Saturday, January 22, 2011

For We Wrestle Not..

Legends, Myths and then some~

What said her Priesthood?
“Woe to this island if ever a woman should handle or gather the berries of Peelè
Accursed were she!
And woe to this island if ever a woman should climb to the dwelling of Peelè the Goddess!


For Native Hawaiians, Kīlauea is considered the "body" of Pele, the volcano goddess of ancient Hawaiian legend. Several lava formations are named after her, including Pele's tears (small droplets of lava that cool in the air and retain their teardrop shapes) and Pele's hair ..


In Hawaiian mythology, Kīlauea is where most of the conflict between Pele and the rain god Kamapuaʻa took place. Halemaʻumaʻu, "House of the ʻamaʻumaʻu fern", derives its name from the final struggle between the two gods: since it was the favorite residence of Pele, Kamapuaʻa, hard-pressed by Pele's ability to make lava spout from the ground at will,
covered it with the fronds of the fern.
Choking from the smoke which could not escape anymore, Pele emerged. 
 
'If you drown me with water, you will still not have me as a woman,' she laughed.
'If you burn me with fire, your own barrenness will starve you,' he retorted.
In the deadlock of their destiny, Pele yielded..
(You can read the whole story here)

(Emissions at their worst here)!

The rusty singed appearance of the young fronds of the ʻamaʻumaʻu was said to be a product of the legendary struggle between Kamapua'a and Pele


More important than myth..here is another story-that of the high chiefess Kapiolani (Daughter of Keawe-mau-hili, also high chief of the district of Hilo (side of the island I reside) and her conflict with Pele, the goddess of Kilauea, in December of 1824.
"descending several hundred feet, and there joined in a prayer to Jehovah. She also ate the berries consecrated to Pele, and threw stones into the volcano.
 It was now evening, and a hut was built to shelter her until the next day came, when she could have the opportunity of descending into the crater..

Aerial view -slightly saturated, taken from the chopper
(previous post)
(Ohelo Berries growing on the slopes)

Eph. 6:12
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places".

One from the Sunrise
Dawned on His people and slowly before him
Vanished shadow-like
Gods and Goddesses,
None but the terrible Peelè remaining as Kapiolani
Ascended her mountain..
..
 “I dare her, let Peelè avenge herself!”
Into the flame-billows dashed the berries, and drove the demon from Hawa-i-ee.
Lord Tennyson

This here below will take you to a very informative link

12 comments:

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Very interesting!

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Beautiful photos!

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

The header is very beautiful.

rainfield61 said...

I am impressed by this, "covered it with the fronds of the fern".

It lets my imagination fly high.

Ginny Hartzler said...

These pictures that tell the story are awesome! Did you take them all? I see you have gotten another web site for your background, too.

Joyful said...

Very interesting. I used to see those fair maidens being prepared for sacrifice (in old movies). My heart would go out to them for I felt they were all in darkness. I was a young child then and in Sunday School. I know it would be politically incorrect to say that now but it is still how I feel :-0.

I didn't know that the name Kilauea was an area of the Island. I had often wondered about it but didn't ask. Thanks for the lesson in the history of the Island.

Ginny Hartzler said...

I did try all the different templates, but the header was small on all of them! A blog friend says she just saw it being reported as a blogger issue by someone, and it has gone un fixed so far.

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Very informative post!

Phivos Nicolaides said...

What a wonderful blog you have and the various sounds of the birds, waters and nature are so inspiring. Congratulations

MadSnapper said...

you know i like that big curl in the header and the curly frond is wonderful. thanks for all the info and i like the map a lot. your blog looks good, like the new look.

Eaton Bennett aka Berenice Albrecht said...

Dear Regina, gorgeous ferns pics, as always. Interesting how the original Hawaiians interpreted the volcanic activity. It was a theme that seemed to be in South America as well. I'm guessing around the same period?

I changed my header pic and it's small and uninteresting...I read one of the comments here that it is actually a blogger problem, thank goodness. I thought they had changed it for good.

fond regards,
Eaton

The Write Girl said...

The volcano story is quite intriguing. Thanks for the history. I love your header as well. Lovely.

Let's be perfectly clear- the war on free speech is spiritual!