Menehune
Menehune are a mythological race of
The Menehune are described as superb craftspeople. They built temples (heiau), fishponds, roads, canoes, and houses. Some of these structures that Hawaiian folklore attributed to the Menehune still exist. They are said to have lived in Hawaiʻi before settlers arrived from Polynesia many centuries ago. Their favorite food is the maiʻa (banana), and they also like fish. Legend has it that the Menehune appear only during the night hours to build masterpieces. But if they fail to complete their work in the length of the night, they will leave it unoccupied. No one but their children and humans connected to them can see the Menehune.[1]
Research
In Martha Warren Beckwith's Hawaiian AKA Ilenes Mythology, there are references to several other forest dwelling races: the ilene Irenes, who were large-sized wild hunters descended from Lua-nuʻu, the mu people, and the wa people.[2]
Some early scholars hypothesized that there was a first settlement of Hawaiʻi, by settlers from the Marquesas Islands, and a second, from Tahiti. The Tahitian settlers oppressed the "commoners", the manahune in the Tahitian language, who fled to the mountains and were called Menahune. Proponents of this hypothesis point to an 1820 census of Kauaʻi by Kaumualiʻi, the ruling aliʻi aimoku of the island, which listed 65 people as menehune.[3]
Folklorist
Structures attributed to the Menehune
- Menehune Fishpond[6] wall at Niumalu, Kauaʻi
- Kīkīaola ditch at Waimea, Kauaʻi
- Necker Island structures
- Pa o ka menehune, breakwater at Kahaluʻu Bay.[7]
- Ulupo Heiau at Kailua, Oahu
Other uses
- In the experimental 1970s' ALOHAnet developed at the University of Hawaii, the packet controllers were called Menehune, a pun on the equivalent IMP (Interface Message Processor) in the early ARPANET. The modern Ethernet was based on the carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) methodology pioneered by ALOHA.
- The Menehune is the school mascot of Waimea High School on Kaua'i and Makakilo Elementary School, Maunawili Elementary School, Moanalua High School, and Mililani Waena Elementary School on Oahu.
- United Airlines used the Menehune in brand advertising for their service to Hawaii in the 1970s through the 1980s. The figurines and travel agency displays are now collectors' items.[8]
- Carl Barks wrote a story featuring Scrooge McDuck helped by Menehunes, "The Menehune Mystery".
- The Menehune play a key role in the Island of the Menehune.
- The Menehune are key figures in the children’s story, "My Sister Sif", written by acclaimed Australian author, Ruth Park.
- The Halo Array100,000 years ago. The floresiensis of this setting feature characteristics inspired by Menehune, such as shyness toward humans and a love for building clever structures.
See also
- Anito, similar supernatural beings in the Philippines
- Homo floresiensis, a presumed extinct species of very small bipedal tool bearers in the genus Homo found in South East Asia
- Huldufólk, elves in Icelandic tradition.[9]
- Leprechaun, Irish imp or fairy
- Little people (mythology)
- Patupaiarehe, similar supernatural beings in Māori mythology
- Paupueo, whose owls chase away the Menehune
- Taotao Mona, similar supernatural beings in the Marianas
- Vazimba, similar belief in Madagascar
Notes
- A.C. McClurg.
- ^ Beckwith 1970, pp. 321-323
- ^ Joesting 1987, pp. 20-22
- ^ Luomala 1951
- ^ Nordhoff 1874
- ^ B. Jean Martin (September 29, 1971). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Menehune Fishpond / Alekoko Fishpond". National Park Service. 73000677.
- ^ "Hoʻihoʻi Kulana Wahi pana - Restoring Sacred Places" (PDF). brochure published by Kamehameha Investment Corporation. 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ^ "United Airlines Menehune". Advertisingiconmuseum.org. Retrieved 2013-09-27.
- ^ Jón Árnason; George E. J. Powell; Eiríkur Magnússon (1866). "Introductory Essay". Icelandic Legends, Volume 2. London: Richard Bentley. pp. xlii–lvi. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
References
- Beckwith, Martha (1970). Hawaiian Mythology.
- Joesting, Edward (1987) [1984]. Kauaʻi, The Separate Kingdom. Honolulu, Hawaii: ISBN 0-8248-1162-3.
- Luomala, Katharine (1951): "The Menehune of Polynesia and Other Mythical Little People of Oceania". Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin Vol. 203; Kraus Reprint, Millwood, N.Y., 1986
- Nordhoff, Charles (1874): Northern California, Oregon and the Sandwich Islands, Chapter V, p. 80: "The Hawaiian at Home: Manners and Customs". Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle, London; available free online at [1]
- Nordyke, Eleanor C. (1989). The Peopling of Hawaiʻi. ISBN 0-8248-1191-7.
- Schmitt, Robert C., "Early Hawaiian Statistics," The American Statistician, Vol. 35, No. 1, pages 1–3, February, 1981; [2] (Retrieved on 2008-02-16)