THE PRINCESS DEFIED A GODDESS
Kilauea Volcano on the island of Hawaii in the Hawaiian group, a great pit of boiling, bubbling, hissing, seething, smoking lava, was long considered by the natives as the abode of the goddess Pele. Whenever the volcano got to acting up, it was believed that Pele was out of sorts about something. To appease the goddess, food and other commodities were carried up the mountain and tossed into the crater. It is said that human sacrifices were also made occasionally. Ohelo berries grow on the island, and no native dared go near the crater without gathering a handful of the wild fruit and tossing it into the crater as a peace offering to Pele. It was considered a serious sacrilege to eat the meat of the fruit and toss the seeds into the crater. But Christian missionaries reached Hawaii early in the past century, and among their earliest converts was Princess Kapiolani, comely daughter of a local chief. The…
To view this resource, log in or sign up for a subscription plan
