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HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. The Wailuku river has by its banks far up the mountain side some of the most ancient of the various interesting picture rocks of the Hawaiian Islands. The origin of the Hawaiian picture writing is a problem still unsolved, but the picture rocks of the Wailuku river are called "na kii o Maui," "the Maui pictures." Their antiquity is beyond question. The most prominent figure cut in these rocks is that of the crescent moon. The Hawaiian legends do not attempt any direct explanation of the meaning of this picture writing. The traditions of the Polynesians both concerning Hina and Maui look to Hina as the moon goddess of their ancestors, and in some measure the Hawaiian stories confirm the traditions of the other island groups of the Pacific. Fornander, in his history of the Polynesian race, gives the Hawaiian story of Hina's ascent to the moon, but applies it to a Hina the wife of a chief called Aikanaka rather than to the Hina of Hilo, the wife of Akalana, the father of Maui. However, Fornander evidently found some difficulty in determining the status of the one to whom he refers the legend, for he calls her "the mysterious wife of Aikanaka." In some of the Hawaiian legends Hina, the mother of Maui, lived on the southeast coast of the Island Maui at the foot of a hill famous in Hawaiian story as Kauiki. Fornander says that this "mysterious wife" of Aikanaka bore her children Puna and Huna, the latter a noted sea-rover among the Polynesians, at the foot of this hill Kauiki. It can very easily be supposed that a legend of the Hina connected with the demi-god Maui might be given during the course of centuries to the other Hina, the mother of Huna. The application of the legend would make no difference to anyone were it not for the fact that the story of Hina and her ascent to the moon has been handed down in different forms among the traditions of Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Hervey Islands, Fate Islands, Nauru and other Pacific island groups. The Polynesian name of the moon, Mahina or Masina, is derived from Hina, the goddess mother of Maui. It is even possible to trace the name back to "Sin," the moon god of the Assyrians. The moon goddess of Ponape was Ina-maram. (Hawaiian Hina-malamalama), "Hina giving light." In the Paumotan Islands an eclipse of the sun is called Higa-higa-hana (Hina-hiua-hana), "The act (hana) of Hina--the moon." In New Zealand moonless nights were called "Dark Hina." In Tahiti it is said there was war among the gods. They cursed the stars. Hina saved them, although they lost a little light. Then they cursed the sea, but Hina preserved the tides. They cursed the rivers, but Hina saved the springs--the moving waters inland, like the tides in the ocean. The Hawaiians say that Hina and her maidens pounded out the softest, finest kapa cloth on the long, thick kapa board at the foot of Kauiki. Incessantly the restless sea dashed its spray over the picturesque groups of splintered lava rocks which form the Kauiki headland. Here above the reach of the surf still lies the long, black stone into which the legends say Hina's kapa board was changed. Here Hina took the leaves of the hala tree and, after the manner of the Hawaiian women of the ages past, braided mats for the household to sleep upon, and from the nuts of the kukui trees fashioned the torches which were burned around the homes of those of high chief rank. At last she became weary of her work among mortals. Her family had become more and more troublesome. It was said that her sons were unruly and her husband lazy and shiftless. She looked into the heavens and determined to flee up the pathway of her rainbow through the clouds. The Sun was very bright and Hina said, "I will go to the Sun." So she left her home very early in the morning and climbed up, higher, higher, until the heat of the rays of the sun beat strongly