posted April 10, 2010 08:11 AM
HAUMEATHE mysterious figure of Haumea in Hawaiian myth is identified, now with Papa the wife of Wakea, who lived as a woman on earth and became mother of island chiefs and ancestress of the Hawaiian people; now with La‘ila‘i, the woman born with the gods Kane and Kanaloa and the man Ki‘i; again with the fire goddess Pele who sprang from the sacred thighs of Haumea. Myths connected with her name tell of her as a goddess from Nu‘umealani who has power to change her form and to alter her appearance from youth to age or from age to youth through the possession of a marvelous fish-drawing branch called Makalei; and these, like the stories of Papa, are localized upon Oahu.
Of La‘ila‘i, Malo writes, 1 "In the genealogy called Kumulipo it is said that the first human being was a woman named La‘ila‘i and that her ancestors and parents were of the night (he po wale no), that she was the progenitor of the (Hawaiian) race.
"The husband of this La‘ila‘i was named Ke-alii-wahi-lani (the king who opens heaven); . . . he was from the heavens; . . . he looked down and beheld a beautiful woman La‘ila‘i, dwelling in Lalowaia; . . . he came down and took her to wife, and from the union of these two was begotten one of the ancestors of this race."
The Kumulipo places the advent of La‘ila‘i, Kane, Ki‘i, and Kanaloa in the eighth era and there follow the names of "Vast expanse of damp forest" and "The long-lived man of the two branches of chiefs," called "First chief of the dim past dwelling in the cold upland," whose genealogy extends to the eleventh era and ends with the death of Ke Aukaha Opiko-ka-honua (Navel of the earth) [who is perhaps Kauakahi]. The passage runs (as interpreted by Ho‘olapa):
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Many men were born,
It was the time when the gods were born,
Men stood up,
Men lay prostrate (the prostrating tapu prescribed for high chiefs)
They lay prostrate in that far-past time,
Very shadowy the men who march hither (marchers of the night),
Very red the faces of the gods,
Dark those of the men,
Very white their chins (because living to old age),
A tranquil time when men multiplied,
Living in peace in the time when men came from afar,
It was hence called calmness (La‘ila‘i),
La‘ila‘i was born, a woman,
Ki‘i was born, a man,
Kane was born, a god,
Kanaloa was born a god, the rank-smelling squid,
It was day,
The womb gave birth,
The vast-expanse-of-the-damp-forest, was her next born,
The-first-chiefs-of-the-dim-past-dwelling-in-the-cold-uplands (Ku-polo-liilii-alii-mua-o-lo‘i-po) her last born,
The long-lived man of the two branches of chiefs.
[paragraph continues] "The prolific one," La‘ila‘i is here called, and "woman from a distant land." From her union with the gods and with the man Ki‘i arise strife and bickering. 2
Haumea is also equated with her daughter Pele, from whose familiar epithet honua-mea (of the sacred earth) some derive the name, but it may more naturally come from hanaumea (sacred birth). Haumea's children are born in the mythical land of Kauihelani (Kuaihelani), or Hapakuela, or Holani-ku. They are not born naturally but from different parts of her body. 3 Children today who drool at the mouth are said to be "born from the brain (lolo) of Haumea," that is, to
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have come out from her fontanel instead of by the regular passage, according to the lines of the Kumulipo describing the goddess's later births,
Born from the brain were the generations of that woman,
Drivelers were the generation from the brain. . . .
It is in her deified form as a spirit that Papa is identified with Haumea. The priests of Kane and Kanaloa of Maui told Ellis that "the first man" was "made" by Haumea. 4 The Kumulipo prayer chant, quoting the genealogy from Paliku, follows the names of the god Kanaloa and his wife Haumea with those of Ku-kaua-kahi (First strife) and his wife Kuai-mehana. 5 The Moolelo Hawaii of 1838 says of Kauakahi that he was "born from the head of Papa and became a god,'" and Haumea is called in Andrews' dictionary mother of the war god Kekaua-kahi and of Pele and "one of several names of Papa, wife of Wakea." In her human body as Papa, Haumea lives on Oahu as wife of Wakea; in her spirit body as Haumea she returns to the divine land of the gods in Nu‘umealani and changes her form from age to youth and returns to marry with her children and grandchildren. Some place these transformations on Oahu at the heiau of Ka-ieie (The pandanus vine) built for her worship in Kalihi valley.
