Title: Lehua Blossom

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: You might blame someone in a joking way that they caused bad weather, or account for unexpected rain with someone picking the flower
• Cultural context: The flower is considered a symbol of Pele, and with homeopathic magic, it is connected to her. It is considered disrespectful to Pele to pick the flower which represents Pele.

Item:

• The Lehua blossom, or flower is a red flower indigenous to Hawaii. It is rooted in Hawaiian legend, where Ohia and Lehua were both young lovers. Pele, the goddess of volcanoes/lava wanted ohia for herself but he refused. She turned Ohia in to a tree and Lehua in to the beautiful red flower out of anger and detail. It is said that as long as the flowers stay on the tree it will be a beautiful sunny day but as soon as the flowers are picked, it will begin to rain as Lehua can stand to be away from her lover.

Collector: Aaryndeep Rai