Ghost Sisters of Hilo Hills

Near the mountains of Hilo, and appearing each one closer to the ocean, are three extinct craters in the shape of hollow hills. They are called Halai, Opeapea and Puuhonu. The soil on these hills were especially rich and the area was blessed with abundant rain. The goddess Hina, Mother of Maui, gave Halai to her daughter, Hina Keahi, mistress of fire. She gave Puuhonu to her daughter, Hina Kuluua, mistress of rain. The women settled on their bountiful lands and their people prospered for a long, long time.

The change started slowly. The rains did not fall as heavily or as often, but still, food was abundant. Gradually, the ground became very dry as the rain ceased to fall altogether. The people became uneasy as their crops shriveled and their stores of food dwindled. Eventually, hunger beset the villages and the people feared the worst.

Hina Keahi knew that something must be done to save her followers. She instructed the men to cross the dried up river bed and make their way into the mountains to gather firewood. The kahunas went on the expedition as well, uttering incantations against the possibility of failure. The weakened men entered the dry forests of koa and ohia and spent days gathering the necessary amount of wood.

The next task was digging out a large imu or underground oven. Hina Keahi’s followers labored over the excavation of a great pit. They gathered all the best stones for retaining heat and arranged them in the oven with all the wood. Then they started the fire.

Hina Keahi surveyed their work and said it was good. She then instructed the exhausted people to make preparations as if they were cooking food in the great oven. The people obeyed, making a place for sweet potatoes, for taro, for pigs and for dogs, though no food was actually laid on the stones.

Finally, Hina Keahi told them to make a place for a human sacrifice. With dread, they made the preparations, wondering who among them would have to give their life to appease the gods, in order to save the rest.

When all was done, the people stood along the sides of the oven, ready to cover it over when the sacrifice had been selected. Hina Keahi looked at her followers with pity and love. Then she gave them her final instructions.

“This is my imu, and it is I who will lay on the hot stones.” She said. “Fear not, for I will sleep. But cover me well, or I will perish. Watch for three days and you will see a woman by the imu. Follow her will.”

Then, Hina Keahi stepped into the pit and lay down as a great cloud of smoke arose. The people hurriedly threw the imu mats over her and filled in the pit with earth until she was buried deeply. Then they waited and watched over the buried oven.

The land was disturbed by a series of earthquakes and the starving villagers kept their vigil with trepidation. Hina Keahi slipped down through the stones of the imu and entered the underground paths of the spirit world in order to get aid for her people.

On that first day, Hina Keahi appeared as a gushing stream of water to provide comfort for her people. One the second day, she rose up as a pool which was named Moe-waa (Canoe Sleep), this time nearer to the sea. On the third day, she burst forth as a great spring that gushed into the ocean. This was named Auauwai. Then, a woman appeared by the imu and instructed the people to dig it open. Hina Keahi’s followers, refreshed by the cool water, and fortified by the miraculous events, dug away the dirt with renewed energy. To their amazement, the imu was full of food in such great quantity, that it would last until they were able to grow their crops again. The people rejoiced and exalted Hina Keahi in stories and song.

Meanwhile, Hina Kuluua was struggling with the famine as well. Although she had power over the rain, she was unable to provide food to her people. She was very jealous of Hina Keahi, and when she got word of the miracles her sister had performed and the praise lavished over her for them, her jealousy intensified.

Hina Kuluua ordered a great imu to be dug. Her people labored over gathering the stones and wood. They made preparations as if there was food and prepared a space for a human sacrifice. All was made ready for a goddess of fire, yet Hina Kuluua was a goddess of rain. In her haste to gain the honor that her sister held, she forgot that fire and rain could not work together. So, she issued the same orders to her people, that they should cover her well, and to look for a woman to appear in three days. Then she entered the pit. Her people quickly covered her with mats and earth as she had commanded. They waited for the miraculous events to occur, but only a rain cloud appeared above the imu. They waited for the appearance of the woman for three days. Then four. But no one appeared.

It is said that Maui attempted to catch the ghost of Hina Kuluua which had risen up in the rain cloud above the imu, but she escaped to the kukui trees on the mountainside. Sometimes she rises up from them in the form of clouds which is considered a sure sign on rain.

The ghosts of the sisters still appear near the old hills from time to time. Hina Keahi, as flowing lava, and Hina Kuluua, as clouds of rain.

Ghost Sisters of Hilo Hills
By Genesis