So many times the mythology of Hawaii is overlooked due to it's popular travel industry. However, if you take the time to look past the encroaching westernization you will find a rich Polynesian culture. The mythology of this Polynesian culture is nature based which has stories that have been traced back to New Zealand and linked with other myths of the Polynesian islands. There is no way to separate the beliefs of the native Polynesian people from nature. The Gods of Hawaii otherwise known as Akua are a part of the Hawaiian's everyday life. Akua has no distinct usage meaning that everything can be Akua. The religion resembles that of animism and is definitely pagan. Each form of nature has its class God. Many of these Gods became patrons of a family.
The Gods are represented as chiefs that lived in far off places. However, there are some very interesting Deities that did live on the Island or there abouts.
The most popular and well known deity that a person will come across in Hawaii is Pele. She has pretty much become the patron Goddess of Hawaii and is the Goddess of the Volcano Kilowea. There are different versions as to how Pele came to Hawaii. The most noted one is where Pele gets kicked out of her home. Pele is the daughter of Humea and Moemoe. She is one of many children and is very beautiful. Pele though sleeps with the husband of her sister Namaka (the sea Goddess). Of course like most women Namaka is pretty upset so she hunts down Pele and forces Pele to leave home. Pele leaves with some of her sisters and brothers by canoe and does receive some help from one of her brothers. Namaka not quite being finished with her hunts her down all the way to Hawaii. Finally Pele meets her face to face where Namaka basically tears her apart and leaves her body in heaped in fragments into a hill. The place where this is done is called Ka-iwi-o-pele or Bone of Pele. Pele's spirit then takes refuge in Kilowea.
Another very interesting aspect of Hawaiian Mythology are Shark men. These are men that have shark mouths on their backs. They live on land by day as men but go into the water and act as a shark. Many are quite powerful. One such story of a Shark man is Kawelo. He lived on Kauai in the region of Mana. He would patrol the area between Kealia and wailua by were he lived. There he would eat the children that ventured out in between these places.
A very strong aspect of the Polynesian culture is that is Ancestral. The ancestors of everyone from man to God can be traced back to the two great Ancestral Gods Ku and Hina. Together this husband and wife duo include the whole of the earth and heavens. Where Ku is the land Hina is the sky. These two Gods are greatly revered in the culture; they are the mother and father of all.