upon her and weakened her so that she could scarcely crawl along her beautiful path. Up a little higher and the clouds no longer gave her even the least shadow. The heat from the sun was so great that she began to feel the fire shriveling and torturing her. Quickly she slipped down into the storms around her rainbow and then back to earth. As the day passed her strength came back, and when the full moon rose through the shadows of the night she said, "I will climb to the moon and there find rest." But when Hina began to go upward her husband saw her and called to her: "Do not go into the heavens." She answered him: "My mind is fixed; I will go to my new husband, the moon." And she climbed up higher and higher. Her husband ran toward her. She was almost out of reach, but he leaped and caught her foot. This did not deter Hina from her purpose. She shook off her husband, but as he fell he broke her leg so that the lower part came off in his hands. Hina went up through the stars, crying out the strongest incantations she could use. The powers of the night aided her. The mysterious hands of darkness lifted her, until she stood at the door of the moon. She had packed her calabash with her most priceless possessions and had carried it with her even when injured by her cruel husband. With her calabash she limped into the moon and found her abiding home. When the moon is full, the Hawaiians of the long ago, aye and even today, look into the quiet, silvery light and see the goddess in her celestial home, her calabash by her side. The natives call her now Lono-moku, "the crippled Lono." From this watch tower in the heavens she pointed out to Kahai, one of her descendents, the way to rise up into the skies. The ancient chant thus describes his ascent: "The rainbow is the path of Kahai. Kahai rose. Kahai bestirred himself. Kahai passed on the floating cloud of Kane. Perplexed were the eyes of Alihi. Kahai passed on on the glancing light. The glancing light on men and canoes. Above was Hanaiakamalama." (Hina). Thus under the care of his ancestress Hina, Kahai, the great sea-rover, made his ascent in quest of adventures among the immortals. In the Tongan Islands the legends say that Hina remains in the moon watching over the "fire-walkers" as their great protecting goddess. The Hervey Island traditions say that the Moon (Marama) had often seen Hina and admired her, and at last had come down and caught her up to live with himself. The moonlight in its glory is called Ina-motea, "the brightness of Ina." The story as told on Atiu Island (one of the Society group) is that Hina took her human husband with her to the moon, where they dwelt happily for a time, but as he grew old she prepared a rainbow, down which he descended to the earth to die, leaving Hina forevermore as "the woman in the moon." The Savage Islanders worshiped the spirits of their ancestors, saying that many of them went up to the land of Sina, the always bright land in the skies. To the natives of Niue Island, Hina has been the goddess ruling over all tapa making. They say that her home is "Motu a Hina," "the island of Hina," the home of the dead in the skies. The Samoans said that the Moon received Hina and a child, and also her tapa board and mallet and material for the manufacture of tapa cloth. Therefore, when the moon is shining in full splendor, they shade their eyes and look for the goddess and the tools with which she fashions the tapa clouds in the heavens. The New Zealand legend says that the woman went after water in the night. As she passed down the path to the spring the bright light of the full moon made the way easy for her quick footsteps, but when she had filled her calabash and started homeward, suddenly the bright light was hidden by a passing cloud and she stumbled against a stone in the path and fell to the ground, spilling the water she was carrying. Then she became very angry and cursed the moon heartily. Then the moon became angry and swiftly