When another culture is allowed to invade your culture and strip away its beliefs, lifestyle, and language, that is complete indoctrination.
Especially when the leaders of your culture set the example by abandoning all that makes your culture unique and subsequently order you and every subject of your race to convert in like manner, you are now indoctrinated. Now that a foreign religion has successfully nullified your thousand-year-old belief in your own gods and customs, they next indoctrinate your diet, which makes you obese, traumatizes your DNA to the point where you don't live past your 50s. However, should the brilliant light of an inner cultural renaissance ever shine upon you, and you realize that the religion you practice and the diet you keep are killing you both spiritually and physically, it may be too late.Lei Popoahi was the matriarch of her ohana, which was mainly ensconced in Western religion. Lei was not. She still held the beliefs and practices of the goddess Pele, as it was said that she was descended from a long line of kahuna who worshipped the woman of the fiery pit of Kilauea. The children were afraid of Lei because her eyes were wild and aflame. Her hair was wiry and seemed to generate an electric energy. At least that's what the adults told the children. She always wore a black dress, no matter if it was a full mu'umu'u or something else; it was always black. Around her neck was always a lei of rich red lehua, or liko. The colors gave Lei a striking appearance, and many people were intimidated by her.
Sunday dinners yielded a full table where everyone sat for prayer before eating. Lei ignored the others and served herself a hearty plate of food, then sat in a chair on the veranda, enjoying the view of the oncoming twilight. From a deep pocket in her dress, she removed a flask filled with gin and took a hardy sip. The ohana was not happy about their matriarch's indignation over their Sunday custom. Her oldest son and his wife went out to the porch to chastise her.
"Mom, you can't just get up and make yourself a plate in the middle of prayer and go off on your own!" Hiram shouted. "Is this what you learned in your Pele beliefs?"
Hiram's wife, Ruth, shoved past her husband to make her point as well. "It's disrespectful to our house, our family, my husband, and to our personal beliefs!"
"The disrespect was done long ago by the missionaries because we allowed them to teach religion," Lei said stoically. "Look at the two of you, always dressed like you're in some kind of church. Did you know that my son visits the wives of the deacons at their homes and has relations with them?"
Hiram scoffed, and Ruth screamed at the audacity of her mother-in-law's claims. "How dare you say such a thing in my house! I want you to leave immediately!"
"Mom, I think you should go." Hiram gently placed his hands on his mother's shoulders.
Lei slapped her son's hand away and shot up from her chair. She loomed over him, penetrating his being with her wild gaze. "Being raised by my Tūtū mā in the traditions of Pele, there were never two people who were more chaste and devout than they were. Neither were they ever led astray by money, fame, power, or the flesh. Yet, here you are, Hiram, my son, a highly regarded deacon in your church, and you commit adultery like it was breathing. I suspect that you probably beat Ruth, too, which is why instead of leaving you, she defends you."
Lei steps closer to her son, shrinking him and pushing him back. "Don't ever disparage my beliefs when you disparage your own household with your adultery while you put on a pious face at church,"
"That's the last time I'll let you talk to me like that in my own house, mother!" Hiram bellowed.
"Let me?" Lei squeaked and then slapped Hiram open-handed across his cheek. "I'm not one of those oppressed women in your church that you treat like second-class citizens! I'm a Kahuna of Pele, but I'm your Mama first!"
Lei set her plate down on an end table. Walking to Ruth, she gave her a hug. "The dinner was wonderful, Ruth, thank you for having me over."
With that, Lei excused herself and walked to her big Chevy in the driveway and took off.
~
Two days later, the phone rang incessantly, but Lei couldn't answer right away. She was doing a consultation for Kevin Miranda, a board member at the local school. "Just drink this mixture of milk from the Ti root along with a pinch of sugar cane," Lei assured him. "It will work."
"How many times a day?" Kevin asked.
"Once every other day," Lei said. "More than that, and you'll die of a heart attack."
When Lei finally answered the phone, it was Hiram. He was frantic.
"Mom! You have to come over! Something crazy is happening! Come now!"
Lei was in her Chevy and arrived at Hiram's home in twenty minutes. Hiram and Ruth were standing in front of their door. On the walkway, facing the couple, was an elderly Hawaiian woman. From her car, to the place where her son and daughter-in-law faced the old Hawaiian woman, Lei began to wail and chant. The old Hawaiian woman turned and looked at Lei with a great measure of recognition. A smile played across her face, and Lei nodded to the old Hawaiian woman, returning her acknowledgement. When she was done, Lei instructed Ruth to go get a loaf of bread and some water to give to the old Hawaiian woman.
When Ruth returned, the old Hawaiian woman gladly accepted the bread and water and was on her way.
"That woman asked for food and water, but did you see?" Hiram frantically said to his mother. "Did you see? She was floating off the ground!"
"That was Pele, and that means the volcano is going to erupt soon," Lei said. "But since you gave her food and water, she might spare your home. I'll plant Ti Leaf all around your home so she knows to avoid this hale (ha-leh)."
"She was floating," Ruth mumbled again and again. "She was floating."
Lei herself planted red ti leaf in the four corners of the property, and around Hiram's home, she planted green ti leaf so that Pele would remember the house and spare it. Two days later, the volcano erupted.
Its flow of fiery red and orange lava decimated everything. Lei had no doubt that Hiram and his family had no need to be concerned until there was a knock at her door. It was Hiram, accompanied by his two children, but Ruth was nowhere to be seen. "We barely made it out," Hiram sobbed.
"How can that happen?" Lei wondered. "I planted all the ti leaves so Pele would recognize and protect your home!"
"It was Ruth," Hiram cried. "She yanked everything out of the ground the night before. She kept mumbling about the old Hawaiian woman floating. I don't know what happened to her, to Ruth. It's like she just disappeared."
Shortly thereafter, Hiram and his children left the church. Shortly after that, Lei had them move in with her. Hiram found a job and began working. During the day, Lei took care of her grandchildren, speaking to them only in Hawaiian and passing down all her knowledge as they got older. Yearly, on the vigil, Hiram, his children, and Lei visit the old spot where their home once was, now buried under layers of lava. They pray for Ruth's repose and hope that if she did die, it would be quick and painless. However, if she were alive, they pray that she is happy wherever she may be, or that at some future time, she will return to them.
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Absolutely loved it
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