In the chapter Mauna Loa, from Hawai’i’s Story by Hawai’i’s Queen, Queen
Lili’uokalani communicates an attitude that says the goddess Pele and the
rituals associated with her worship are relics of the past. At times throughout
her memoir it’s difficult to pinpoint which side, the missionaries’ or her
native Hawaii, she’s on. Initially, it seems as though she mocks the tourists’
custom of throwing coins or other trinkets into the crater of Kilauea while
scarcely knowing Hawaii’s ancient history. Then she turns around and says
Hawaiians “have no money to throw away on such souvenirs of the past” (p.72).
This statement expresses her opinion that rituals of the old, such as making
offerings to the goddess Pele for mercy, are no longer worth performing
especially if it means throwing away money that native Hawaiians don’t even
have. The ritual has become a past time that she dismisses as a “harmless
sport.”
Queen Lili’uokalani’s Christian upbringing and
her aunt, Queen Kapiolani, play a role in her attitude towards Pele. In 1824,
Queen Kapiolani defied the power of goddess Pele and overthrew native
Hawaiians’ superstitious fears of being punished if they didn’t pray or make
offerings to her. Queen Kapiolani accomplished this by being lowered into a
crater within Mauna Loa called, Halemaumau. She not only survived this feat
without reciting the sacred prayers of native Hawaiians, but she did so by reciting
her own Christian prayers. Queen Kapiolani proved that native Hawaiian beliefs
were obsolete.
- Francis Miguelino
Francis -
ReplyDeleteKapiolani was a hero to the missionary cause, not native culture, but you are right to point out her influence on Liliuokalani. Another possible reading of the situation is this (which I've copied from one of my previous responses to a similar post):
"As I've said in response to some of the others posts as well, keeping Liliuokalani's audience in mind in important while reading, as well as her motive for writing. She is trying to present the Hawaiian people as modern and her kingdom as worthy of equal treatment as the other great powers of the world that they hold treaties with. In order for her to make her case, especially in the court of American public opinion, that Hawaiians should be allowed to maintain autonomy and self-determination, she can't delve into practices and beliefs that could be used by her political enemies to show the backwardness and heathenism of her people (which were the motives of the missionary project in Hawaii in the 1820s, and was often a driving force behind "Manifest Destiny", America bringing the light of civilization to the rest of the world... whether they want it or not...), even, and perhaps especially, if they still hold a very important place for the native peoples."
- Trey