swept down upon her from the skies, grasping her and lifting her up. In her terrible fight she caught a small tree with one hand and her calabash with the other. But oh! the strong moon pulled her up with the tree and the calabash and there in the full moon they can all be traced when the nights are clear. Pleasant or Nauru Island, in which a missionary from Central Union Church, Honolulu, is laboring, tells the story of Gigu, a beautiful young woman, who has many of the experiences of Hina. She opened the eyes of the Mother of the Moon as Hina, in some of the Polynesian legends, is represented to have opened the eyes of one of the great goddesses, and in reward is married to Maraman, the Moon, with whom she lives ever after, and in whose embrace she can always be seen when the moon is full. Gigu is Hina under another and more guttural form of speech. Maraman is the same as Malama, one of the Polynesian names for the moon. INDEX Page. Akea or Atea, see Wakea, 41 Akalana, or Ataranga, 3, 4, 166 Alae birds, 12, 18, 27, 62, 65, 120, 123 Alae-Huapi, 120 Alae-nui-a-Hina, 123 Ao-tea-roa, 23, 93, 106, 108, 128, 137 Aumakuas, 26 Ava-iki, or Hawa-i-ki, 5, 37, 41, 52, 72, 137 Awa, 8 Axe, stone, 93, 94 Bailing dish, 123 Bananas, 45, 64 Banyan, 56, 71 Barbs, spears, 79, 101 Birds, 85, 110, 112, 135, 144 Bird-machine, 125 Birds, painted, 85, 112 Black rock, 32, 48 Boiling pots, 100, 152 Bones, fish hooks, 15, 83 Brittany, 57 Bua-Tarana-ga, 5 Cain and Abel, 89 Calabash, 19, 31, 84, 115 Cannibalism, 91, 93 Canoe, Maui's, 28, 118, 150 Cats-cradle, 86 Cloud, Maui's-ao-opua, 150 Coco-nut Island, 19, 26 Cook, Captain, 7 Cooking the rain, 163 Coral, 29 Creation, 4, 80, 86 Crocodile, 148 Death, 25, 38, 67, 82, 137, 170 Death chant, 138 Dog, 80, 102 Dragon, 97, 148, 153 Earth twisted, 12, 15 Eclipse, 42, 158 Eel, 7, 33, 83, 94, 130 Eel baskets, 79, 102 Eight-eyed, 83, 124 Ellis, William, 84 Egypt, 44 Evolution, 85, 103, 109, 132 Fairies, 113 Fire-finding-- Australia, 59 Bowditch Islands, 76 Chatham Islands, 75 De Peysters Islands, 59 Hawaii, 61, 120 Hervey Islands, 67, 70 Indians, 57 New Zealand, 67, 74, 88 Peruvians, 59 Samoa, 67, 70 Savage Islands, 67, 72 Society Islands, 66, 72 Tartary, 59 Tokelau Island, 67 First man, 89 Fishing up islands-- Hawaii, 14, 18, 26 Hervey Islands, 26 New Hebrides, 25 New Zealand, 19, 88 Samoa, 24 Tonga, 24, 28 Fish hooks, 12, 15, 20, 26, 81, 118 Fish nets, 81 Flood, 25 Flying machine, 125 Forbes, Rev. A. O., 42 Fornander, A., 83 Ganges, 154 Gilbert Islands, 34, 60 Gill, W. W., 36 Gray, Sir George, 7, 20, 23, 49, 101, 110 Green stone, 110, 134 Guardian of under-world, 4, 5, 17, 70 Hades, 129 Halai hills, 64, 155 Hale-a-ka-la, 7, 13, 32, 43, 62, 143 Hale-a-o-a, 76 Hau tree, 102 Hau spirit, Preface Haumia-Tiki-Tiki, 34 Hawa-iki, 5, 35, 37, 137, 154 Hawaii-loa, 29 Hawke's bay, 28 Hele-a-ka-la, 122 Hercules, 53, 112 Hervey Islands, 4, 5, 10 Hide-and-seek, 10 Hilo, 7, 19, 26, 64, 129, 147, 155 Hina, 5, 7, 10, 12, 18, 45, 61, 64, 121, 139 Hina-a-ke-ahi, 3, 27, 157 Hina-a-ke-ka, 123 Hina-a-te-lepo, 91 Hina-Kulu-ua, 157, 161 Hina-uri, 101 Hine-nui-te-po, 23, 123, 133 Hina's daughters, 156 Horizon or heaven, 107 Human sacrifices, 159 Hump-back, 125 Huna, 166 Iao, 43 Ie-ie, fiber, 125 Iiwi, 113 Ika-o-Maui, 23 Ili-ahi, 66 Immortality, Maui, 128 Imu, oven, 159 Ina, see Hina, 5, 66, 142 India, 154 Indians, fire-finding, 57 Indians, snaring sun, 54 Ira Waru, 101 Kaahumanu, 143 Ka-alae-huapi, 120 Kahai chant, 169 Ka-iwi-o-Pele, 18 Kalakaua, 8 Kalana-Kalanga, see Akalana, 3, 4, 60 Kalau-hele-moa, 45 Kamapuaa, 83 Kanaloa, 5, 24, 29, 120 Kane, 35, 119, 135 Kane's cave, 119 Kauai, 26 Kauiki, or Kauwiki, 7, 12, 26, 143, 168 Kaula Island, 26 Kipahula, 18 Ki-i-ki-i, 6, 32, 143 Kite-flying, 87, 112, 128 Ko, spade, 94 Kohala, 28 Koolau, 44 Ku, 5 Kualii, 12 Kuna, see Tuna, 7, 99 Ku-olo--Kele, 125 Ku-ula, fish god, 140 La, or Ra, 5, 44 Langi, Lani, 34 Lahaina, 32 Lasso, 47, 51, 80, 144 Lifting the sky-- Ellice Islands, 33 