Legends of the Hula is a collection of block prints that was launched in an exhibit at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawai'i. I fell in love with Hawai'i's natural world, culture, and legends when I first visited many years ago and thereafter embarked on this path of learning. Legends of the Hula was at first an idea for a book, and my research began with the ancient legends. In the legends, I discovered everyone was dancing and chanting; the gods, the royalty, the commoners, even the plants and the birds! Hula is Hawai'i. I realized this was a unique opportunity to experience my subject first hand. And so, in addition to exploring books, manuscripts, historic photographs, recordings, and legendary places, I began hula classes. It was deeply moving to actually "dance" the stories that I had been reading for so long, and feel the movements that people for generations have been feeling. Through the practice of hula, my connection to Hawai'i grows stronger, and my creative process has been transformed. In this collection of art and stories, my hope is to convey some part of the epic story of the hula told within the legends of Hawai'i.

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The Legends
As told by Caren Loebel-Fried

Pele and Hi'iaka

Hä'ena, in Puna, is where Höpoe taught Hi'iaka to dance the hula. They were dear friends and loved to dance together there at the shore. Höpoe was a mortal, and Hi'iaka a goddess with the power to heal and see truth in visions. Associated with greenery and growth, Hi'iaka is much beloved by hula dancers, who dedicate many hula to her. Pele, goddess of the volcano, is Hi'iaka's older sister. Pele lives in the pit at Halema'uma'u. Her personality is volcanic; her fiery temper builds and erupts in explosive anger with lava fountains and flows from craters at Kïlauea.

In this famous legend of Hawai'i, Pele went to sleep and traveled in her dream body to the Northern tip of Kaua'i at Hä'ena, lured by the sound of a hula drum. There she met the chief and master drummer and chanter, Lohi'au. He became spellbound by Pele and the two spent three passionate days and nights together. Then Pele disappeared, woke at Halema'uma'u, and asked Hi'iaka to fetch Lohi'au and bring him back to Kïlauea. Hi'iaka agreed, but only with the promise that Pele would protect Höpoe and her lehua groves.

Hi'iaka's journey to Lohi'au was filled with danger and battles with many deadly mo'o (giant lizards) that slowed her progress. With the help of her two travel companions, Wahine'öma'o and Päçüopalaçä, and the protective lightning skirt that Pele gave her, Hi'iaka finally reached Häçena. There she found that Lohi'au had taken his own life over his loss of Pele. Hi'iaka had a house built, decorated with healing plants, chanting and administering herbs and the water of life. Hi'iaka finally restored Lohi'au back to life.

On the journey back to Kïlauea, from high atop a mountain, Hi'iaka gazed over the channel between Kaua'i and O'ahu and saw in the waters of Ka 'ie'ie Waho a vision of destruction, revealed to her by the goddess Moananuikalehua. Hi'iaka knew her beloved Höpoe and her lehua groves at Puna had been consumed by Pele's lava and fire. With a heart full of grief, Hi'iaka continued on the journey with Lohi'au back to Pele. Lohi'au grew to love Hi'iaka, but she rebuffed his attempts at intimacy. Once they finally arrived back at Kïlauea, Hi'iaka enacted her revenge on Pele and on the flank of the volcano, Hi'iaka and Lohi'au fulfilled their love.

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The Legend of Keaomelemele

Hawaiian dance and chant are woven into the marvelous story of Keaomelmele, "Golden Cloud." In this legend, even the birds and the plants learned to chant and dance, and all of nature helped and supported the magical goddess, Keaomelmele. Within this legend, the protocol of hula; the hälau hula, hula school, the intensive training, and the 'üniki, graduation, are described.

Paliuli, sister of Keaomelemele, lost her husband to Poli'ahu, the snow goddess of Mauna Kea. Paliuli tried to win her husband back, but Poli'ahu had him under her spell. Paliuli traveled the islands in listless grief. On the cliffs of Halelea on Kaua'i, Paliuli happened upon the sound of chanting in a hälau hula and was transfixed. The kumu, the teacher, invited Paliuli to come inside and learn the hula. With hard work and the help of her loving kumu and haumana, the other students, Paliuli found strength in the dance and chant, and gradually got over the pain of losing her husband.

Keaomelemele could hear her sister, Paliuli, chanting in the distant hälau and decided to travel to the cliffs of Kaua'i. She entered the hälau and began her own study of the hula. Keaomelemele learned to chant and her voice was so powerful it shook the islands like thunder. She caused an earthquake that tore O'ahu in two, giving way to the Nu'uanu valley. At their 'üniki, their graduation, the sisters and other haumana gave a grand public hula performance. Keaomelemele, the star performer, danced atop a Kou tree. Ferns danced below, the forest birds chanted above, and all of nature celebrated. Lured by the sound of chanting, Paliuli's husband came to the 'üniki where he watched Paliuli dancing and chanting gloriously, and his heart filled with love for her again. But Paliuli rejected him. She had found her power in the hula.

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Lauka'ie'ie


Deep in the Waipi'o Valley, Lauka'ie'ie dreamed every night of a man living where the sun rose, and she knew he was to be her husband. Lauka'ie'ie's friends, the forest snails, birds, plants, and her brother the Chief of the Winds, traveled from Hawai'i Island to Lehua, the tiny islet off the northern tip of Kaua'i. There they found Kawelona, who had been dreaming every night of Lauka'ie'ie. And so he came to Lauka'ie'ie and for years after, they lived a peaceful and happy life together with the spirits of the forest. When they grew very old, it was time for Kawelona to join his ancestors. Lauka'ie'ie abandoned her human form and become the ie'ie vine. The Chief of the Winds blew her all around the Islands of Hawai'i, to grow in the forests and climb up the tall 'öhi'a trees. There she grows today, in the forests of Hawai'i.

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La'amaikahiki Brings the Pahu Hula (hula drum) to Hawai'i

According to traditional historic accounts, The pahu, sharkskin drum, was brought to Hawai'i from Tahiti around A.D. 1250 by La'amaikahiki. There are many variations of this historic moment. Following is a Hawai'i Island version.

People gathered along the shore at Kailiki'i, Ka'ü, drawn to a deep rhythmic drumming that came from the sea. As a double hulled canoe approached their shore, they believed the sound was the voice of the god of canoe building, Küpulupulu. When the canoe came ashore the people greeted La'amaikahiki, "La'a from Kahiki," with food and drink, and they marveled at his pahu, drum, which they had never seen before. La'amaikahiki continued up the coast, beating the pahu along the way, landing next at Kona where he was treated in the same way as in Ka'ü. His journey continued around the islands all the way to Kaua'i, La'amaikahiki drumming and making many stops to meet the people of Hawai'i. Once landing on Kaua'i, La'amaikahiki is said to have taught the people the hula and the sacred hula drum dances.

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He'eia

He'eia is a mele inoa, a name chant, written for King David Kaläkaua. He'eia Bay, in Keauhou, South Kona, was a favorite surfing spot for the ali'i, the chiefs, and was where King Kaläkaua loved to surf. Known for his impressive prowess on a surfboard and with women, in this chant, he is unsuccessful at wooing with his surfing skills.

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