At HVNP an important chapter in this story concerns just what it is that makes “kapu” this particular “wahi” and how this translates elsewhere on the islands. As the official signage maintains: “The mana (spiritual energy) of Pele is powerful, and her presence surrounds you. She is the lava rock you walk on . . . “ In this rendition, the earth, the rock, is the goddess Pele, it is simultaneously her body, her creation, her residence, her possession. “Living” lava, molten volcanic stone, shapes a world in the process of coming into being, the result of Pele’s creative activity. The landscape and, by commonly invoked synecdoche, the stones that constitute the landscape hold the power and “memory” of creation and its connection to Native Hawaiian divinity. In this scenario, individual stones become circumscribable pieces of the spiritualities of the land. At HVNP, material offerings to Pele authenticate the designation of the landscape, and the stones in particular, as “kapu” and as manifestation of this particular deity.
The most common sort of Pele offering, the Ti-bundle, is simply composed: a lava rock wrapped in a leaf of the Ti plant. Other plant matter, flowers, or small objects may be tucked into the bundle or set beside it; all that is necessary, however, is a lava rock and a single Ti leaf. The ritual involves selecting the rock, making a petition, wish, or expression of gratitude, wrapping the rock with Ti to “contain” the petition and enhance its efficacy, and placing it at a spiritually auspicious site, such as near ancient petroglyphs, at a heiau (temple), on a grave site, or at some identifiable threshold of an active caldera, crater, or steam vent. On the well-marked four-mile HVNP Kilauea Iki Trail, a pyramid of lava rocks, at precisely the point of entry into the active caldera itself, has accumulated many such offerings. The varying degrees of desiccation of the Ti-leaf wrappings suggest that petitioners have left the bundles over an extended period and at different times.
Polynesian Ti grows plentifully in Hawaiian gardens and in the wild and supports many common uses. These have included rain capes and coverings, shelter thatching, food wrappings, and skirts. Ti is also the preferred ingredient in certain healing practices and in the production of offerings and leis. The plants, and especially their large, smooth, long leaves, are widely considered to dispel evil and bring good fortune. Perhaps because of their long association with divine power, with protection as well as decoration, Ti plants often grow around the perimeter of Hawaiian homes, Christian churches, Buddhist temples, and burial grounds.
Of at least passing interest here is the fact that some HVNP rangers claim authority to separate “authentic” from “inauthentic” Pele offerings and to remove those they deem inauthentic. In the case of the ranger who volunteered this information, those that require removal are made with soda or alcohol cans and bottles rather than the “natural” material of lava rock. Since rangers rarely witness the actual leaving of offerings, they cannot effectively monitor that aspect of this ritual process. Instead, at HVNP, rangers base their assessment of authenticity solely on appearance and materials of the Ti-bundle, lei, or other gift. In my day at the park I did not see a single offering employing these commercial materials, though I saw many of them at sites outside the park. At Maui’s Haleakala National Park, on the other hand, I was told by a NPS ranger that it is official Haleakala policy to remove all offerings because any object that introduces plant material from one ecological zone to another may also introduce insects and diseases.
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