Is there a Curse for Disparaging the name of Pele - General Tiki

J JOHN-O Tiki Socialite Dogtown, USA Joined: May 16, 2008 Posts: 2721	J JOHN-O Posted posted on Fri, Feb 11, 2011 4:53 PM FYI, there is no "Curse of Pele" from an ethnic Hawaiian cultural standpoint. It's all a made up thing. Here's my story... A few years ago, I returned a volcanic rock to Haleakala National Park that a friend of mine had brought back to LA. When I told her about the "curse" (that she confirmed on the internet), she got really really scared. Since I was leaving for Maui the next week, I said I would personally hand carry it back to the volcano for her. I brought the rock into the park visitor center and asked where the best location was to place the rock back. The park ranger then promptly began to read me the riot act telling me it was ILLEGAL to remove rocks from a national park. I said dude, don't take it out on me, I'M RETURNING THE ROCK. It was kind of a scene as all of the tourists inside huddled around us to check out what was going on. He then took the rock from me, saying they had to freeze it first (to kill any mainland parasites). Afterward they just throw the rocks into a pile near the visitor center's entrance. He said they get rocks mailed back every week. I said if they really wanted to discourage people from removing rocks, they should formally post the legend of the curse to scare people. He said that would be inaccurate as there is no such curse in ancient Hawaiian history !! Is it possible that the whole Hawaiian curse legend is a result of the "cursed" Tiki episodes of Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch? (Or did the legend exist prior to that and was probably the inspiration for those plot lines?) Is this a misappropriation of superstitions from other cultures (i.e. Egyptian curses, Voodoo curses) on to Polynesian history where the concept of "bad luck" curses may have never existed? Are 1960's situation comedies to blame ?? If so then that's pretty darn "Tiki". :)

FYI, there is no "Curse of Pele" from an ethnic Hawaiian cultural standpoint. It's all a made up thing. Here's my story...

A few years ago, I returned a volcanic rock to Haleakala National Park that a friend of mine had brought back to LA. When I told her about the "curse" (that she confirmed on the internet), she got really really scared. Since I was leaving for Maui the next week, I said I would personally hand carry it back to the volcano for her.

I brought the rock into the park visitor center and asked where the best location was to place the rock back. The park ranger then promptly began to read me the riot act telling me it was ILLEGAL to remove rocks from a national park. I said dude, don't take it out on me, I'M RETURNING THE ROCK. It was kind of a scene as all of the tourists inside huddled around us to check out what was going on.

He then took the rock from me, saying they had to freeze it first (to kill any mainland parasites). Afterward they just throw the rocks into a pile near the visitor center's entrance. He said they get rocks mailed back every week.

I said if they really wanted to discourage people from removing rocks, they should formally post the legend of the curse to scare people. He said that would be inaccurate as there is no such curse in ancient Hawaiian history !!

Is it possible that the whole Hawaiian curse legend is a result of the "cursed" Tiki episodes of Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch? (Or did the legend exist prior to that and was probably the inspiration for those plot lines?)

Is this a misappropriation of superstitions from other cultures (i.e. Egyptian curses, Voodoo curses) on to Polynesian history where the concept of "bad luck" curses may have never existed? Are 1960's situation comedies to blame ??

If so then that's pretty darn "Tiki". :)

Post #575699 by JOHN-O on Fri, Feb 11, 2011 4:53 PM