AboutMalia Expertise Aloha,
I can answer I would say about 99 % of all questions relating to Hawai`i.
Experience I work for tour agencies as a tour guide so have a wonderful island experience especially from the view of travelers and newcomers to the islands. I am also a high school language teacher.
Question Aloha Malia!
First I'll need to give you a little background information. My passion in life is scuba diving, better yet, scuba diving with sharks. To me, sharks are the most amazing creatures on the entire planet. Anyways, I am going to get a shark tattooed on my foot and the shark that I'm getting is going to be done in a Hawaiian tribal style (i believe that's what you would call it). I once heard that Hawaiians have a myth of a young girl who was going to be attacked by a shark but she was protected because of a certain tattoo/marking on her foot. I have looked every where to verify that story and to find out exactly what the tattoo/marking looked like. If you could help me out that would be awesome.
peace,
justine
Answer Aloha Justine,
Indeed sharks are often seen here in Hawaii as fearful but not as horrible creatures. We respect them just as we respect corals and other fish in the ocean.
I know this story about a boy however, could it be similar to the one you are referring to?
AUMAKUA LEGENDS
It is related that a girl of thirteen years of age, living at Waikapuna, a long sandy beach directly below Naalehu, Kau, dreamed that a lover appeared to her out of the ocean. Every morning when she told her parents this dream her father thought she had allowed some one liberties and wanted to conceal it, so he kept her carefully guarded. The dreams however continued. After a time the girl gave birth to a shark. Her parents recognized this as the offspring of an akua mano (shark god) called Ke-‘lii-kaua-o-Kau, a cousin of Pele, and did not hold the girl responsible.
The young mother took the baby, wrapped it in a coarse seaweed and cast it into the sea. The young shark was always recognizable by its green coat, and became the aumakua of that particular family. From that time they were careful not to partake of either shark flesh or pakaiea moss. Swelling of the abdomen would have followed the breaking of the shark tapu; incurable sores attacking the mouth, the breaking of the seamoss tapu.
As the shark never ate human flesh, it was a favorite in the neighborhood. One day a stranger, Kahikina by name, went out fishing and was attacked by two sharks. When he cried out for help he saw a small green shark coming toward him with great speed, which quickly attacked the man-eaters, slashing them with its tail until they fled. It then slipped under the canoe and carried it safely to the shore. So grateful was Kahikina that he returned next day with a huge awa root as offering and he also cleaned from the shark's back the barnacles and pebbles which had accumulated there. Ever after that the shark and the man became great friends. The shark would chase schools of fish toward the shore and all that the man caught he would divide between them.
Opuopele, brother of Kahikina, lived at Paula beach, Kau, and loved to go fishing. One day he had just thrown a stick of giant powder into Kawa-nui cove and dived off the cliff to gather the spoils when he found himself confronted by a shark on one side and a turtle on the other. Undismayed, he began to talk to the shark, saying, "There is your share, here is mine," at the same time offering the shark a fish and bagging one for himself. In this way the shark was pacified, and the old man returned to the shore with a gunny-sack half-filled with fish. When the wife was asked about this strange occurrence she answered that the shark always appeared when her husband went fishing and that he always shared the catch. She did not claim the shark as an aumakua but there was probably this deeper significance in the explanation.
Hope this helps a bit.
If I find the story I will let you know
Malia
