To ease back into academic life, I started reading a collection of ghost stories and local legends to the kids today with the theory we will keep reading things together and have some discussion time while we read. Like my own captive book club!
We read a few this morning and picked out 'what was wrong' with that story, such as the sitter who never showed up and the little girl was called by her dead grandfather during a storm, or the one about the baby who was buried alive and after 3 days they finally dug her up and she was fine.
We discussed 'what's really going on here' with the tales of teenagers being stalked on lover's lane and women who travel or live alone being targeted.
Finally, I ended the day with reading about a legend from Hawaii about the lava rocks from the Kilauea volcano being cursed and if you take one, you will have bad luck-but people do it anyway. Sounds simple enough. What got me was that so many people sent the rocks back, hoping to end their luck. I looked it up and found this piece by Jim Winpenny at hawaii-aloha.com :
You may have heard about it. There’s a legend that says Madam Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire who commands the volcanic action on Hawaii’s Big Island, lives in the fire pit in Halema’uma’u crater, at the summit caldera of the Kilauea volcano.
You may also have heard that Madam Pele doesn’t like to have lava rocks purloined once they have cooled and settled. It is said that anyone who removes a piece of rock from the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park will incur her wrath. Bad luck is certain to follow.
Well, visitors take them anyhow. They’re nice souvenirs and they travel well.
But there’s no question about this: Visitors who have taken rocks from Pele’s land have returned them in hopes of ending scary streaks of bad luck. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and most of the hotels are inundated with packages containing rocks from guilt-ridden vacationers who are intent upon reversing their sudden spates of misfortune.
Pets die. Jobs are lost. Houses burn down. Sudden and devastating illness strikes loved ones. Marriages break apart. These are actual quotes from former Big-Island vacationers:
Please take this rock and put it back somewhere on your island.
I have had very bad luck since it came into my life and I am very sorry I took
it. Please forgive me and I pray that once I send it
back where it comes from, my bad luck will go away.
Ever since we have taken items, we have had nothing but back luck and
medical problems. We apologize for taking the items, so we are returning
same to Hawaii.
We placed the rock last fall on a cast iron chair in our garden; this
spring the chair’s leg had fallen off. That’s the least of the problems
we have had since we’ve taken the rock.
Please return these rocks to their rightful spot. I never had so much
bad luck as I’ve had since I returned from Hawaii.
I picked up a small piece of lava somewhere, (we are rock and crystal
collectors), never dreaming of what might come. Since then we have lost
half of our retirement savings to a scam artist and will have to go back
to work. Please work your magic on
the enclosed piece of lava and
hopefully nothing worse will happen.
There are thousands more like those. The Volcano Post Office, Volcano National Park and lots of hotels find the returned rocks a nuisance (although they faithfully dispose of them by tossing them onto a big pile right behind the Volcano Visitor Center.)
The Volcano Gallery on the Big Island gladly accepts returned rocks. Once they receive the rocks they carefully wrap them in ti leaves and return them to a special location in Volcano close to Pele’s home, along with an offering of orchids to ask for her forgiveness. For the service, the gallery asks for a donation of $15, but will perform the service in any case.
What, you’ve been to Hawaii and have a lava rock? You can still return it. Here’s the address:
Rainbow Moon Attn: Lava Rock Return P.O. Box 699, Volcano, HI 96785
COOL! A legend with a curse and some form of proof!
