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Hawaiian Goddesses
Eleipaio
She is a goddess honored by the Hawaiians, particularly canoe builders.
Her tale is an example of natural phenomena and human experience being
mythologized.
Hakea
The goddess of the land of the dead.
Hanenca
The creatress of the first man.
Haumea
A Hawaiian earth goddess, Pele's mother
Kaikilani
A beautiful mortal woman with whom the fertility god Lono fell in love.
They lived together happily near Kealakekua Bay, until he murdered her
because he doubted her fidelity. Mad with guilt and remorse he rampaged
around the island, finally leaving with a promise to return on a floating
island of plenty. This story is dramatized by rituals occuring annually
at the beginning of the fertile season. |
Pele
The Queen of Fire, she was the daughter of the Earth Goddess Haumea and
dwells in the Kilauea volcano. This wild and fiery goddess is widely venerated
in Hawaii and other parts of Polynesia. When eruptions threaten towns
it is thought that Pele is angry. Her volcanoes are both destroyers and
creators of the earth, since her flowing lava makes new land. Pele's husband,
the Frog God Kamapua'a, is the inventor of agriculture. She is depicted
with a spouting "lava crest" on her comb headdress. Pele is
the goddess of fire, and of the Kilauea Volcano. She is said to appear
as a wise crone or a beautiful young woman with a fiery temperament.
As a young woman, Pele met Lohiau; they fell in love and were wed. After
awhile she longed to return to her volcano and so left him. Pining away
for her, Lohiau nearly died but Pele sent her sister Hiiaka to retrieve
him. Hiiaka and Lohiau fell in love during their journey and Pele, after
an initial outburst, in an act of generosity, allowed them to leave and
be married. She found a new lover, Kamapua'a, whose temperament matched
her own and even now their fiery courtship continues.
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