The goddess of fire and volcanoes in Hawaiian mythology, it is said that the spirit of Madame Pele is haunting the islands. As an ancient woman hitchhiking along the road to a handsome woman warning about the eruption of volcanoes, this goddess never left the islands.
Can the goddess become a spirit? Can her presence persecute the place where she once lived? It is said that Madame Pele is the goddess of volcanoes and fires in the Hawaiian religion, but also the creator of the Hawaiian islands. It is often referred to as Madame Pele or Tūtū Pele to show respect and known as “She, who shapes the Holy Earth.” Even when the ancient religion was officially abolished in 1819, people still believed in her, and her paths found ways to stay in the contemporary world that changed Hawaijs dramatically.
It is believed that the Kilauea volcano is inhabited by the family of the gods of fire, her siblings related to other elements, and there are many stories about her, especially about her passion, mighty and jealous with fiery temperament.
Legend has it that Madame Pele herself traveled by kayak from the island of Tahiti to Hawaiʻi. Some say that she came from the mystical floating land of Kuaihelani, and maybe even land, which is said to be “close to the clouds.“The Chronology of the Pele travel corresponds to the geological age of the Hawaiian Islands.
When it was said when she was told that she tried to cause fires on various islands, but her sister, Namaka, chased her, wanting to put her. Finally, two sisters fought each other and Madame Pele was killed. Along with this event, her body was destroyed, but her spirit lives in Halemaʻumaʻu at Kilauea. They say “Her body is lava and a couple from a volcano”.
This is just one of many stories binding her with the Kilauea volcano, and many other stories talk about her family, her travels and how she is associated with the nature she passed on. But we will focus here on the legends of her haunting Hawaiian islands, which the islanders are still taking very seriously
Madame Pele warning against volcanic eruptions
Locals sometimes also believe that Madame Pele warns residents against the oncoming eruptions and appears and manifests itself before or during volcano eruption.
He can also change her form, appearing as a white dog or with a dog accompanying her. She also appears as an ancient woman with white hair or as a handsome newborn woman. It is said that he is wearing a red muumuu, a long white dress, and even gloomy and gray clothing.
The dog is sometimes a manifestation, sometimes her pet, sitting on the slopes of Mauna Loa, where no real dog survived.
This is perhaps one of the newer stories about her ghosts or ghosts that are ongoing in the world, but at least since the 1930s there were many stories about how people claim that they encountered her on the road, before eruption or close to volcanoes.
Madame Pele visiting
There are many ghost stories in which Madame Pele appears or that people think that Tūtū Pele must be behind him.
One urban legend claims to be on the roads near Kīlauea. If passers -by try to stop her or talk to her, it is said that it disappears, as is the spirits of the disappearing hitchhiking.
Within ten years, one named Katherine Luomala collected 48 different varieties of legend in which Tūtū Pele appeared as a figure from the disappearing hitchhiking legend. Sometimes he accepts offers to obtain an elevator before disappearing, and even simply asks for a cigarette before leaving. In some stories, he will take revenge on those who refuse her.
If you saw her, you are obliged to disseminate information and warn others against the oncoming eruption, about which he warns or face the consequences when you suffer misfortune during the next eruption.
According to people living on the Great Island, they have the saying: “Never refuse an old lady – Madame Pele can be. “
The Ghost of Madame Pele's Man
The legend of Madame Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanic fire, talks about how she fell in love with a man called Lohiʻau, but discovered that he died. She found his spirit as a slim presence in the cave and she used her magical powers to bring him back to life or her sister Hiʻiak, the goddess Hula, she did it.
He was destroyed again when Tūtū Pele killed Lohi in a fit of rage, but his spirit was found again, this time in the form of a bird overflowing in the waters and was again brought back to life.
Pork over Highway piles
There is also a case of bringing pork on the Palus highway, which is the route 61 on OAHU. However, if you bring pork, there are stories about dragging cars when you drive over it and do not start again before you throw the pork.
What is the reasoning of pork rules on this path? According to some, he comes from Feud Madame Pele of Kamapuaa, the god Pig-man. He was her husband, but he cheated on her. When she discovered this, they divided the island into two territories, they could not exceed.
Another variety of this story is Saddle Road on Big Island, where drivers passing between East and West should not carry pork with them. This special section of the saddle road is also a place where many say that Madame Pele has seen.
Image Tutup Pele
Around 1929, D. Howard Hitchcock made an oil painting Madame Pele, who passed his son a park in 1966, where he was shown at the center for visitors in 1966–2005. The image was criticized for presenting the Hawaiian goddess as one of the European features.
In 2003, the volcano art center announced a competition for “More modern and culturally authentic “goddess”. An anonymous judging panel of native Hawaiian older chose the image of Arthur Johnsen from Puna in Hawaii out of 140 entries. In the painting of Johnsyn, the goddess has clearly Polynesian features, holding a stick in his left hand (“” “) and the egg that gave birth to her younger sister Hiʻiak in his right hand. In 2005, Hitchcock was replaced by the image of Johnsen.
Madame Pele's Curse of National Parks
In addition to people who claim that the dog is a warning about death, there is also a story about the curse of Madame Pele in the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. It is said that if you take the lava rock or even away from the Hawaiian Islands, something that Madame Pele sees as his own children, you will be unlucky until she is returned
There is a lot of sand and stones that are taken from the ground every year, but there is also something when people restore it because they think they are cursed. This is also the case with cursed artifacts from the Grand Canyon and Bodie Ghost Town frozen in time with mighty legends about people thinking that they are cursed if they removed something from this place.
People blame when their animals die, losing their jobs or houses burn on Madame Pele anger. But what really stands behind the curse?
The National Park Service, as well as hotels in the Islands, claim that every year they receive things taken by post, by tourists looking for forgiveness of Madame Pele.
Many believe that the curse, but many also claim that the curse was invented in the mid -twentieth century by the Rangers Park tired tourists taking things all the time, and maybe even by bus drivers, tired of sandy and sullied buses, because there is no ancient tradition of this legend from Hawaiian folklore. There are at least written provisions since 1946.
In fact, when Western people arrived, they learned from the local Hawaiian that they should not choose flowers from the Ohia tree, eating ohelo berries or touch the rocks, because this may be badly reflected in the Hawaiians, and she mainly took revenge in the eruption of the volcano, and not giving people unlucky.
Madame Pele is haunting today
Although you do not believe in the curse, believe to the right that prohibits people to receive Hawaiian nature from the islands.
Unlike many ancient deities from old religions, faith in Madame Pele and people practicing their faith continues to this day.
Pele practitioners leave flowers, food wrapped in “Ti” leaves and other offers on the edge of volcanoes as a sign of respect. They often leave berries, and sometimes in newer times, Gin began to offer. The guards in parks rarely disturb visits, which often include special dances and hula chanting.
References:
Expensive and sufficient rocks Snopes.com
The Curse of Pele: A Tourist Legend – MULTO (GHOST)
Steve & Haika Puu Weather (US Road Scenit)
Image Source: Pixabay.com