Haumea is named by Kamakau among those who came with Kane and Kanaloa to the Hawaiian group, "at the time that the waters of Kane were brought forth from hills, cliffs, and rocks." During this same period came Kamaunuaniho, grandmother of Kamapua‘a. The event is placed by Kamakau between the times of Paumakua and La‘a (on the Ulu-Puna line).
Kamakau version. Haumea comes from overseas from Kahiki with her brothers Kane and Kanaloa. The party land at Keei, South Kona, Hawaii, and are first seen by two fishermen named Ku-hele-i-po and Ku-hele-i-moana, who hasten to worship them. By Ku-hele-i-po, Haumea has a daughter called Mapunaia-aala
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[paragraph continues] (Springing forth with fragrance) or Kaula-wena (Rosy light in the sky). Haumea is said to have given birth to "strange noisy creatures."
Myths told of Haumea center about themes concerned with food supply for the life of man and marriage and birth for the increase of the family stock. By rebirths she changes herself from age to youth and returns to marry her children and grandchildren. She lives as a woman in Kalihi valley and transforms herself into a growing tree in which she conceals her husband from those who are leading him away to sacrifice. She secures for a chiefess a painless delivery in child-birth and receives in reward "the tree of changing leaves" out of which gods are made. She is possessor of the stick Makalei which attracts fish. With the stick (or tree) Makalei is associated a tree of never-failing food supply. Kamakau, summarizing the matter in his off-hand way, includes in the rebirths of Haumea the supernatural births by which the Pele sisters are said to have been born from different parts of Haumea's body. Back of the Haumea myth as we have it there is evidently a more primitive form, rejected, or perhaps forgotten, by Hawaiians of Kamakau's day.
Kamakau summary. Haumea has six renewals or rebirths, some say in other lands; for example, as Namakaokaha‘i, as Pele, and so forth. She is said to have changed herself into a young woman at the heiau of Hale-papa-a (House of burning land) in Nu‘umealani, a land in Pali-ku, and returned to marry her children and grandchildren. Her divine forms and her different bodies are worshiped by later generations as: Papa-hanau-moku (Papa giving birth to islands); Haumea-ka-hanau-wawa (Haumea giving birth noisily); Ka-haka-ua-koko (The place of blood); Hai-uli, because of her visits to the "blue sea" of Kahiki (on Oahu); Lau-mihi, from her gathering crabs (kumihi) and seaweed (lau) there; Kamehaikana, from her entering a growing tree--the last three names referring to the time when she lived as a woman in Kalihi valley. 7
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MYTH OF HAUMEA AS PAPA
(a) Makalei version. Haumea as Papa takes Wakea for her husband and has by him a daughter, Ho‘ohoku-ka-lani; Wakea takes the daughter to wife and she has the son Haloa. Papa is angry and returns to Kahiki. There she enters into the temple and by means of the mysterious stick Makalei she becomes a budding girl again. Haloa has grown "old enough to build an oven" and take a wife. She addresses herself to him under the name of Hina-mano-o-ulu-ae, becomes his wife, and bears to him the evil son Waia. Thereafter she continually reshapes her form by means of the stick and bears children to her sons and grandsons until the kahuna Uaia discovers her true nature and her power collapses. Kio therefore is the first of the line whom Haumea does not take as her husband, and from Kio spring the chiefs. The chant runs:
"Great Haumea, mysterious one,
She returned and lived with her descendants,
She came back again and slept with her children,
Slept with grandchildren to the fifth generation, to the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth,
Ten tapus were brushed aside by the woman Hikawaoopua,
By that woman Haumea.
One body she had, many were her names,
The petted royal one.. . . " 8
(b) Kumulipo version.
"Many bodies had this woman Haumea,
Great Haumea was wonderful,
Wonderful was Haumea in the way she lived,
She lived with her grandchildren,
She slept with her children,
Slept with her child Kauakahi, Kuaimehani was his wife,
Slept with her grandchild Kauahulihonua, Hulihonua was his wife,
Slept with her grandchild Haloa, Hinamano was his wife,
Slept with her grandchild Waia, Huhune was his wife,p. 281
Slept with her grandchild Hinanalo, Haunuu was his wife,
Slept with her grandchild Nauakahili, Haulani was his wife,
Slept with her grandchild Wailoa, Hikopuaneiea was the wife,
Kio was born, Haumea was recognized, Haumea was recognized as withered up,
She was old, she was not desired, . . .
