Birth of the Islands: Myth and Geology

O ke au i kahuli wela ka honua
O ke au i kahuli lole ka lani
O ke au i kuka’iaka ka la.
E ho’omalamalama i ka malama

The above quote is the first stanza of the Kumulipo or creation chant.  The literal translation describes space turning around and the earth heating. The second stanza talks about a slime that formed the earth. The more than 2,000 line chant weaves a melodic tale of directly connecting the elements of nature to the generations of early Hawaiian people. The philosophy and practices of the Hawaiian people acknowledged their belief of the presence of gods in all things.

The story of demi-god Maui, fishing the islands from the depths of the ocean and using his strength to pull them to the surface completes the mythology of the birth of the Hawaiian islands.
Science explains that the earth’s lithosphere is made up of plates. The Pacific Plate moves steadily over a 40 million year old hot spot beneath the earth’s ocean floors. These hot spots, spew out lava or slime, which after several million more years, forms the islands that we enjoy today. Kauai and Niihau are said to be more than 5 million years old, and today erupting since 1983, Kilauea is building Loihi one flow at a time. Plate tectonics and the earth’s magma is the geological birth of the Hawaiian islands.

Read more about Kilauea:

• USGS: Hawaii Volcano Observatory
• National Park Services: Hawaii Volcanoes

Tour Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:

• Hawaii Forest: Kilauea Volcano Adventure
• Lava Ocean Adventures

Online Genealogy Courses:

• Kamehameha Schools Distance Learning: A’o Makua Courses

Both the mythology and geology stories paint a colorful picture of the birth of the islands. Do you have a colorful story of your birth, your life?