--- title: Genealogy of the Pele Family — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · full text with trees description: Genealogy of the Pele Family, «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: There were gods, goddesses, and ghost-gods in the Pele family. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/13/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mytholo…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/) / Genealogy of the Pele Family # Genealogy of the Pele Family Genealogy of the Pele Family of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole text, 123 sentences and 1990 words. 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There were gods, goddesses, and ghost-gods in the Pele family.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Almost all had their home in volcanic fires and were connected with all the various natural fire phenomena such as earthquakes, eruptions, smoke clouds, thunder, and lightning.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele was the supreme ruler of the household.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") She had a number of brothers and sisters.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") There were also many au-makuas, or ancestor ghost-gods, who were supposed to have been sent into the family by incantations and sacrifices.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") Sometimes when death came among the Hawaiians, a part of the body of the dead person would be thrown into the living volcano, Kilauea, with all ceremony.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") It was supposed that the spirit also went into the flame, finding there its permanent dwelling-place.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") This spirit became a Pele-au-makua.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele’s brother, Ka-moho-alii, and her older sister, Na-maka-o-ka-hai, however, belonged to the powers of the sea.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-moho-alii, whose name was sometimes given as Ka-moo-alii, was king of the sharks.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") He was a favorite of the fire-goddess Pele.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") Na-maka-o-ka-hai, a sea-goddess, as a result of family trouble, became Pele’s most bitter enemy, fighting her with floods of water, according to the legends.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus the original household represented the two eternal enemies, fire and water.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") One set of legends says that Kane-hoa-lani was the father and Hina-alii was the mother.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane was one of the four great gods of Polynesia,—Ku, Kane, Lono, and Kanaloa.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-hoa-lani might be interpreted as “Kane, the divine companion or friend.”[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") A better rendering is “Kane, the divine fire-maker.”[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") In most of the legends and genealogies he is given a place among Pele’s brothers.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") There were many Hinas.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") The great Hina was a goddess whose stories frequently placed her in close relation to the moon.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") —It seems far-fetched to give Hina a place in the Pele family.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") The name was evidently brought to the Hawaiian Islands from the South Seas and in process of time was grafted into the Pele myth.—[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") Another set of legends published in the earliest newspapers, printed in the Hawaiian language, say that Ku-waha-ilo and Haumea were the parents.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") Ku was the fiercest and most powerful of the four chief gods.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") Haumea had another name, Papa.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") She was the earth.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") This parentage was carried out in the most diverse as well as the most ancient of the legends and seems to be worthy of acceptance.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") Ku-waha-ilo is in some legends called Ku-aha-ilo.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") In both cases the name means “Ku with the wormy mouth,” or “Ku, the man-eater” (The cannibal), whose act made him ferocious and inhuman in the eyes of the Hawaiians.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele has long been the fire-goddess of the Hawaiians.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") Her home was in the great fire-pit of the volcano of Kilauea on the island of Hawaii, and all the eruptions of lava have borne her name wherever they may have appeared.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus the word “Pele” has been used with three distinct definitions by the old Hawaiians.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele, the fire-goddess; Pele, a volcano or a fire-pit in any land; and Pele, an eruption of lava.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") King Kalakaua was very much interested in explaining the origin of some of the great Hawaiian myths and legends.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") He did not make any statement about the parents of the legendary family, but said that the Pele family was driven from Samoa in the eleventh century, finding a home in the southwestern part of the island Hawaii near the volcano Kilauea.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") There they lived until an eruption surrounded and overwhelmed them in living fire.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") After a time the native imagination, which always credited ghost-gods, placed this family among the most powerful au-makuas and gave them a home in the heart of the crater.