Tag Archives: fire

Tradition – India

Nationality: Indian-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English

My informant witnessed this marriage ceremony during his last trip to India. He specifically returned to India to be present for the marriage of his cousin and her husband. He told me the tradition of “saptapadi.” He told me that in India, fire is considered to be very powerful and important. Thus, during weddings, the bride and the groom will often walk around a large fire seven times. In the Hindu culture, this makes the marriage official and complete.

Each time that the bride and the groom walk around the fire, they say a phrase that represents another step towards marriage. The first phrase involves a plea to the gods to bless them with a respectable life filled with enough food for an entire family. In the second walk around the fire, the couple prays and asks for health and strength so that they can have a long life together. The third time they walk around the fire, the gods give them strength through spiritual means. The fourth walk around the fire represents their love for one another. During this walk, they ask that they be happy together forever and always love and respect one another. In the fifth walk around the fire, the couple asks to be blessed with many loving children. In the sixth walk around the fire, the couple asks to go through life together, even if they may go through tragedy and sorrow. In the final walk around the fire, the couple prays for everyone in the world. They pray that everyone lives a life of peace, and that everyone is loyal together and finds pure companionship. After the bride and the groom fulfill this tradition, they say some words together that are like the vows said during Western weddings.

My informant said that it was very interesting to attend a Hindu ceremony. It is the first one that he has been to, and he says that it makes him feel much closer to his culture. It also makes him realize how important marriage and companionship in India is. He said that very few couples get divorced, even if things are very bad. The couple will still live together and try to work things out. I think that marriage is very sacred in India. In Western culture, more and more people get divorced. Oftentimes, one will hear about a couple that divorces after just two months of living together. I believe that going through this tradition of saptapadi makes a couple feel closer and more connected, not just between the couple but also with the families who attend the wedding, because they have all undergone this tradition as well.

Myth – Hawaii

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hawaii
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

Maui is a legendary demi-god of ancient Hawaii. He was a half man and half god and did many things—he is known as the hawaii superman. One day, Maui’s mother wanted to eat fish, so she sent her sons out to fish in the oceans. Her sons caught fish and returned to the shore, where they saw a fire burning in the mountainside. For a long time, people had not cooked with fire since Haleakala (the mountain on the island of Maui) went dormant and was not producing hot coals to cook with. Basically, everyone was eating raw food. Maui ran up to the fire and when he approached, he saw a family of birds tending to the fire. As he went closer, however, he saw that the birds extinguished the fire, hiding the secret from Maui. The birds were a type of bird named Alae. For days, Maui tried to get close to the fire but the birds would always extinguish the fire when they saw him. One day, Maui told his brothers to go out fishing in the canoe—he was going to sneak up on the birds. However, Alae saw that there were only 3 brothers in the canoe so she told the birds not to make the fire. One day, Maui got kapa (cloth) and rolled it up to look like a human and put it in the canoe. Then, he snuck up on the birds who actually built the fire and grabbed Alae by the throat. Maui initially wanted to kill Alae for not being cooperative but Alae reminded him that if he killed her, the fire would be lost forever. Alae finally agreed and told Maui that if he rubbed the stalks of water plants together, fire would start. However, Maui did not want Alae to be let go so easily, so Maui guarded Alae while he tried the idea. However, only water came out when he rubbed the stalks together. He squeezed the bird’s throat harder, and the bird screamed that he needed to use a green stick for fire. The sticks became warm, but still there was no fire. Maui squeezed the bird’s throat even harder until she finally screamed the real secret. Maui grabbed Alae and rubbed a fire stick against her head so that the feathers on her head burned off. To this day, Alae birds are bald and the people of Maui have fire.

My informant is from Hawaii, and came to California for college. This story is a very popular one from where he comes from. Although the people of Hawaii know that this story is not true, they still celebrate Maui’s achievements. There is even a song called “Maui Hawaiian Sup’pa Man” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. My informant says that in Hawaii, there are many stories like this to explain many things of the modern world. For example, there are also similar stories that tell the story of the beginning of the Hawaiian Islands. These are all very traditional stories, and almost everyone where my informant comes from knows of them. Many of the children hear the stories from their parents, and friends will also often pass the stories around. Schools also tell of these stories during “story time.” This story reminds me of many of the Greek and Roman stories for explaining things, such as how the flute was made, or how fire was discovered. It is clear that cultures often like to have explanations for why things are the way they are.

Annotation: This myth with a slight variation was found on:
Kamakau, Samuel. “Gets Fire from ‘Alae (Mud Hen).” Traditions of O’ahu. APDI. 26 Apr 2007             <http://apdl.kcc.hawaii.edu/~oahu/stories/waianae/maui/gettingfire.htm>.