Offerings for Pele

Offerings left at the rim of Kilauea crater, Hawaii Island, 2006. Throughout the Pacific Islands, people feel a strong connection to the land, the ocean, the ancestors, and to the gods. In East Polynesia, people build stone platforms and wooden racks (lele) to stack their offerings, which include food items such as vegetables and fruit, and also flowers, coral, and in the past slaughtered pigs and sometimes slaughtered humans. In the old stories, the tongues of the gods would come down from above and lick up the offerings. These modern offerings of papaya and orange on plates were left for Pele, the goddess of creation that resides at Kilauea. Malama ‘aina.

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