He takes what he wants and leaves the fence broken
Resonance
Farmers those who love the uplands those who laugh at themselves
Symbols
PigKukuiTriggerfishRainFern
Mythology Summary
Kamapua'a is a Hawaiian kupua, a shape-shifting demigod, the hog child of Hina and Kahikiula, associated with Lono and particularly with Maui and Oahu. The Pele stories have variant versions: in some they are enemies who divide the districts, in others they are lovers and he turns her lava rock into fertile soil, and he can take the forms of a pig, a kukui tree, a fern and the humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Beckwith's Hawaiian Mythology (1940) and Kame'eleihiwa's A Legendary Tradition of Kamapua'a (1996) are the usual sources. The pig is his, and the uplands are his.
Modern Practice
Kamapua'a is honoured in the uplands with kava, roasted pig and kukui, and his practice is the relationship with the fertile ground and with the pig. Hula and the chants keep the Pele story. The feral pig is a conservation problem in Hawai'i, and the tradition's pig is not a licence to release one.