Haumea
Haumea OceaniaThe mysterious fertility goddess of Hawaiian mythology. Haumea was sometimes identified with the earth goddess Papa: she was ‘the prolific one’, and ‘the woman from a distant land’, who gave birth to ‘strange noisy creatures’. By rebirths it was said Haumea changed herself from age to youth and returned to marry her children and grandchildren. Although the goddess attended at childbirth, taking delight in the natural increase of people, she would also destroy. Most celebrated of all was her connection with magic fruit trees and a stick ‘that attracted the fish’. One could order these sacred trees to produce food, though an accident to the ‘fish tree’ scattered fish through the waters all about Hawaii.
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