Author Archives: Dominique Fong

Superstition – Hawaiian

Folkore: Hawaiian superstitions and beliefs

There’s one part of the islands on a mountain called the Pali Highway. You can’t carry pork with you. There was a group of people who went there and they had pork and the car stopped completely and won’t start.

Analysis:

My mom heard these from a storyteller who collected ghost stories. She’s pretty superstitious so she’ll make sure you’re clean after the beach and that you respect people’s graves and such. But I don’t know the origin of the night marchers.

My Analysis:

Pork is a sacred symbol to the indigenous people, so to carry it with your would be disrespecting the core of the island. It is imperative that one release it so that good fortune will be on your side.

Superstition – Hawaiian

Folklore: Hawaiian superstitions/beliefs

1. Don’t take black sand from the beach or you’ll anger the goddess of the volcano. She’s temperamental and stuff. You have to dust yourself off after you sit down.

2. Then there’s the night marchers. The ghosts of soldiers who walk on a specific trail they march one. There was one kid whose bed was on the trail and it’s not good to be there. You’ll get a fever and stuff.

Analysis:

My mom heard these from a storyteller who collected ghost stories. She’s pretty superstitious so she’ll make sure you’re clean after the beach and that you respect people’s graves and such. But I don’t know the origin of the night marchers.

My Analysis:

Hawaiian superstitions are interesting. The first one deals with the beach, a big tourist staple in Hawaii.  Because they surround the entire volcanic island and are considered to be the property of the gods, they are sacred.  Superstitions and myths are often intertwined, as this one is.  Dusting off black sand to not anger the gods signifies a reverence for nature and for a sacred truth.

Proverb

Folklore: Simile, a “saying”

“It’s as easy as shooting monkeys in a barrel.”

Analysis:

It means like it’s as easy as a piece of cake. There’s even a game out from this, where there’s these monkey with claws and you try to pull them out from a bucket. I learned it when I was in elementary school. It might come from the Mid-West or Southern white… It might refer to slavery. The word “monkey” was used to describe black people. “Monkey porch” implies lazy black people and is pretty derogatory.

My Analysis:

This is a difficult metaphor to decipher, mainly because I had never heard anything remotely similar to this saying. When read closely, it is a cruel picture: having monkeys trapped in a barrel, helpless, and then shooting them is a barbaric way of asserting superiority over something. I’m not sure of Chris’s slavery interpretation, but it definitely signifies superiority and something about trapping an inferior group.  It mocks the easiness of the action.  Of course it would be easy to shoot the monkeys if they are all trapped inside a barrel.

Myth – Hawaiian

Folklore: Hawaiian myth

Maui was also a skilled fisherman. Before Hawaiian islands came to be, he was fishing one day, and his huge hook got caught. Then he pulled and hauled out the 8 major islands, they were pulled out of the water.

Analysis:

I learned it in the third or fourth grade when the teacher told us. The land, farming and the sun were the core part of their lives. They were so central and stories were created around them to explain things and to be passed down.

My Analysis:

This is another myth based on Maui, explaining the origin of the Hawaiian islands. It definitely takes place outside of this time and goes all the way back to the genesis. Fishing is another staple of Hawaii (being an island), and it’s ironic that he accidentally got his hook caught on the islands and pulled them out. It’s funny, lighthearted, and makes it seem like the Hawaiian islands were coincidentally formed.

Annotation: Book

Beckwith, Martha. Hawaiian Mythology. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1977. “Fishing exploits” found on pages 215-17.

Myth – Hawaiian

Folklore: Hawaiian myth

Maui was a demi-god, half human and god. There’s one story, where in ancient times, the sun would go around the earth really fast. People couldn’t farm or work because it was never a full day.  Then Maui took a lasso and lassoed the sun and halted it down, which caused the days to be longer so people could eat and slow down.

Annotation: Book

Beckwith, Martha. Hawaiian Mythology. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1977. “Snaring of the sun” found on page 229.

My Analysis:

This is a sacred truth that nearly all Hawaiians know, one that explains the origin of the day.  Maui, on which one of the islands is named after, has incredible strength and compassion for the people of Earth. It shows how he can control the sun.  This myth also explains the origin of farming and how important agriculture was to the people. Most of their days revolved around how much sunlight occurred during the day.