Pele, Fire Goddess Of Hawaii: Background information when reading The Islands at the End of the World

Pele, Fire Goddess Of Hawaii

This article relates to The Islands at the End of the World

In The Islands at the End of the World, Leilani's grandfather tells her, "Pele's your guardian spirit, yeah? Goddess of lightning." Leilani, who suffers from epilepsy, replies, "Yeah. Goddess of the lightning in my head."

Pele (pronounced "pell-ay") is the fire goddess of Hawaii, and is powerful and even destructive. According to legend, she resides in a crater in the volcano of Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island. The story goes that she was one of six daughters and seven sons. She came from Tahiti, but the reasons for her travel from there to Hawaii vary from legend to legend. One says that she was restless and needed to move. Another says that she left Tahiti to flee from her sister, an ocean goddess, whose husband she had stolen. And yet another says that a great flood drove her on.

As Pele traveled, she created volcanic eruptions. First she came to Lehua (a small, uninhabited island in Hawaii) but could not make a home there. Then she traveled to Kauai (the geologically oldest island of Hawaii), then Oahu, Molokai, Maui and finally ended up at the volcano of Kilauea. Interesting to note is that her route followed the progression of actual volcanic activity over geologic time.

A central story about Pele is that she fell in love with a chief named Lohiau, who lived on a neighboring island. Pele gave her sister, Hi'iaka, magical powers and then asked her to fetch Lohiau. But when Hi'iaka arrived at this island, he had already died of a broken heart, waiting for Pele. Hi'iaka used her powers to bring him back to life and as they traveled back to Pele, she fell in love with him. Pele got angry and killed Lohiau (the poor guy died twice) but Hi'iaka resurrected him (again) with her magic, and they lived together.

There are many stories about Pele's temper, usually caused by jealousy or anger at someone's arrogance, which takes the form of volcanic activity and lava flows. The Hawaiian word, pele, means molten lava. Respect for Pele among Hawaiians has lasted longer than for any other god or goddess, perhaps because she has made her temper visible time and again. An active volcano demands respect!

There is a more recent legend that states that Pele will curse people with bad luck if they take rocks home from the Hawaiian islands. This was invented by a park ranger who, despite a law preventing taking the rocks, wanted to up the ante for visitors. The upshot of this is that hundreds of tons of rocks and even sand are sent back to Hawaii each year by guilty vacationers.

Painting of Pele by Herb Kawainui Kane

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to The Islands at the End of the World. It originally ran in October 2014 and has been updated for the August 2015 paperback edition. Go to magazine.