Holo Mai Pele: Hawaii's Creation Myth

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Recommended: Creation stories and myths

As every other culture, Hawaii has its own myths and stories. Holo Mai Pele tells the creation myth of Hawaii and this myth holds the same stature for Hawaiians as Genesis for Western (Christian) cultures and Ramayana for Hinduism. Holo Mai Pele is an epic saga of the Hawaiian god of volcano Pele, and her sister Hi'iaka. The major themes present in the story are sibling rivalry, love, conflict and creation. Simultaneously, it tells a story of an individual's journey to her self-awareness and reclaiming her status as a deity. The purpose of Holo Mai Pele is to keep the Hawaiian myth alive in order to pass it down to future generations. The poetic aspects of the play make it easier to remember and interesting to perform.
The sisters show the very classical conflicts that arise between siblings. Pele being older than Hi'iaka assumes that she has the right to make decisions for herself and her sister. When Hi'iaka is young and naive, she follows her sister without questioning her authority. Afterwards as Hi'iaka grows older, her attitude towards Pele changes. Pele's temperament and her destruction of the things that Hi'iaka loved is very typical to what the world is witnessing among siblings nowadays. Occasionally, siblings completely avoid each other and forget that they are brothers or sisters. For example, famous Anglo-American actresses Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine had a very furious relationship and the sisters completely stopped talking to each other (Higham). The Ambani Brothers, Anil Ambani and Mukesh Ambani, two of the richest business tycoons in the world have been known for a bitter rivalry and their attempts to become wealthier than the other. Siblings frequently try to get ahead of each other by destroying what...

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...reation in the form of songs and chanting. This makes it possible to perform in front of an audience. The Hula, also known as Hi'iaka’s song and dance, is used in performing plays such as Holo Mai Pele and in displaying other aspects of Hawaiian culture. It has always been used to promote Hawaiian culture. Holo Mai Pele has been performed many times and recordings of the performances are widely available in Hawaiian Libraries as well as on the internet. This way Holo Mai Pele has played an important role in transferring the major aspects of Hawaiian culture to future generations.

Works Cited

Kanahele, Pua Kanakaʻole. "The Pele Family." Holo Mai Pele. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi: Pacific Islanders in Communications, 2001. Xii. Print.
Higham, Charles. Sisters: The Story of Olivia De Haviland and Joan Fontaine. Coward McCann, May 1984, 257 pages. Web. 26 May 2013.

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