She was shown by Uaia to be worn out,
Dried up back and front,
She stamped on the ground, left Nu‘umea,
The earth shook, the woman ceased living with many husbands,
From Kio came forth the chiefs. . . ." 9
The myth of Haumea's transformation into a breadfruit tree, in which form she is worshiped as Kamehaikana (or -ua), is also laid in Kalihi valley on Oahu and its events are today minutely localized by old Hawaiians who know the legend and are familiar with the valley.
MYTH OF HAUMEA AS KAMEHAIKANA
(a) Poepoe version. Haumea takes human form and as Walinu‘u becomes the wife of Makea and comes to live on the hill Kilohana in the uplands of Kalihi valley on Oahu. There they eat wild bananas, taro, and yam, with goby fish and shrimps from the stream. One day Haumea longs for seafood and goes across to Heeia after crabs and seaweed. As she fills her container she has a premonition that all is not well and hurries home to find that the men of the chief Kumuhonua, who owns the land, have caught Makea asleep and tied his hands, and are hurrying him away to have him burned for poaching. Just at the breadfruit tree which used to stand at Puehuehu on the stream Wai-ka-halulu where the bridge crosses Nu‘uanu stream she overtakes the party and begs to give him a farewell embrace. At her touch his bonds fall away, the tree opens "like the door of a house," and the two disappear into the tree. It is decided to cut down the tree, but the attempt only results in death to the choppers.
(b) Westervelt version (1). Papa and Wakea sail from Kahiki
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to Oahu and make their home up Kalihi valley near the cliff Kilohana. Leleho‘omao is the ruling chief of that section. He finds trespassing going on and his men snatch and bind Wakea while his wife is away at the sea, and carry him down to sacrifice him at the heiau of Pakaka. Papa rescues him by entering the tree with him, and as they flee up Kalihi she leaves behind fragments of her skirt, from which spring the wild blue morning-glory vines of that region. All attempts to cut down the tree fail until the men have rubbed their bodies with coconut oil. They then carve from it the goddess Kamehaikana and it is worshiped on Oahu until taken to Maui, where it becomes a god of Kamehameha. It is known as a god to win land and power and to preserve the government.
(c) Westervelt version (2). Puna-ai-koae, after escaping from his mo‘o wife, goes to live above Kalihi-uka. He is found asleep in the chief Kou's banana patch and is killed and his body hung in the branches of a breadfruit tree. His wife Haumea comes to seek him. The two pass through the body of the tree and escape. From the fragments of Haumea's skirt as she flees up the valley grow the wild akala (Hawaiian raspberry) vines.
(d) Makalei version. Haumea as the husband of Wakea is a beautiful woman dressed in a skirt of yellow banana leaves with a wreath of ti leaves about her head and neck. Kumuhonua is the chief who catches Wakea. The tree stands at Nini, a short distance above Waikahalulu.
"Dark woman of Nu‘umeha
The lonely one, Kamehaikana,
Kamehaikana, goddess of Kauakahi,
Goddess of Kuihewa the shadowy,
In the high dwelling place of the heavenly one of Haiuli,
Goddess wife of Wakea,
Haumea was a woman in the uplands of Kalihi,
Lived in Kalihi and went to the sea,
Entered the breadfruit called uu,
Gained another body for herself, the breadfruit,p. 283
The body of the breadfruit, the trunk of the breadfruit was she,
The breadfruit branch was Kamehaikana,
Kamehaikana was she, many her names,
In them all was embodied Haumea."
(e) Kumulipo version (after Ho‘olapa).
"Haumea, woman of Nu‘umea in Kukuiha‘a,
Mehani-nu‘u the impenetrable, Kuaihelani at Paliuli, Beautiful, dark, darkening the heavens,
Kamehanolani, Kamehaikaua,
Kamehaikaua, god of Kauakahi,
At the parting between earth and heaven, in the high heaven,
Left the land, jealous of her husband's second mate,
Came to the island of Lua, of Ahu of Lua, lived at Wawau,
The goddess became the wife of Makea,
Haumea became a woman of Kalihi in Koolau,
Lived in Kalihi on the edge of the cliff of Laumiha,
Entered a growing tree, she became a breadfruit tree,
A breadfruit-tree body, a trunk and leaves, she had. . . . " 10
The myth of the gods formed out of "the tree of changing leaves" which Haumea secures from Muleiula, daughter of Olopana (perhaps Olomana) in return for acting as her mid-wife and causing painless delivery, tells of the bringing of these gods to Oahu.
