Godly showdown? When we first came to Hawaii, I was not surprised to learn of the ancient beliefs in various deities by the Polynesian people. While growing up in Italy, I learned a great deal about Greek and Roman mythology.
Godly showdown?
When we first came to Hawaii, I was not surprised to learn of the ancient beliefs in various deities by the Polynesian people. While growing up in Italy, I learned a great deal about Greek and Roman mythology. I also discovered at home the librettos to many of Wagner’s operas and was fascinated by his version of the old Germanic myths: magic rings and swords, Wotan and his cadre of ladies on flying horses to carry fallen heroes off to Valhalla. What fun. Sadly, I learned later that Wagner was a great anti-Semite, and his music was a favorite of Adolf Hitler. I was not aware that any of these ancient religions were still being practiced.
Thus I was surprised to read in the paper that some of these Hawaiian deities are still being called upon by believers, for example in the attempt to have a goddess, said to live on Mauna Kea, to testify through a human medium against the Thirty Meter Telescope at a contested case hearing. How odd that such a deity would be thought to oppose humanity’s search for new knowledge about the universe.
But now I am even more surprised to read on last Friday’s religion page that there is a new chapter of Odinists who will meet at the Kilauea Military Camp’s chapel.
Odin is the Norse version of Wotan. A bit of an Internet search revealed that Odinism is a fairly recent attempt to cobble together a religion out of old texts and myths of the Scandinavian people, and it is recognized in a few countries, notably the United Kingdom, and a few U.S. states, such as Utah.
There seem to be different factions, some of which appeal to white supremacists and anti-Semites, and they are rather militaristic. The most sacred ritual is said to involve a blood sacrifice … .
So it came to me that Odin might now also want to visit the top of Mauna Kea, since he has new followers here, and how would that sit with the Hawaiian goddesses? Would it be a bloody showdown with thunder and lightning, or perhaps love at first sight?
Let us hope for peaceful coexistence to include also the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Adrienne S. Dey
Hilo
