Menehune

Menehune are NOT little Hawaiian leprechauns.

"Really?" you might ask. In all the legends, Menehune were the little people that could build canoes, fishponds, bridges and more in one night. They kind of sound like leprechauns, but they're not.

The name 'Menehune' probably came from the Tahitian word, 'Manahune', which were the people who were small in the sense of status, but when the western writers heard stories about the Menehune, they thought it meant that they were small-sized people. The western writers thought about stories from Europe about the leprechauns and gnomes...and then a new type of 'Hawaiian' myth was created!

The writers were told stories about small and magical little people who worked in big groups and completed projects such as large temple platforms, aqueducts and more. However, there is no authentic Hawaiian tradition of the Menehune as a race of physically small people.

Summary

• The name 'Menehune' came from the Tahitian word 'Manahune', which were the people with small status.
• Western writers thought that the Polynesians meant physically small people, which reminded them of the European tales of the leprechauns and gnomes, and began to wrote stories of little people who could build large projects in a night.
• There is no authentic tradition of the Menehune as a race of physically small people.

Source: Ancient Hawai'i, by Herb Kawainui Kane

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Introduction

I am Kiana and I am 10 years old. I am studying Hawaiian History and thought it would be fun to use all of my information to make a blog. I am going to start off by telling you how the islands of Hawaii were formed.


Islands begin under the ocean. Hot lava comes out of a volcano, and slowly by slowly the lava creates a mountain. The mountain gets bigger and bigger, and when it is above the ocean, the lava cools and becomes rock. Over time, more lava comes on top of the mountain. After millions of years, the mountain becomes an island. Next, a 'caldera', or a pit, forms at the top of the mountain. Lava comes from the pit and also from cracks on the sides of the mountains. Then, cones, which are small hills, form. Slowly the mountain is worn down, and rocks break off of the island. Streams are created when it rains and when valley's are created. The valley's get bigger while the rain and the ocean wear down the island, and the rock from the island turns into soil. As the island becomes worn down, small sea animals called corals live in the water. The coral bodies and the skeletons grow together and form coral reefs, which surround most of the island. The sand is created when waves break up the coral onto the shore. Thousands of years later, the island is formed, and the Big Island of Hawaii has still has volcano's in action making the Big Island even bigger. There is also another island that is being formed right now, called Lo'ihi.


On the next post, I will talk about the 8 main islands of Hawaii.