Mo’o Wahine and Manaua

Title: Mo’o wahine (lizard woman) and Manaua (mana= spiritual energy/power, ua= rain)

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and sub genre: Customary and Verbal folklore: Superstition and homeopathic magic
  • Language: Hawaiian/English
  • Country: USA

Informant Data:

  • Collected from: Marlo Mundon ’20 from the Big Island of Hawaii in 2009 from peers

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Cultural practitioners and locals keep traditional Hawaiian culture alive by participating in rituals and traditions like this. They bring the community together.
  • Cultural Context: In Hawaiian beliefs, there are many deities, most of which are connected to the elements. In the town of Waimea the mo’o wahine is the deity/protector of the town and she is associated with water. She is pictured as a mermaid bellow.

Item:

  • Waimea is a town known for being very rainy. In times of draught, people leave offerings to the mo’o wahine on a sacred rock called Manaua and often chant or pray to her and she will bring rain.

Audio Interview:

Transcript:

Michael: Hi what’s your name and where are you from?

Marlo: My name’s Marlo Mundon and I’m a 20 from the Big Island of Hawaii in the town of Waimea.

Michael: Would you like to tell me something about Waimea and perhaps some superstition or folklore from the area?

Marlo: So like in the first story, the mo’o wahine has a uh, another culturally relevant thing in town. There’s this big rock that’s connected to her and it’s kind of like an alter to give offerings to her. Since Waimea is a really rainy town we usually don’t have drought problems or anything like that, but sometimes we do and when there’s not enough rain we go and give offerings to the mo’o wahine at this rock called Manaua. Then she will recognize this offering and bring rain because she’s like a water spirit kind of. She lives in the pond, like that’s her domain, water is her thing and we ask her for rain when there’s a drought or there’s trouble with crops or something like that. It’s important to show respect to her because she has such a strong role in the town.

Michael: Alright so what would you say about cultural context of the legend and the practice?

Marlo: The deities and gods and goddesses of Hawaiian culture are very currently relevant. A lot of people still practice, it’s not necessarily a religion I don’t know what to call it, but people believe in the gods and the deities and stuff and will regularly continue the practices of ancient traditions of having ceremonies, festivals, and leaving offerings in honor of the gods and stuff. Yeah it’s an old practice but it’s still been going and still really relevant and people will go and leave offerings to the mo’o wahine.

Michael: Okay and similarly, the social context of the legend and how it sort of works in society and what it means for people.

Marlo: Well today it’s pretty normalized. Since Waimea is pretty rainy we don’t go and ask for rain all the time but it’s definitely not [out of the ordinary] and like if there are dry spells or anything like that people are like oh let’s go leave an offering or something it’s like a normal thing to think to do.

Michael: That sounds quite reasonable to me.

Collector: Marlo Mundon

Tags/Keywords: water, rain, deity, Hawaii, tradition, offering

 

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