Caren Loebel-Fried - Hawaiian Legends of Dreams

Heaha ka puana o ka moe?
What is the answer to the dream?
Pukui, lelo Noeau No. 510

Dreams have always been compelling to me. Early on I discovered that the more I worked at untangling the meaning of a dream, the more treasures it yielded. I also loved reading myths and legends, and found the legends of Hawaii to be filled with dreams. Curious about dreaming in the days of old Hawaii, I wondered what role dreams played in Hawaiian culture and how the people made use of them.

Clues came from books, some long out of print, and from unpublished manuscripts at the Bishop Museum Library and Archives. My studies on dreaming and dream symbolism in Hawaii, as well as the legends themselves, revealed the importance of dreaming in early Hawaiian life. Dreams were the principal connection between the living and the departed, the xii means by which the akua and the aumkua guided and influenced people.

This volume contains legends in which dreams play a crucial role in the story. I consulted as many versions of each legend as possible and tried to stay true to the source in my retelling. At times, the only versions that I could find were written in the Victorian era, far removed from the original oral telling. These versions were often written in a Western voice and lacked the hallmarks of an authentic Hawaiian legend. To try and offset any misrepresentations of the culture, I incorporated elements found in traditional legends. Details about daily life from archival materials were woven into the narrative, as well as place names and references to the natural elements that embody the gods and ancestors, with whom the people lived in close harmony. When a legend was very long, the retelling here focuses on the part of the story set in motion by dreams, with the best source for the full legend mentioned at the end of the story. The legends are grouped according to the kinds of dreams found within them, followed by notes intended to put the stories into the context of Hawaiian culture, nature, and history. I have also included examples of actual dream experiences of contemporary Hawaiian people, revealing that dreams continue to play an important role in Hawaiian life and are considered by many to have the same useful qualities as in the days of old.

The art in this volume was created using the ancient technique of block printing, which I learned from my mother. Growing up with my mothers woodcuts covering the walls of our home, their powerful, graceful lines and designs became a part of me. My mom taught me by example, and throughout my life her art and expertise have informed my own work. More recently, while visiting an exhibit of European illuminated bibles, I was xiii riveted by the tiny color-tinted woodcuts that graced the pages of those ancient texts. I experimented with my own prints, adding color washes to some of the black-and-white designs. The results of those experiments may be seen in this book.