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") From this beginning, he thought, grew the stories of the Pele family.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") The trouble with Kalakaua’s version is that it does not take into account the relation of Pele to various parts of Polynesia.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") The early inhabitants of the region around Hilo in the southwestern part of the island Hawaii, near Kilauea, brought many names and legends from far-away Polynesian lands to Hawaii.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") Hilo (formerly called Hiro), meaning to “twist” or “turn,” was derived from Whiro, a great Polynesian traveller and sea-robber.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") The stories of Maui and Puna came from other lands, so also came some of the myths of Pele.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") Fornander, in “The Polynesian Race,” says: “In Hawaiian, Pele is the fire-goddess who dwells in volcanoes.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") In Samoan, Fee is a personage with nearly similar functions.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") In Tahitian, Pere is a volcano.”[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") These varieties of the name Pele, Fornander carries back also to the pre-Malay dialects of the Indian Archipelago, where pelah means “hot,” belem to “burn.”[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he goes back still farther to the Celtic Bel or Belen (the sun god), the Spartan Bela (the sun), and the Babylonian god Bel.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") It might be worth while for some student of the Atlantic Coast or Europe to find the derivation of the name Pele as applied to the explosive volcano of Martinique, and note its apparent connection with the Pacific languages.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") In Raratonga is found a legend which approaches the Hawaiian stories more nearly than any other from foreign sources.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") There the great goddess of fire was named Mahuike, who was known throughout Polynesia as the divine guardian of fire.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") It was from her that Maui the demi-god was represented by many legends as procuring fire for mankind.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") Her daughter, also a fire-goddess, was Pere, a name identical with the Hawaiian Pele, the letters l and r being interchangeable.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") This Pere became angry and blew off the top of the island Fakarava.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Earthquakes and explosions terrified the people.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Mahuike tried to make Pere quiet down, and finally drove her away.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") Pere leaped into the sea and fled to Va-ihi (Hawaii).[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") A somewhat similar story comes in from Samoa.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") Mahuike, the god of fire in Samoa, drove his daughter away.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") This daughter passed under the ocean from Samoa to Nuuhiwa.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") After establishing a volcano there, the spirit of unrest came upon her and she again passed under the sea to the Hawaiian Islands, where she determined to stay forever.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") In Samoa one of the fire-gods, according to some authorities, was Fe-e, a name almost the same as Pele, yet nearly all the Samoan legends describe Fe-e as a cuttlefish possessing divine power, and at enmity with fire.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") Hon.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") S. Percy Smith, who was for a long time Minister of Native Affairs in New Zealand and now is President of the Polynesian Society for Legendary and Historical Research, writes that the full name for Pele among the New Zealand Maoris is “Para-whenua-mea, which through well-known letter changes is identical with the full Hawaiian name Pele-honua-mea.”[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") From several continued Pele stories in newspapers in the native language, about 1865, the following sketch of the Pele family is compiled:[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") The god Ku, under the name Ku-waha-ilo, was the father.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") Haumea was the mother.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") Her father was a man-eater.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") Her mother was a precipice (i.e., belonged to the earth).[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") Others say Ku-waha-ilo had neither father nor mother, but dwelt in the far-off heavens.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") (This probably meant that he lived beyond the most distant boundary of the horizon.)[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") Two daughters were born.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") The first, Na-maka-o-ka-hai, was born from the breasts of Haumea.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele was born from the thighs.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") After this the brothers and sisters were given life by Haumea.[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-moho-alii, the shark-god, was born from the top of the head.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") He was the elder brother, the caretaker of the family, always self-denying and ready to answer any call from his relatives.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-hekili, Kane who had the thunder, was born from the mouth.