Menehune
Encyclopedia
Hawaiian mythology
Hawaiian mythology refers to the legends, historical tales and sayings of the ancient Hawaiian people. It is considered a variant of a more general Polynesian mythology, developing its own unique character for several centuries before about 1800. It is associated with the Hawaiian religion...
, the Menehune [pronounced meh-neh-HOO-neh] are said to be a people, sometimes described as dwarfs
Dwarfism
Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....
in size, who live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, far from the eyes of normal humans. Their favorite food is the maia (banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
), but they also like fish.
The Menehune were said to be superb craftspeople. Legends say that the Menehune built temples (heiau
Heiau
A heiau is a Hawaiian temple. Many types of heiau existed, including heiau to treat the sick , offer first fruits, offer first catch, start rain, stop rain, increase the population, ensure health of the nation, achieve success in distant voyaging, reach peace, and achieve success in war . Only the...
), fishponds, roads, canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s, and houses. They are said to have lived in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
before settlers arrived from Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
many centuries ago.
In Beckwith's Hawaiian Mythology, there are references to several other forest dwelling races: the Nawao
Nawao
In Hawaiian mythology, the Nawao are a legendary people, a wild, large-sized hunting people, descended from Lua-nu'u . Other sources suggest that the Nawao were present in Hawai'i before the Menehune who are thought to have driven them out or destroyed them...
, who were large-sized wild hunters descended from Lua-nuu, the mu people, and the wa people.
Some early scholars theorized that there was a first settlement of Hawaii, by settlers from the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
, and a second, from Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
. The Tahitian settlers oppressed the "commoners", the manahune in the Tahitian language
Tahitian language
Tahitian is an indigenous language spoken mainly in the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to the other indigenous languages spoken in French Polynesia: Marquesan, Tuamotuan, Mangarevan, and Austral Islands languages...
, who fled to the mountains and were called Menahune. Proponents of this theory point to an 1820 census of Kauai
Kauai
Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
by Kaumualii
Kaumualii
Kaumualii was the last independent Alii Aimoku of Kauai and Niihau before becoming a vassal of Kamehameha I of the unified Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810...
, the ruling Alii Aimoku
Ali'i
Alii is a word in the Polynesian language denoting chiefly status in ancient Hawaii and the Samoa Islands. A similar word with the same concept is found in other Polynesian societies. In the Cook Islands, an ariki is a high chief and the House of Ariki is a parliamentary house...
of the island, which listed 65 people as menehune.
Folklorist Katherine Luomala believes that the legends of the Menehune are a post-European contact mythology created by adaptation of the term manahune (which by the time of the settling of the Hawaiian Islands had acquired a meaning of "lowly people") to European legends of brownies. Menehune are not mentioned in pre-contact mythology; the legendary "overnight" creation of the Alekoko fishpond, for example, finds its equivalent in the legend about the creation of a corresponding structure on Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, which was supposedly indeed completed in a single day - not by menehune, but, as a show of power, by a local alii
Ali'i
Alii is a word in the Polynesian language denoting chiefly status in ancient Hawaii and the Samoa Islands. A similar word with the same concept is found in other Polynesian societies. In the Cook Islands, an ariki is a high chief and the House of Ariki is a parliamentary house...
who demanded every one of his subjects to appear at the construction site and assist in building.
Structures attributed to the Menehune
- Alekoko fishpond wall at NiumaluNiumaluNiumalu is a district on the south-east coast of the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. It has a population of approximately 7000 people....
, Kauai - KīkīaolaKikiaolaKīkīaola is a historic irrigation ditch located near Waimea on the island of Kauai in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Also known as "Menehune Ditch" or "Peekauai Ditch," it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 16, 1984...
ditch at WaimeaWaimea, Kauai County, HawaiiWaimea is a census-designated place in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 1,787 at the 2000 census...
, Kauai - Necker Island structures
- Pa o ka menehune, breakwater at Kahaluu BayKahaluu BayKahaluu Bay is a historic district and popular recreation area on the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.-Early history:This area has been populated for about 500 years, and in the 18th and 19th centuries was an important royal residence....
.
Other uses
- In the experimental 1970s AlohaALOHAnetALOHAnet, also known as the ALOHA System, or simply ALOHA, was a pioneering computer networking system developed at the University of Hawaii. ALOHAnet became operational in June, 1971, providing the first public demonstration of a wireless packet data network.The ALOHAnet used a new method of...
network developed at the University of Hawaii, the packet controllers were called Menehune, a punPunThe pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
on the equivalent IMP (Interface Message ProcessorInterface Message ProcessorThe Interface Message Processor was the packet-switching node used to interconnect participant networks to the ARPANET from the late 1960s to 1989. It was the first generation of gateways, which are known today as routers. An IMP was a ruggedized Honeywell DDP-516 minicomputer with...
) in the early ARPAnetARPANETThe Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
.
- It is also the name of a popular brand of water bottled locally in Hawaii.
- The Menehune is the school mascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
of Waimea High SchoolWaimea High SchoolWaimea High School is a public high school in Waimea on the island of Kauai in the state of Hawaii. It was established in 1881 and serves grades 9 through 12. According to the Detroit Lions official website, it is the western most high school in the United States of America and therefore, the...
on Kaua'i and Makakilo Elementary School, Maunawili Elementary School, Moanalua High SchoolMoanalua High SchoolMoanalua High School is a public, co-educational college preparatory high school of the Hawaii State Department of Education and serves grades nine through twelve. Established in 1972 and graduated its first class in 1975, Moanalua High School is located in suburban Salt Lake near Moanalua in the...
and Mililani Waena Elementary School on O'ahu.
See also
- Little people (mythology)
- NawaoNawaoIn Hawaiian mythology, the Nawao are a legendary people, a wild, large-sized hunting people, descended from Lua-nu'u . Other sources suggest that the Nawao were present in Hawai'i before the Menehune who are thought to have driven them out or destroyed them...
, another legendary Hawaiian people - PaupueoPaupueoIn Hawaiian mythology, Paupueo is the owl god. He sends his owls after the Menehune when they become too uncontrollable. The owls chase away the Menehune, who are frightened of owls....
, whose owls chase away the Menehune - The Moriori in New Zealand, a supposed pre-Maori population.