People are drawn to Kaluapele, the sacred summit area of Kīlauea. Visitors are often compelled to leave offerings to pay respect to Pelehonuamea, the elemental deity of volcanism and creation.
Native Hawaiians have honored deities at Kīlauea for centuries, and many express their reverence with hoʻokupu (offerings), personal pule (prayer), or oli (chants) to Pele. Others offer her hula kahiko (traditional dance) as a way of honoring this wahi kapu (sacred area).
Recently, rangers have collected an overload of non-traditional items left at various places surrounding Kaluapele. Although well intentioned, these offerings harm the environment and detract from the natural beauty of Kīlauea. We have removed roasting pans filled with meat, poke (raw fish), poi (pounded taro), unopened packages of cookies, rotten fruit, candy bars, burning incense sticks, plastic wrapped flowers and more. These offerings attract, or could introduce, non-native invasive species to the park, including fire ants, coqui frogs, mongoose and rats.
Please respect the Native Hawaiian culture, the ‘āina, and our hard-working staff, and refrain from leaving items behind in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Help us fulfill our mission of protecting the natural and cultural resources in the park. Consider honoring this wahi kapu simply with an oli or pule instead.
While I’m sure some portion of this is trash left by visitors, the amount of food, especially unopened packages, alongside the burning incense goes to show that the Long Con of the gods persists to this day here on the islands.
If this somehow reaches the eyes of my fellow kinsmen who are doing this with the intent to succour favor with Pele, avoid her wrath, or simply as an expression of reverent awe, allow me to indulge in a comparison with the God whom I worship and His Son who rules and reigns above all gods:
Psalm 50:
I do not need to take a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds.
For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.
I keep track of every bird in the hills,
and the insects of the field are mine.
Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all it contains belong to me.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?
Present to God a thank offering.
Repay your vows to the Most High.
Pray to me when you are in trouble.
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.
Micah 6:
With what should I bow before the sovereign God?
Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,
with year-old calves?
Will the Lord accept a thousand rams
or ten thousand streams of olive oil?
Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,
my offspring—my own flesh and blood—for my sin?
He has told you, O man, what is good,
and what the Lord really wants from you:
He wants you to carry out justice, to love faithfulness,
and to live obediently before your God.
Listen! The Lord is calling to the city!
And Matthew 26:
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
While the gods may demand oblations, offerings, and prayers to keep them from casting their plagues and other misfortunes upon the people and the land, know that the God of all gods is not so petty and a thousand times more glorious. He who has the highest authority and all wisdom doesn’t need to eat nor care about sacrifices for the purpose of feasting.
But what does He care about? Being just, to love faithfulness, to live obediently to the laws that He set forth that our entire world is built upon.
And in the case of the manifestation of the Son of God, He did not come to serve, but to be served; not to demand sacrifice to gorge, but to be a sacrifice for us and give us His own body and blood as food and drink, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness may be full.
There is no scarcity mindset with the eternal and immanent “I AM”. There is no hording or scraping as the ancient gods demand.
The gods want to take in and have appetites like men, and will die like men at the appointed time. But God–the God–pours out and gives of Himself until our cups flow over. The gods want slaves for labor, The One who is referred to as the Ancient of Days wants sons and daughters to co-rule with Him in His creation with all love and joy and unity.
So, my kinsmen, do not look to the gods nor to idols that are not gods at all for your hope. Neither be impressed nor fear them. They will inevitably let you down at best, and at worst be plagued by all manner of wickedness and evil. Reject their contract, and come, taste and see for yourself that the Lord is good. In His Son is eternal life, and He gives this water of life without price. Put down the Oreos, put down the cabbage, and come before the blessed God that you may be fed, and much more than be fed, but to also be healed, and much more than healed, but to also be a son that’s welcome home.