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") Kauwila-nui, who ruled the lightning, came from the flashing eyes of Haumea.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus the family came from the arms, from the wrists, the palms of the hands, the fingers, the various joints, and even from the toes.[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") A modern reader would think that Haumea as Mother Earth threw out her children in the natural outburst of earth forces, but it is extremely doubtful if the old Hawaiians had any such idea.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") Yet the expression that Haumea was a precipice might imply a misty feeling in that direction.[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") The youngest of the family, Hiiaka-in-the-bosom-of-Pele, was born an egg.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") After she had been carefully warmed and nourished by Pele, she became a beautiful child.[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") When she grew into womanhood she was the bravest, the most powerful, except Pele, and the most gentle and lovable of all the sisters.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") The names of the members of the household of fire are worth noting as revealing the Hawaiian recognition of the different forces of nature.[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") Some said there were forty sisters.[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") One list gives only four.[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") They were almost all called “The Hiiakas.”[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") Ellis in 1823 said the name meant “cloud holder.”[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") Fornander says it means “twilight bearer.”[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") Hii conveys the idea of lifting on the hip and arm so as to make carrying easy.[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") Aka means usually “shadow,” and pictures the long shadows of the clouds across the sky as evening comes.[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") There is really no twilight worth mentioning in the Hawaiian Islands and Hiiaka would be better interpreted as “lifting sunset shadows,” or holding up the smoke clouds while their shadows fall over the fires of the crater, conveying the idea of fire-light shining up under smoke clouds as they rise from the lake of fire.[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hiiakas were “shadow bearers.”[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") There were eight well-known sisters:[95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") Hiiaka-kapu-ena-ena (Hiiaka-of-the-burning-tabu), known also as Hiiaka-pua-ena-ena (Hiiaka-of-the-burning-flower) and also as Hiiaka-pu-ena-ena (Hiiaka-of-the-burning-hills).[96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") Hiiaka-wawahi-lani (Hiiaka-breaking-the-heavens-for-the-heavy-rain-to-fall).[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") Hiiaka-noho-lani (Hiiaka-dwelling-in-the-skies).[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") Hiiaka-makole-wawahi-waa (Hiiaka-the-fire-eyed-canoe-breaker).[99](99/ "tree and pragmatics") Hiiaka-kaa-lawa-maka (Hiiaka - with - quick - glancing - eyes).[100](100/ "tree and pragmatics") Hiiaka-ka-lei-ia (Hiiaka-encircled-by-garlands-of-smoke-clouds).[101](101/ "tree and pragmatics") Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele (Hiiaka-in-the-bosom-of-Pele), who was known also as the young Hiiaka.[102](102/ "tree and pragmatics") Some of the legends say that Kapo was one of Pele’s sisters.[103](103/ "tree and pragmatics") Kapo was a vile, murderous poison-goddess connected with the idea of “praying to death,” \[7\] and in the better legends is dropped out of the Pele family.[104](104/ "tree and pragmatics") There were eleven well-known brothers:[105](105/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-moho-alii (The-dragon-or-shark-king).[106](106/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-hekili (Kane-the-thunderer).[107](107/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-pohaku-kaa (Kane-rolling-stones, or The-earthquake-maker).[108](108/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-hoa-lani (Kane-the-divine-fire-maker).[109](109/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-huli-honua (Kane-turning-the-earth-upside-down-in-eruptions-and-earthquakes).[110](110/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-kauwila-nui (Kane-who-ruled-the-great-lightning).[111](111/ "tree and pragmatics") Kane-huli-koa (Kane-who-broke-coral-reefs).[112](112/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-poha-i-kahi ola (Explosion-in-the-place-of-life, i.e., fountains of bursting gas in the living fire).[113](113/ "tree and pragmatics") Ke-ua-a-ke-po (The-rain-in-the-night, or The-rain-of-fire-more-visible-at-night).[114](114/ "tree and pragmatics") Ke-o-ahi-kama-kaua (The-fire-thrusting-child-of-war).[115](115/ "tree and pragmatics") Lono-makua (Lono-the-father-who-had-charge-of-the-crater-and-its-fire).[116](116/ "tree and pragmatics") The Thunderer and the Child-of-War were said to be hunchbacks.[117](117/ "tree and pragmatics") According to the different legends Pele had four husbands, each of whom lived with her for a time.[118](118/ "tree and pragmatics") Two of these were with her in the ancient homes of the Hawaiians, Kuai-he-lani \[8\] and Hapakuela.[119](119/ "tree and pragmatics") These husbands were Aukele-nui-a-iku and Wahieloa.[120](120/ "tree and pragmatics") Two husbands came to her while she dwelt in Kilauea, her palace of fire in the Hawaiian Islands.[121](121/ "tree and pragmatics") One was the rough Kama-puaa, the other was Lohiau, the handsome king of Kauai.[122](122/ "tree and pragmatics") XI[123](123/ "tree and pragmatics") - 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