Stealing Rocks From Paradise: Pele and Her Vengeance
The Hawaiian Islands are home to a diverse population. Much of this population comes from Polynesian roots, and culturally, there exist many different forms of religious and superstitious ideas that permeate modern Hawaiian culture. One of these superstitions surrounds the ancient Polynesian goddess of fire and lava Pele. It is said that if a person steals a lava rock from the island that they are cursed until they return it. From a religious perspective, Pele is a very jealous goddess and protector of the volcanoes and Hawaiian Islands. Thousands of people claim to have had bad experiences of having felt cursed after removing lava rocks from the islands, only to return them by mail or in person as soon as they realized the errors of their ways. Scientifically, it is impossible to prove any concrete link between the Hawaiian goddess Pele's anger over people stealing lava rocks and any misfortunes or mishaps experienced by people who take rocks from the Pacific islands. In fact, everyone who visits the islands takes a part of them with them, and as science can show, pieces of the islands move around the globe as dust kicks up and moves to certain levels of the atmosphere. So unless it could be said that everyone who visits the Hawaiian Islands is cursed, this superstition is easily disproved through scientific and logical argument.
More specifically, the superstition stems from utilitarian roots, and appears to have started in the 1960's or 1970's, as park rangers in many of the monuments in Hawaii were concerned about people stealing rocks and other pieces of the monuments themselves (Martin, D., 2010). The rangers concocted a story wherein the jealous goddess Pele, angry that tourists were making off with her children, the lava rocks of Hawaii, would take vengeance upon anyone who left with bits and pieces of the islands. The rangers also began to tell tourists that as long as those who stole rocks from the island were willing to mail or otherwise bring them back, that their bad luck would soon end (Martin, D., 2010). While this artificially concocted superstition seems useful and relatively harmless, it has taken off and become one of the most widely accepted myths relative to the Hawaiian Islands. Interestingly enough, this myth may actually stem from religious roots, and not just exist as a modern tale attempting to weave together Hawaiian mythology and modern concern for environmental conservation.
According to many of the ancient Hawaiian water and land rights, and many of the customs pertaining to them, the ancient Hawaiians felt as though the resources of the islands were precious, and they wanted to make sure they were conserved and preserve (Nakunia, E.M., 2007). In emphasizing their limited availability, the ancient islanders began to construct a mythology around the island goddesses Pele and Hina. These two are the oldest known goddesses, and, according to the mythology, two of the creators of the earth and the Hawaiian Islands. Much of the ensuing mythology developed around the limited resources and space that the ancient islanders experienced and had to work with (Nakunia, E.M., 2007). It is therefore no surprise that the myth of stealing rocks from the islands, as a product of environmental conservation as well as ancient mythology, came into existence.
Each year, millions of tourists and visitors come to Hawaii for various reasons. The islands are home to many very beautiful and exciting attractions. Each of these visitors, as they leave, takes with them tiny particles of the island. This happens due to the sand, dust, and rock particles trapped in clothing, shoes, and other belongings as well as people taking small samples and bottles full of beach sand and other elements. If the superstition was in fact true, and everyone who removed a piece of the islands was subject to bad luck, then everyone who has ever visited the islands and returned home to a separate location would need to suffer from bad luck. This would need to include many unwitting people and animals, since dust is also carried in feathers and fur. The scale of such a superstitious claim is staggering, and, if true, would be one of the most widely experienced superstitions in the world. From a scientific perspective, humans carry millions of tons of dust and other materials around as they move from place to place (Field, J.P., et. al., 2010). This creates a mixing of the Earth's surface, at least...
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