This can be key in discovering the migration patterns of people into Oceania – how the ancient peoples spread from mainland Asia and Australia into such far-flung and isolated island chains in the middle of a vast body of water. He features in myths and legends from New Zealand – such as the legend that tells of how New Zealand’s terrain formed why it is so hilly – and from other areas of Oceania. Also, Maui is not just a Hawaiian mythical figure. Bone, especially whalebone, was considered to be able to become an extremely lucky fishhook.
Second is the fact that the fishhook is made from bone. They rely on the sea, and thus their fishhooks are incredibly important. This myth reveals several things about the Hawaiian people. Maui was furious at his brothers, as he wanted a great continent. Because they stopped paddling, the land stopped rising out of the sea, so instead of getting a great continent, all Maui got was a small chain of islands in the Pacific. As soon as they looked, they were amazed, and they stooped paddling.
His brothers, who were jealous of Maui’s status as a demigod, turned around and saw that Maui was pulling up, not a fish, but land out of the sea. When he got a bite, he instructed his brothers, who were earthly, to paddle as hard as they could but not to look back behind them. Maui then flung his fishhook, one that was similar to these that he had carved from bone. They paddled far beyond their usual fishing grounds.
Maui, a demigod, was out fishing one day with his brothers. We got to talking, and I told her that I had heard of one possible origin to the practice of wearing fishhooks, when she offered up another reason for the practice, and told me the legend, the myth, of how the Hawaiian Islands came to be. I was looking at some fishhooks that were carved from bone when the shopkeeper came to me. I was once again wandering the streets and perusing the shops on Front St in Lahaina, HI with my mother. Date of Performance/Collection: March 18, 2014
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