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| Dior "Idol" Stilletos |
It has
brought to my attention that perhaps I was disparaging local culture in my depiction
of the Dior “Idol” shoe with carved lava Fertility Goddess.
Oh No,
nothing could be further than the truth. I do have a treasured carved lava Fertility Goddess of
my very own, and could have had a lot more, but further on that later.
My Goddess
was made at a time when starchy Poi was more a mealtime choice than the
currently popular fruit salad plate. My
Haumea is a bit more corpulent.
Hawaiian
lava is quite hard and brittle making it difficult to cut and carve without
breaking. I learned this watching a young group of native Hawaiians carving the
stone, called “fountain rock” at the Polynesian Cultural center on Oahu. I found these dedicated young men worked long
hours for low pay keeping the tourists supplied with this unique island
token. They would finish their long days
with hands so tired and sore they were barely able to hold a soft banana.
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| "Mano Kana", center |
Being a creature
of empathy I offered to message their aching hands as a cross cultural inroad,
and often met with willing affirmation. I would accompany these carvers home to
their modest dwellings. It turned out
that holding a banana wasn’t the only need of these virile young men. The production quotas and demanding “Luna’s” (Hawaiian for boss) caused a great deal of built up tension and
anxiety in which lending my helping hands
could also be of use . Needless to say
my healing and focused message made for a lot of gratitude, thankfulness for
healing release. Their loud and joyous
cries were noticed, word got around, and, in my island visits I became very
popular for requests of my ministrations.
Now perhaps
The Fertility Goddess didn’t have any direct affect on me, but I can
confidently say it did on many of her idol creators. Who knows, my “hand intensive” help could
have even had a minor affect on island overpopulation. Of course in a very
small way. But it was not for any lack
of zeal that I undertook my mission in earnest, so much so that on many
occasions , my helpful visits were so well received that I not only got great joyous
cries of thanks but many, many offers of a treasured gift of their craft. Not
being one to take food out of a young mouth I turned all these Fertility
Goddess” statue offers graciously down.
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| Haumea |
That is all
except for one. Mano Kana (namesake of “The
passionate long roped God”) was such a gift to Hawaiian manhood that I gave
much more of myself than usual. He was more than grateful on many occasions in
my island visits over the years. Many
times his hands were so sore and useless I had to spend extended time with him. Often, this time with him ended with his
being so relaxed he would fall asleep as I watched his beatific smile. He was exceedingly grateful and offered me a
sample of his carving. That one time I accepted, more as a remembrance of times
shared .
Some say it
was a wonderful thing I did eliciting Hawaiian love and cultural
understanding. Perhaps, after all, there
is something to the Lava Fertility Goddess.
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| LONO |
Haumea, honey,
you may have facilitated a lot of love and attention from me . Oh course, in my case, perhaps I should more thankful
to “Lono,” Haumea’s male equivalent .
