Lava

Title: Lava

 

General Information about the item:

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

 

Informant data:

  • Zoe Leonard ’19 from Honolulu, O’ahu. Born in Hawaii and grew up there until coming to Dartmouth.

 

Contextual data:

  • Social context: If you see a tourist taking lava you might know they will get bad luck, or be mad at them for being disrespectful.
  • Cultural context: The lava is considered a symbol of Pele, and with homeopathic magic, it is connected to her. It is considered disrespectful to Pele to lava which represents Pele.

 

Item:

  • It is a modern legend that anyone who removes and takes Pele’s (volcano goddess) lava or rocks from the islands, they will be cursed with bad luck and misfortune until they return the rocks back to the islands. It has gotten to the point where tourists have even gone as far as to mail back envelopes with sand and small rocks back to Hawaii in hopes of clearing their consciouses to change their luck.

 

Collectors: Aaryndeep Rai and Adrease Jackson

 

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