What would happen if I took a volcanic rock from the "big" island? Would Pelee get mad?
Armando
Hello again Armando,
I guess it would depend on if you did it with a good heart. There are
lots and lots of people who will tell you that it is bad luck to take
rocks away from the big island. The park service used to have a display
of all the rocks that tourists had taken and then sent back because of bad
luck. They even displayed the letters that told about all the bad luck.
It really made you feel sorry for these folks when so many bad things
happened in their lives all at the same time.
The only problem is: there is no basis for the belief in this bad luck.
There are certainly no old Hawaiian laws about bad luck from taking
stones, anyway. The park service did a long study to see where that
"legend" came from and couldn't find anything. They decided that some
tour bus driver got tired of lugging around a bunch of boxes of rocks that
his passengers had collected and decided to scare them into not taking any
more. It has apparently worked because not only tourists believe it now,
many local folks do too.
Of course most of the pretty volcanic sites are within Hawai'i Volcanoes
National Park, and it is illegal to take rocks (plants or animals either)
from the park. You'd have to deal with a more human problem than Pele,
namely an angry park ranger.
Pele is a powerful deity and regardless of what I say you might not want
to take stones away from her if you are doing it just to steal. Or you
could leave something in return. She likes 'ohelo berries, gin, and pork.
sincerely,
Scott Rowland, University of Hawaii
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