Folklore And Urban Legends: The Hawaiian Lore

Legends are traditions that are told through stories and has been embellished through retellings.

Myths are stories that are usually based on religion and have supernatural characters or creatures that also explain some sort of natural phenomenon.

Fairy Tales are fantastic element that has magical and imaginary creatures and usually have conflicts between good vs evil.

Hawaiian Folklore is is a mixture of various aspects of Hawaiian mythology and various urban legends that have been passed on regarding various places in the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii began with the people worshiping volcanic gods, but also followed the gods of the Hawaiian Lore. The culture itself has all three elements of folklore (myth, legend, and fairy tale) but mythology

The culture will change without oral tradition, because Hawaii wouldn’t have the stories that built them to be a community. Hawaii would be lost without their gods that they follow. Religion has been a very important part of the history of Hawaii and a major step in shaping the domination of Hawaii both in past and in present time, so without their gods to follow the people will have no religion to value.

The culture of Hawaii without folklore would lose their mythology traditions. “Religion and mythology were interwoven in Hawaiian culture; and local legends and genealogies were preserved in song, chant, and narrative” (ulukau.org). WIthout folklore they would lose the traditions of the strong bringings as a community.

Our culture today has folklore in everyday occurrences. Within the three elements of folklore there are stories told through these elements to our culture. These stories were told throughout my childhood, and they shaped the culture which I live in today. The Menehune and the Night

Both stories have powers that others of their kind do not have. In “Charlie's Bedtime Story” Heihei has the power to speak, and then in the “Sacred Spine” Mo’o has profound powers.

These fairy tales reflect the culture by giving the children stories to read and pass on to the next generations. These stories are made up, but give the culture values and ideals to respective to their society and culture.

These stories are for entertainment. In Hawaii these stories are told to let the children be entertained. That goes for all fairy tales they are made up stories not to teach a lesson. Normally these fairy tales don’t have values, but let allow the children to be entertained.

The Sacred Spine was originated in the 1500s in the little lake at the summit of the West Maui Mountains. This where the people thought that a dragon was down under the water. Charlie's Bedtime Story was originated in Hawaii and the point that the author wanted to get across to the people is that everyone has a purpose in