Text: This subject discussed her experience with the Hawaiian legend/superstition that one can’t take pork across the Pali Highway in Oahu. According to her, if you were to drive across the highway with any sort of pork product, your car would mysteriously break down or some other form of bad luck would befall you and your passengers. The subject stated that this was a belief that people took very seriously, even opting to go around the long way via an alternate route – the Likelike Highway – if they absolutely want to bring pork products home or just transport them. She also explained that this superstition was based on the mythological story of the goddess Pele (the goddess of volcanoes) and Kamapua’a (a half-pig demigod) and their failed relationship. She said that the way her father explained it to her is that the two divine beings made a pact to keep away from each other after their breakup and stay on their respective sides of the island. So, if one were to bring pork across the Pali Highway, they would symbolically be bringing Kamapua’a to Pele’s part of the island, which would make her mad. As such, Pele would bring some sort of misfortune onto the traveller as a punishment.

Context: A native to Hawaii, this subject first came across this myth when she drove across the Pali Highway with her dad. He told her the story not because they were bringing pork products with them, but just because he thought it might interest her; she remembers being worried that the goddesses’ wrath would apply if someone had also recently eaten pork (as she had that day), but her dad told her that it didn’t count. She believes that this myth exists because the mythology of Hawaii and its many dieties is very important to the natives. As such, she believes the superstition is a byproduct of respect for the religion/spirituality than it would be just a mere silly explanation for why some cars happened to break down on the highway by chance.

Interpretation: I think that this myth is a way of creating a sort of graspable or tangible connection between the land and the mythos behind it – or at least to the divine beings that inhabit it. I believe it also provides an explanation that locals might connect to more as to why their vehicles would mysteriously break down along the highway. It also helps keep the mythology alive, as it blends traditional narratives of the gods with modern day technologies and modes of transportation. It’s a useful means of passing down the histories and practices associated with this spirituality/religion/culture of native Hawaiians and ensuring its continued existence and belief.