Paper short abstract:

Comparing Marcel Mauss’ theory of the gift (1926) to Hawaiian gift-giving traditions as expressed in legend, proverbs, and chants, this presentation examines contemporary ritual practices that double as coping mechanisms during volcanic eruptions.

Paper long abstract:

Volcanic eruptions are notoriously unpredictable, uncontrollable, and unsafe. Living among volcanoes is to live in landscapes of constant transformation, which can cause stress and uncertainty. How do people cope with that? Storytelling and ritual practices like offering gifts to divine powers are ways to cope with the uncertainties of volcanic eruptions. Additionally, indigenous epistemologies may offer frameworks of perceiving the land as a living entity that is always in flux and, like the ocean, is an embodiment (kinolau) of the divine (Swanson 2008). This presentation will focus on folk belief and offerings to the volcano goddess Pele on Hawaiʻi Island, the southernmost of the Hawaiian Islands, which is home to the world’s most active volcano, Kīlauea. Since 2018 alone, approximately 600 homes have been swallowed by Kīlauea’s lava flows. Although American language and culture appear to dominate present-day Hawaiʻi, folk belief in Pele indicates a deep-seated Hawaiian worldview in which the land belongs to the gods, and humans merely are the stewards of the land. Pele, the land-eater, is also the land-creator (Nimmo 2011). People seek to establish a reciprocal relationship with her by leaving offerings (hoʻokupu), thus evoking Hawaiian cultural traditions about showing respect for one’s elders (Pele as ancestor) and asking for protection from the ruler of the land (Pele as chief). Comparing Marcel Mauss’ theory of the gift (1926) to Hawaiian gift-giving traditions as expressed in legend, proverbs, and chants, this presentation examines contemporary ritual ad-hoc practices that double as coping mechanisms during and after volcanic eruptions.