MYTH OF HAUMEA AS PATRONESS OF CHILDBIRTH
(a) Hawaiian book of medicine. Muleiula, daughter of Olopana, is about to give birth. Preparations are made for a caesarian operation. Haumea appears and hears the lamentations. She says, "In our land babies are born naturally without cutting open the mother. The name of the remedy is Ka-lau-o-ke-kahuli and its blossom is Kani-ka-wi. It is a tree to be fondled and its
p. 284
blossom is beautiful." The girl ate of it according to instructions. When the child was coming Muleiula felt it being forced out by the plant. Haumea pressed herself against the thigh. After the baby was born, through Haumea's power the tree rose and flew and landed at Pu‘ukumu, Waihee, on Maui, and there it grew. 11
(b) Westervelt version. The divine ancestress Haumea comes to preside over the delayed childbirth of Olopana's daughter Mu-lei-ula in Kahiki. Mu-lei-ula owns a tree called "the tree of changing leaves" of which she is exceedingly fond. It has two blossoms-called Kani-ka-wi, a blossom which sings with a sharp note, and Kani-ka-wa, whose notes come at intervals. Haumea agrees to deliver the child painlessly in return for the gift of the tree. She uses incantations and delivery follows. Haumea travels to Hawaii with the tree but finds no suitable place for its planting. She crosses to Maui and lays down the tree at Pu‘u-kume beside the Waihee stream while she mixes kava to quench her thirst. When she looks for the tree it has taken root. She builds a wall about it and when the tree "blossomed" returns to the land of the gods in Nu‘u-mea-lani. A man cuts down the tree with a stone axe and leaves it for the night. For twenty days and nights a storm rages and the tree is washed out to sea. A branch is washed up on the beach at Kailua and the fish leap about it. Of this branch is formed the god Makalei which draws fish. This was for generations a god of Hawaii. Another branch is made into the god Ku-ke-olo-ewa worshiped by Maui chiefs and used to hang bundles on. The trunk of the tree is found floating by the beach by an old couple who are in search of a god and they build for it the heiau Waihau. It is named Ku-ho‘one‘e-nu‘u and becomes a noted god throughout the islands. The ruling chief brings it to Oahu and builds for it the heiau of Pakaka near the foot of the present Fort street in Honolulu and the chiefs of Oahu take it for their god. 12
The myth is to be interpreted with reference to actual conditions as they existed in old Hawaii. The goddess Haumea
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was worshiped as patron of childbirth. She prescribed the technique for aiding delivery. The tree described as one "of changing leaves" which has blossoms that "sing" is probably the bamboo (ohe), used today for sorcery and out of whose joints the nose-flute was cut. Driftwood on the shore undoubtedly brought strange gods to Hawaii, even before the lumber industry of the Northwest Coast strewed Hawaiian beaches with logs from American forests. 13 The Japanese current is known to bring drift today to Hawaiian beaches from the Asiatic coast. The post on which to hang bundles is a common furnishing for a Hawaiian house. Even the idea of the stick to attract fish, which furnishes the theme for the myth following, may be referred to the old method of using a charred stick rubbed with odorous oils (laau melomelo) to attract fish. 14
The romance of the stick Makalei "that attracted the fish of Moa-ula-nui-akea in the land where the sun goes down" (ka laau pi‘i ona a ka i‘a o Moa-ula-nui-akea-i-kaulana) is laid in the districts of Kailua and Waimanalo on the north side of the island of Oahu in the days of Olomana. It ran at length as a serial story in the Hawaiian newspaper Kuokoa from January 6, 1922. to January 10, 1924, when the writer, Samuel Kaiakea Kekoowai, died leaving the tale incomplete. The story is developed at great length with a wealth of descriptive detail, scraps of chant and story, domestic scenes--altogether a mine of folk material, through which runs the vein of the supernatural in strict accord with native traditional belief today in its compromise between the official religion accepted from foreign teachers and the family gods inherited through the irrevocable tie of blood and still to be held sacred and venerated by their descendants.
