LEGENDS AND MYTHS
Because the ancient Hawaiians had no written language, literature was passed from generation to generation orally. Genealogies and legends were carefully preserved in the minds of storytellers who had special gifts for memorizing. All tales were told according to a definite pattern, one detail following another. In stories of fiction, an episode from another legend might be introduced to prolong the tale. Many of these stories were recorded by early Western historians and they are a valuable addition to our knowledge of old Hawaiian culture.
The Hawaiians worshiped spirits of ancestors and nature gods who were important in all the affairs of daily life. Supernatural beliefs furnished a rich imaginative background for stories. Hawaiian literature is divided into three types. There were stories of gods and ghosts, a recitation of ancestors as they appear in genealogies of chiefs, and stories of fiction in the form of legends and romances.
Tales of gods and ghosts were sacred stories and were told only during the day. Listeners could not pass in front of the speaker while the story was being told, becausse it would have been disrespectful to the gods. The great gods around whom the stories were built might have been conceived as nature deities which were familiar and significant to all the people.
The genealogies of chiefs were of the highest importance. Each ruling chief represented a family group claiming a divine ancestor. The oldest descendant of pure blood was the rightful ruler. He inherited the land right of his district and commanded the services of his relatives.
Tales of fiction, telling of heroes and romances, were by far the most popular form of story, providing entertainment for commoners and chiefs alike.
THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF THE NIGHT
THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ARE the Keiki-o-ka`aina (Children of the Land), little night creatures better known to Hawaii residents as Menehune.
They are said to have lived in Hawaii before the Hawaiian ancestors arrived, and are still about. Reports of them are made from time to time today. The Menehune are described as a squat and rather ugly pigmy race with many of the traits of European elves, pixies, fairies, gnomes and trolls. They are known in all Polynesian islands. The Menehune of the Society and Cook Islands are the same little race. The island of Kauai is said to be their original Hawaiian home.
Menehune are said to dislike being seen by mortals, yet some make human friends and generally children seem inoffensive to them. They do mankind favors if well treated, making in past times stone temples, fishponds and watercourses. In fact, they seem to enjoy working. They are gregarious, noisy, talkative little fellows, often up to some mischief; yet they prefer to live in lonely valleys, in mountains, in caves, hollow logs or primitive huts.
The Menehune are believed to be supernatural creatures who have a distinct dislike of daylight. Where they came from and how many still live is quite unknown.
Ref: TUT Books, "Incredible Hawaii"
Text by, Terence Barrow
THE LOVERS' HALF FLOWER
HAWAII`S MYSTERIOUS HALF-FLOWER NAMED NAUPAKA is both a botanical curiosity and a legend. Many stories are told of its romantic origin, as it symbolizes parted lovers.
One tale concerns a girl named Puna who became angry with her lover. She took a naupaka flower, which legend says was then a whole blossom, tore it in half and declared that until her lover brought her a new whole blossom she would never see him again. When Puna tore the naupaka, the gods changed all the blossoms of the Hawaiian Islands to half-flowers which continue to grow in incomplete form to this day. It is said the young man searched in vain for a single whole flower and died of a broken heart, leaving Puna to regret her outburst of temper.
In another story, two youthful Hawaiian lovers of such divided social classes that they could not hope to marry resolved to die together, but the gods disapproved, turning the girl`s spirit into the naupaka of the beach, while the boy`s became the naupaka of the mountains. It is believed that if a beach half-flower is paired with a mountain half-flower, the spirits of theyoung se lovers are united. When two half-flowers are pressed together they resemble a "normal blossom," the whole naupaka of Hawaiian myth.
Ref: TUT Books, "Incredible Hawaii"
Text by, Terence Barrow
THE DEMI-GOD WHO FISHED UP ISLANDS
MAUI, THE SUPERMAN WHO FISHED UP ISLANDS and performed many remarkable tasks, is known to Pacific islanders of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. Maui is one of the most lovable of all characters in Polynesian mythology because of his genial, mischievous nature. Often called "Maui-of-a-thousand-tricks," he well deserves this nickname.
Some stories say that Maui was still- born of a human mother, then cast into the sea, from which he emerged alive. He certainly was a supernatural child with godlike powers. In Hawaiian mytholoy he appears in relation to a specific place, such as Waianae on Oahu, at a cave above Hilo on the Wailuku River, and at Kahakuloa and Kauiki on the island of Maui.:
He is said to have secured fire for mankind and lengthened the daylight hours by snaring the sun, which pleaded for life with the prommise it would go slower across the sky in the future. Maui is also credited with pushing up the sky, but his most notable habit was that of fishing up islands from the sea bottom. The place where his sacred fishhook caught is known on some Pacific islands.
The 19th-century recorders of Hawaiian myths seem to have regarded the Maui stories as too childish to write down, so many of the tales of superman Maui are lost forever.
Ref: TUT Books, "Incredible Hawaii"
Text by , Terence Barrow
