Pele
Madame Pele
Polynesian Living tradition
These are living traditions, honored by Native Hawaiians, Māori and other Pacific peoples.
Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes, who lives at Kīlauea.
Pele journeyed from her homeland to Hawaiʻi and made her home in Halemaʻumaʻu crater at Kīlauea. Her fiery temper and rivalry with her sister Nāmakaokahaʻi, of the sea, shaped the islands. Thin strands of volcanic glass are called Pele's hair and small droplets Pele's tears.
Symbols
Lava Pele's hair and tears (volcanic glass)
In the ancient sources
Hawaiian traditions written down from the 19th century
- Pele and Hiʻiaka (Emerson, 1915) Pele journeys from Kahiki to Hawaiʻi and makes her home at Kīlauea; she dreams of the chief Lohiʻau and sends her sister Hiʻiaka to fetch him.
- William Ellis, Narrative of a Tour through Hawaii (1826) Visiting Kīlauea in 1823, the missionaries eat ʻōhelo berries; their Hawaiian guides warn that the first must always be offered to Pele.
- Kapiʻolani at Kīlauea (1824) The Christian chiefess Kapiʻolani walks to the crater's edge, eats ʻōhelo berries without offering them to Pele, and defies her.
The Pele and Hiʻiaka saga survives in long chants and Hawaiian-language newspaper serials; English versions like Emerson's simplify them. Pele remains honored today.
Cross-checked against these texts and records, in public-domain or freely available versions where they exist. Line, section and chapter numbers follow the standard editions, so a particular translation may differ slightly.
Correspondences Explore all
- Element
- Fire
- Plants
- ʻŌhiʻa lehua
- Offerings
- ʻŌhelo berries
These come from the tradition itself, and practice differs between regions, lineages and houses. To go deeper, learn from the people and communities who keep this tradition.