Gilbert Islands, 34 Hawaii, 31 Hervey Islands, 36 Manahiki, 35 New Zealand, 34 Samoa, 32 Liliuokalani chants, 3, 8, 17, 27, 40 Long Eel, 92 Lono, 34 Ma-eli-eli hill, 120 Magic fish hook, 82 Mahui, Mahuika, Mafuia, 5, 60, 68, 73, 132 Mahina, or Masina, 166 Mamo bird, 114 Manahiki Islands, 24, 80 Maori, 28, 34 Marama, or Malama, 166, 171 Marshall Islands, 60 Maru, 89 Mauna Kea, 13 Maui Akalana-- Akamai, 78, 82 baptized, 10, 133 birth, 6 bird or insect, 9, 10, 20, 24, 71, 114, 144 brothers, 3, 6, 14, 22, 24, 78, 107 canoes, 28 children, 82, 93, 137 creation, 4, 80 death, 25, 26 Hawaii, 130 Hervey Islands, 131 New Zealand, 137 Samoa, 131 eight-eyed, 83 footprints, 25, 33 god or demi-god, 4, 148 home, 4, 7, 10, 31, 119 hook, 12, 15, 19, 26, 28 of the malo, Preface prophet, 84 sister, 6 the swift, 64, 117, 121 uncles, 8 Maui-Mua, or Rupe, 106, 125 Maui Hope, 124 Maui Waena, 3, 124 Mercury, 11 Moemoe, 48 Mo-o, 41, 97, 99 Moon, 41, 89, 134 Moon, Hina the goddess, 147, 156, 165 Motu, or Mokua Hina, 170 Mudhen, 120 Muri, 48, 50 Nauru Islands, 171 New Heavens, 107 New Hebrides Islands, 25 New Zealand, 4, 5, 7, 9 Niu Islands, 33 Oahu legends-- Maui and the two gods, 119 How they found fire, 120 Maui catching the sun, 122 Uniting the islands, 123 Maui and Pea-pea, 124 Obsidian, 109, 134 Ohia trees, 80 Olona, 81, 114, 117 O-o, spade, 94 O-o, bird, 114 Paoa, 29 Papa, 34 Payton, 25 Pea-pea, the eight-eyed, 124 Pearl Harbor, 123 Peruvians, 59 Pictographs, 165 Pigeon, 9 Pimoe, 18 Pohakunui, 64 Prometheus, 57 Puka-a-Maui, 151 Pumice stone, 38 Puna, 166 Puu-o-hulu, 119, 123 Ra or La, sun-god, 5, 44 Rainbow Falls, 8, 26, 99, 147 Raro Tonga, 6, 24 Roko, 97 Rongo, 34 Ru, 5, 35 Rupe, Maui-mua, 106, 125 Samoa, 5, 24, 29 Sandalwood, 66 Savage Islands, 74 Savaii, 29, 129 Scorpion, 26 Serpent, 33 Sharks, 18, 123 Short days, 143 Sina, see Hina, 96, 143, 166, 171 Snaring the sun-- Fiji, 54 Hawaii, 42, 122, 144 Hervey Islands, 52 Indians, 54 New Zealand, 48 Samoa, 143 Society Islands, 41, 50, 53, 143 Tonga, 40 Snow, 89 Society Islands, 5 Spears, 81 Spirits, islands of, 129 Stone implements, 86, 93, 110 Sun, created, 41 Supporter of the Heavens, 37 Tabu, 102, 126 Tahiti, 76, 86 Talanga or Kalana, 5, 68 Tane, see Kane, 35 Tangaroa or Kanaloa, 6, 24, 25, 34, 66 Tapa, 11, 13, 42, 62, 116, 119, 122, 141 Taro, 121 Tattooing, 80, 104, 136 Tawhiri, 35 Te-ika-o-Maui, 23 Ti leaves, 125 Ti-i-Ti-i} } Kii-Kii, 6, 25, 32, 34, 60, 68 Tiki-Tiki} Tini-rau, 106, 108 Tokelau Island, 67 Tonga, 28, 40, 89, 129 Tonga-iti, 41 Tracey Islands, 33 Tu or Ku, 35 Tuna or Kuna, 91 Fiji, 91 Hawaii, 99, 148 Hervey Islands, 154 New Zealand, 92 Samoa, 96 Turner, 24 Ulua, 12, 18 Under-world, 4, 9, 15, 51, 68, 129 Uniting the islands, 123 Upolu, 25 Vatea, or Wakea, 41 Vatupu Islands, 33 Waianae, 65, 119 Waikuna, 100, 148 Wailuku, 7, 26, 80, 140, 146 Waipahu, 125 Waipio, 115 Wakea, Vatea, Atea, 4, 41 Water of life, 134 White, John, 87, 96, 101, 132 Wife of Maui, 91, 124, 137, 156 Wiliwili tree, 44 Winds, 86, 115 Woman in the Moon, 165
PolynesianAdversitiesAttainment
Polynesian Mythology

Same theme, different voices

All troubles come to an end when the ego dies.
Ramakrishna Paramhamsa
HinduTeachingAdversitiesEgo
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 538
A devotee serves selflessly, just like a player in a game who doesn't give up despite being hit. The devotee continues to serve with increased enthusiasm, even in the face of adversity.
Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji
UniversalTeachingAdversitiesAltruism
Precious Pearls, p. 8
If you want to be free from all grief and trouble, stay and walk with God, and with God alone.
Meister Eckhart
ChristianTeachingAdversitiesGrief
Meister Eckhart Sermons, p. 29
No one can be completely independent of others, leading to various connections and relationships that often give rise to hatred, envy, jealousy, and other spiritual afflictions.
Al-Ghazali
SufiTeachingAdversitiesDifferences
Alchemy of Happiness, p. 18