Jessie's middle name is Lehualani meaning Heavenly flower , or flowers of Heaven. Lehua (flower of the Ohi'a tree) and lani (heavenly). We knew this before we named her, and up until a few days before she was born, it was just Lehua...but we added the lani because I thought it was pretty and I liked the meaning. ANYWAY, we knew the meaning behind Lehua, but not the story. Well, I just read about this Hawaiian Legend behind the Lehua Flower, and I liked it, so I thought I would share.
According to legend, Ohi'a was a young, handsome Big Island chief. The volcano goddess Pele knew that Ohi'a was courting a beautiful young girl named Lehua. Pele became enamored with Ohi'a and desired him for a husband. One day Ohi'a went up into the mountains to cut kukui bark to stain his surfboard, Pele appeared to him. She was dressed in her finest clothes and was quite striking. After a time, she announced to Ohi'a who she was and asked him to be her husband. Nervously but very diplomatically, he turned her down, professing his eternal love for Lehua. In her anger, Pele told him he was as gutless as a piece of weed, and changed him into a gnarled tree with grey-green leaves. When the other gods saw what Pele had done, they felt bad and tried to reverse it, but failed. The best they could do to reunite the broken-hearted lehua with her beloved Ohi'a was to turn Lehua into a beautiful blossom on the same tree. To this day, it is said that picking a lehua blossom off an ohi'a tree will produce rain. These are the tears from heaven for separated lovers everywhere.
Lehua Blossom
Ohia Tree with Lehua blossoms
Ohi'a trees are one of the first plants that will grow on volcanic rock....as you can see, there are really no other plants around.
THAT is an awesome story. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is really cool. It makes we want to find out if there is a good story that goes with Eden's middle name. Thanks for sharing that! ;-) Hope you guys are doing well...miss you.
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