ROMANCE OF THE STICK MAKALEI
(a) Makalei romance version. An orphan boy whose brown head of hair shows him to be a child of the goddess Pele is brought up by his grandmother Niula (Ninula) at Makawao in the foothills below the cliff back of Waimanalo where the waters of a
p. 286
little spring mingle with those of the Mauna-wili pond and flow thence into the great fishpond of Ka-wai-nui. The people of the district are summoned to clean the fishpond, but at night when the fish taken from the pond are distributed to the helpers the little orphan is off at play and gets no fish to carry home to his grandmother. Twice this happens and the unfortunate omission not only arouses the old lady's wrath but also "shakes the foundation pillars of Nu‘umealani," and the goddess Haumea (Haumea-nui-a-ke-aiwaiwa), the wonderful one of many forms from Polapola, comes in the shape of a beautiful woman to direct the revenge in such a way that her small descendant shall rise to distinction in the land by attracting the attention of its chiefs. By means of the stick Makalei which has been entrusted to the keeping of his grandmother, the boy leads the fish out of the great pond and conducts them into his own small spring. There is great consternation among the chief's caretakers when this loss is discovered. A kahuna consults a water gourd and is able to discern the source of the trouble but not to discover what has become of the fish or of the brown-haired boy the neglect of whom has caused the damage. The rest of the story is occupied in telling of the search for the child and the way in which he is concealed by his supernatural ancestors until the time is ripe for him to wed the chief's daughter and become great in the land. The chief and his land agent win wives and the mysterious Haumea withdraws to Nu‘umealani with her mission fulfilled.
In Westervelt's story of Keaomelemele (Golden cloud), the fish-attracting tree Makalei is brought from Nu‘umealani and planted by the gods in the earthly paradise of Paliula (Paliuli) on Hawaii. Accompanying it is a tree of never-failing vegetable food supply. In this garden of Paliula the young virgin is reared until her marriage. Later the trees are transferred to Oahu at the time of the marriage of a younger couple.
KEAOMELEMELE TREE MYTH
The bird Iwa brings the tree Makalei from Nu‘umealani and gives it to Waka to plant in the garden of Paliula in the uplands of Ola‘a on Hawaii. There Paliula lives under the care of
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[paragraph continues] Waka. With the tree Makalei comes the tree Ka-lala-i-ka-wai (The branch in the water) or Maku‘u-kao (Supplying endless abundance). The first tree attracts fish (i‘a), the second provides vegetable food (ai); "Call this tree and food would appear." After Paliula has left the garden, the trees are brought thence for the marriage of a younger brother and sister on Oahu. The food tree is successfully conveyed up Nu‘uanu valley, but when the fish tree starts to ascend, the little people of the valley are frightened and raise a shout. The tree falls at Kawai-nui (near Waimanalo), thence fish are scattered through the waters all about the island. 15
It is here evident that the fruitful trees are symbolic of the potential power of producing offspring in the maturing youth or maiden, thus furnishing a fresh branch of never-failing posterity upon the family stock. The southern parallel is contained in the story of Longa-poa, sometimes connected with that of Kae who visits the island of virgins, which is discussed under the romance of Keanaelike.
STORY OF LONGAPOA AND THE TREE OF PLENTY
Tongan version. Loau, king of Haamea in Tonga-tabu, sails "to the horizon," passing on the way the known islands of the Tongan group, then a "red sea," a "sea of pumice," a "white sea." At the horizon he steers for the whirlpool that leads to the underworld. Longapoa jumps out and eventually reaches an island where grows a tree (the puko tree) a branch of which, roasted, supplies an oven of food of every imaginable kind. The gods of the island give him a branch to take home with him, but warn him that it must be planted before a certain time. He forgets the warning, hence the puko tree does not produce food today. 16
The idea is further developed in an enigmatical saying applied to spots originally planted or occupied by the gods, that if one has not visited this spot one does not know the place itself. Such spots are called the rootstock or beginning
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[paragraph continues] (kumu). The saying perhaps refers to the recitation of a genealogy that misses the final step needed to connect it with the ancestral stock.
