patterns are still evident today and were also clearly evident when the legends and
myths were created, because there is an explanation to why these nature actions happen/ed. The
legend says that Pele and her older sister, the goddess of the sea, had been fighting their whole life
and when they fought the earth's shaking represented Pele's anger and the start of the conflict. This
resulted in a comeback from her sister with huge tidal waves, which later resulted in an eruption of fire
and lava, and then finally cooling of the lava with wind and water from the sea goddess again. This as
you may have figured created land and the Hawaiian Islands we know today. This is another
significant weather pattern in the Polynesian and Hawaiian cultures today, but it also opens up
characteristics on people and their relationships.
The legendary fights between Pele and her siblings also give us a glimpse of sibling rivalry which
means there was probably fights and quarrels on the islands between siblings like there still is today
all over the world. The life of Pele also includes love and forgiveness towards her youngest sister from
the time she was born to when she married Pele's ex-husband. An ex-husband also means that there
was also a husband and a lover at some point in time. There was also a motherly figure and a fatherly
figure as well as brothers, aunts, uncles, etc. th at was mentioned briefly. Obviously if all of these
types of people and relationships towards Pele existed in the myth/legend they probably existed in the
culture as well.
The attributes of Pele herself can also shed light on to what the culture
might have been like. Pele was angry at times but also forgiving and
sow to fully anger, which is shown because lava only oozes covering
only about 3 feet an hour. She is also almost always depicted and
thought of as a young, tall, beautiful, yet strong and independent
women. Once in awhile she is depicted as an old wise woman. These
attributes of Pele were probably thought to be good characteristics,
values, and looks in a person/women. Pele is also one of the 3
patrons of dance along with her sisters. There are stories on how they
were taught to dance, (including moves looking like an erupting
volcano, etc.) which is really relevant today because Hawaii has there
own style of dance... the hula!
Hawaiian natives and other islands such as Fiji still believe in Pele and
her powers. Tourists even believe in her, saying that after ignoring the warnings not to take lava rocks
they did, which resulted in bad luck with fire. (The lava rocks are considered an art of Pele.)

Culture Comparison:
Though the world is vast and has a plethora of different cultures, religions, customs,
and morals about life, in the end, we are all the same people. We love, laugh, and
work just like any other group of people do. We have the same genetic structure,
think in similar ways, and express ourselves similarly. After you think about all of this,
it wouldn't be that much of a shock that Polynesian mythology and Greek/Roman
mythology do not differ from each other in many ways.

Polynesia is made up out of hundreds of islands, including Hawaii and Fiji. Since there is a large
variety of people and customs within this one culture, it is not surprising that they live in a polytheistic
society which is just like the Greeks and Romans. As told in MythicalRealm.com, the goddess Pele is
believed to be the volcano goddess of Hawaii who lives on the Kilauea caldera in the Halema 'uma'u
crater. Though not known to the rest of Polynesia, she is a very sacred figure among inhabitants of
Hawaii. Pele seems to fit the archetypes of a destroyer/protector the best. She should be classified
under both archetypes because she is the goddess of volcaneos (includes the power of lava and fire,
both destrution types), lightning, violence, yet she is also a goddess of dance and looks over the
island that she lives on.

The Greeks and Romans also had a god who had this archetype as
well. It was Poseidon, ruler of the sea and "The Great Earth shaker".
Though both of these mythological gods come from two very diverse
parts of the world, they were both feared by the people they ruled over.
Pele and Poseidon have control over something that has a big
influence on their people's geographic standing. In Greece they are
bordered by water and trade by water, so they have to be fearful of
Poseidon who ruled over the water, for he could bring a great storm
upon them and be washed away at sea forever. In the same sense
 Hawaiian natives have to be fearful of Pele for she rules over the volcano and lava, if they tamper with
her anger, the island which they live on may become coated in lava.

Both cultures show their gods having supernatural abilities to wield nature, Poseidon has the sea and
Pele has the lava. Through these abilities they are placed at a higher level on the social ladder as a
leader who can't be surpassed in any way. But yet, both cultures tell about their gods in the sense that
they could still walk among the people and talk to them. Poseidon could save faithful sailors from a
bad storm and seduce women to sleep with him, while people claim to have seen Pele walking among
the island jungles and shores of Hawaii, and could find herself in the midst of a celebration, as told in
many creation stories in SacredTexts.com. Since these gods could communicate with their followers,
they also developed flaws shared by the humans. Both found love among the human race and did
anything to keep it or get it, just like humans would do.

Conclusion: We look through the eyes of different cultures in different parts of the world, and we see
how each one of them is different and unique. But as shown through reports like these, we realize
how each culture is truly not as diverse as we thought prior to this study of mythology. We have seen
how the mythology of a region, like Pele for the Hawaiians, can shape how a culture functions in daily
life, especially if their beliefs are polytheistic. Through this study, we have shown that the further apart
from other cultures a group of people are, the more likely they are to depend on their culture and
religion for support in daily life. But no matter how far apart you are, the makeup of a polytheistic
system stays astonishingly similar throughout the world which we live in.

Citations:
Content-

 Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "mythology, Oceanic." Encyclopedia of World Writers,

Beginnings through the 13th Century. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Ancient and Medieval
History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
 Craighead, George and Powers, Daniel. Dear Katie, The Volcano Is a Girl. New York, New
York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1998. 
ItemID=WE49&iPin=EWWI0202&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 28, 2008).
 "Neptune-1"Poseidon/Neptune Pictures. 2003-2005. Clip Art. 28 Sept. 2008 http://download-
free-pictures.com/fantasy/poseidon-neptune.html
 "Pele, Goddess of Fire." Pele Hawaiian Goddess of the Volcano: Mythical Realm presents
people of myth and legend. 1998-2008. MythicalRealm. 28 Sept.
2008 http://www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/pele.html.
 Waldherr, Kris and Leonard, Linda Schierse. The Book Of Goddesses. Hillsoboro, Oregon:
Beyond Words Publishing Inc., 1995.

Pictures-

 Cecil, Ann. Kahiko Hula Dancer Performing at Volcano. 2008. Ann Cecil, Hawaiian 416. 30
Sept. 2008
 IRB TU. Polynes Map. 12 Aug. 2008. Informatik-Rechnerbetrieb(IRB), TU Berlin. 1 Oct. 2008
 Poseidon/Neptune Pictures. 2003-2005. Clip Art. 28 Sept. 2008 http://download-free-
pictures.com/fantasy/poseidon-neptune.html