The Guardian of the Forest is the spirit of the oldest tree. The wisest spirit who remembers when there was nothing but a barren plain that she watched over as she grew and her children scattered about her, finally crowding in and creating the canopy that bows in the wind and rejoices in the sun.Continue reading “Guardian of the Forest”
Tag Archives: History
Honolulu show final pieces with watercolor abstracts
These are the final sculptures, laid out for the show. The watercolor paintings are the abstract forms of the elements that the gods were understood from.
Honolulu show opening final text and show pictures
The natural world has always held an intense and provocative mystery to me. The work displayed in this show represents an exploration of the connections between the sacred worlds of two very different cultures. Clay is a shared cultural metaphor for the originating materials of life. I offer a tribute to the founding acts ofContinue reading “Honolulu show opening final text and show pictures”
Honolulu show description
INTERSECTING VISIONS: a ceramic exploration into the sacred heritage of Hawaii and Poland The natural world has always held an intense and provocative mystery to me. This show is about finding connections between vastly different worlds, and understanding what it means to be human in a natural world. Over 1,000 years ago, Christianity overthrew theContinue reading “Honolulu show description”
Kanaloa (the god who became the devil)
The interesting thing about Kanaloa as a god is the fact that he also is a giant squid. And apparently his smell is also noteworthy, his long name meaning “Evil-Smelling Squid.” This makes an easy case for him to later be turned into the devil in opposition to Kane, sulfer and squid stink being ofContinue reading “Kanaloa (the god who became the devil)”
The confusing mythic-history of Hawaii
So when I started looking into the stories of Hawaiian culture, I thought that there must be lots of stories, and I was very excited to get started. The more I now read, however, the more detailed and confusing these stories get! There are so many different versions of all the stories, and it turnsContinue reading “The confusing mythic-history of Hawaii”
The Fierce and Beautiful Pele
Pele is the goddess of volcanos and of lightening. A goddess with a back straight as a cliff and breasts round like the moon, she killed her true love by incineration with lava, when she decided that her sister’s journey to fetch him took too long. She tried to kill her sister Hi‘iaka too, butContinue reading “The Fierce and Beautiful Pele”
Hawaiian and Slavic Animism
In the early times of Slavic peoples as well as in the early days of Hawaiian settlement, the societies were animistic. They believed in the harmony and balance of all things, that the (specifically Hawaii) Mana which was the “divine spark” existed in all things, and there was no real separation between the divine andContinue reading “Hawaiian and Slavic Animism”
The god Kane
Kane (Keawe) is the creator from whence all things came. He was the first consciousness that came from the chaos of Po, which was like nothingness. Po also means night. Kane then made a piece of himself into his consort of life force energy, called sometimes Nawahine, sometimes Uliuli. She became his wife, she isContinue reading “The god Kane”
Basic Research
I read Thomas Thrum’s 1907 book about Hawaiian gods and stories. This was the first book really published about Hawaiian cultural beliefs, I am sure partly because it was illegal in the United States to even speak Hawaiian until 1978. This to me was really saddening, as well as the whole history of how theContinue reading “Basic Research”
KIMBA FRANCES KERNER 