The creation myth of Hawaii and the Babylonian creation myth have many differences and some similarities. Hawaii’s creation myth centers around the story of one fire goddess named Pele, where as the Babylonian creation myth begins with a fresh-water sea and a salt-water sea “mingling” and forming two gods, who in turn formed more gods, and so on. The myth for Hawaii explains the physical aspects of the islands, and how they came to be, but the Babylonian myth explains how the elements of the earth came to be. Both creation myths conjure a fight or argument to where someone or something is harmed and a part of the creation is confirmed by this.
The fire goddess Pele discovers the Island of Hawaii on her journey of following the brightest star in the sky. Being a fire goddess, she smells the smoke from the volcano on Hawaii and claims this land her new home. Namely, she claims the mountain with the crater (Kilauea) in the middle of it as her own, this mountain she calls Halemaumau, where in the native tongue of Hawaiian the term “maumau” means “fern house,”1 that surrounded the volcano. So far, this myth explains how some of the names that Pele “came up with” are the names of locations within Hawaii and the name Hawaii itself. So how would one explain the molten lava that boils underneath the volcanoes of Hawaii? Why another god of course. The god named Ailaau, which stands for “forest eater,” gets in a fire fight with Pele for he wants to take the Kilauea Crater for himself. Eventually, Ailaau fled back into the caverns of the earth, hence, the lava. Pele’s mother gave her a sister to watch over and take care of while on Hawaii. Unfortunately, the creation myth does not give any insight as to where they are from, nor what Pele’s mother is the goddess of, nor why out of nowhere an egg suddenly appears for Pele. However, one can only assume that it is placed in with the creation myth to make it work, and to continue with the myth. By this point in...