Madame Pele

One meaning for the Hawaiian word ‘pele’ is ‘lava flow’, and the molten rock is only one of many forms this tempestuous goddess may take!  While Madame Pele lives in Halema`uma`u and is presently strolling through Pāhoa, she has traveled to all the Hawaiian Islands—battling with siblings and lovers—in the many legends about this famous immortal.  In those stories she first reached our shores in human form, bringing with her many members of her magical family … whom, like herself, we can still find living in the Islands today.  This evening, kama`āina historian Boyd D. Bond tells these tales of our fiery neighbor to the south.