Mrs. Pokini Robinson knew of a little water hole on Oahu up somewhere in Wahiawa of which the natives say, "If you bathe in that pool you have seen Oahu." On Molokai it is said that "no one knows Molokai" who has not visited the cave of Hina (Ke-ana-o-Hina) which divides Mapulehu and Kaluaaha. It is customary to place a gift of a lei at this sacred place and for women to wear a ti leaf protection in approaching it. In the district of Anahulu, according to an old Hawaiian of that district named Kahuila, there is to be seen the foundation of an old-style house where Pu‘u-anahulu is said to have lived, from whom the district is named; and the saying is, "If you have not seen Pu‘u-anahulu [the foundation spot] you have not seen Pu‘uanahulu [the district]." Kilinahi Kaleo used the same phrase for the two rocks on the sea side of Kauiki called niu-o-Kane-a-me-Kanaloa (coconuts of Kane and Kanaloa). These are the kumu-o-Kauiki, the source from which the hill sprang, and if you have not seen these "you have not seen Kauiki."
On the island of Maui near the sea road to the wharf as it enters Keanae village from the western side one is shown the Kumu-o-Keanae, a small patch of ground planted with taro of which the saying is, "If you have not seen Keanae, you have not seen Keanae." This is the original source of all the taro cultivated in Keanae. The first earth was placed here when the taro patches were first formed. It is therefore sacred and belongs to the gods. Three or four taro tops planted here will supply enough taro for a whole family. If a load is pulled, the next day there will be as much left as ever. 17 A similar idea is reported from Pukapuka where a particular patch among the taro beds is called "the navel of the land" (te pito o te wenua). 18 In San Cristoval the legend is that the first yam planting came from a single yam brought by the serpent deity Argunua, which when sliced provided an unfailing supply of yam planting. 19
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Haumea is regarded as goddess of fertility in the wild plants of the forest, and she is worshiped as presiding over childbirth. She is also feared as an ogress. The term haumia as applied to ceremonial defilement for women during the period of menstruation seems to be associated with these attributes. Haumia is known to the Maori as an ogress who devours her own children. As goddess of the fernroot she is invoked to ward off witchcraft. 20 The name may be preserved in a Marquesan deity cited by Garcia as Haumei, a god who devours, especially the eyes. 21 In Tahiti, Haumea is the ogress Nona, ancestress of the Tafa‘i group. 22 In Vahitahi of the Tuamotus, Faumea is an eel-woman:
Tuamotus. Tagaroa sails to the land of Faumea. Faumea is a woman who has eels in her vagina which kill men, but she teaches Tagaroa how to entice them outside. He sleeps with her and she bears Tu-nui-ka-rere (or Ratu-nui) and Turi-a-faumea. Turi makes Hina-a-rauriki his wife. They go surfing. The demon octopus Rogo-tumu-here seizes Hina and carries her away to the bottom of the ocean. Turi weeps for her. Tagaroa, Tu-nui, and Turi build a boat and Tagaroa recites a canoe-launching chant. Faumea withdraws the wind into the sweat of her armpit and Tagaroa utters a chant for its release. He bids Faumea catch the girdle of Tu-nui-ka-rere, who slips away into the sky and is lost to her. Turi and Tagaroa sail out to Rogo-tumu-here's abode. Tagaroa baits his hook with sacred red feathers and Rogo is drawn up into the canoe. One tentacle after another Tagaroa cuts off until the head comes up. Tagaroa cuts that off and Hina is drawn out from it covered with slime. 23
In Hawaii, Haumea is generally represented as living on Oahu, either up Kalihi valley, like Kapo, or, as in the Pupuhuluena story, on the north side of the island with her attendants, to whom, when she causes a famine to fall on the land, she leaves a supply of wild food plants to preserve them from famine. 24 In the story of Kaulu she lives at Nuihele in Kalapana,
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and Kaulu kills her by throwing nets about her as she sleeps, the last of which, Maoleha, which she is unable to break, is the same as that used in the divination ceremony of shaking out food over the land in the Makahiki festival, 25 the object of which is to insure food for the coming year. Kaulu, whose name means "growth in plants," is the famous voyager who robs the garden of the gods of cultivated plants, thus breaking the power of the goddess to vent her anger by withdrawing the wild plants of the forest, which must nevertheless be resorted to for vegetable food at certain seasons of the year when crops are maturing.
Thus it is in her character as destroyer or guardian of wild growth and patroness of childbirth that Haumea becomes, like La‘ila‘i, the producer or, like Pele, the destroyer of living things. Goddess of the "sacred earth," she is venerated as the spiritual essence of that ageless womb out of which life is produced in changing forms and which finally, in the body of a woman, bears to Papa, through union with Wakea, the human race, or, more specifically, the Hawaiian people in direct descent from the ancestral gods.
Raymond
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