Kilauea - The Volcano, The Goddess And The Lighthouse In One

The Kilauea Volcano is an active volcano in the Hawaiian islands

, and it is a shield volcano that defines the form of the island of Hawaii. The island is built from five separate shield volcanoes that erupted one after the other, each time overlapping the previous eruption. Kilauea was the most recent (last) of these volcanoes to erupt, and lies on the south east region of the island. The Kilauea volcano is a very low, almost flat, and it isn't really similar to many other volcanoes you see all the world which are usually high and spiky.

'Kilauea' means 'spewing' or 'much spreading' in Hawaiian, and that's a fitting name as it is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It has erupted 62 times in 245 years and the current eruption has been going on ever since then. The volcano has it's own magma plumbing system which extends to the surface from more than 60km deep in the earth.

It is said in Hawaiian mythology that the mountain is home to a Hawaiian volcano goddess called Pele. She is apparently the Goddess of fire, lightning, dance, volcanoes and violence, and she is the daughter of Haumea and Kane Milohai. According to mythology, Hawaiians looked at Pele with such high regard that they made her offerings in order to keep her pleased or to calm her - the locals thought that every time the volcano erupted that was a way of Pele giving a gift, as they saw that the Lava that flows out from an eruption forms new land. Some of the things they would give her as their form of offerings were fruit, flowers and fish. They say her powers were that she could seduce any man by taking form of a beautiful woman and that she could generate new land, as it is said that Mount Kilauea generates roughly 40 acres of new land per year. Several lava formations are named after Pele, for example Pele's tears which are small droplets of lava that cools in the air and retain their tear drop shapes.

There is a lighthouse that is a remnant of a former volcanic vent that last erupted about 500,000 years ago. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century, it had the largest lens of it's kind at the time which helped guide many ships that were heading to and from the Orient. Sadly it was deactivated by the Coast Guard in 1976 and was replaced by an automatic, and in 1979 the Kilauea Lighthouse was declared a National Historical Landmark. Also Kileau Point and the lighthouse were made part of the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge right when it was first established in 1985. This features over 200 acres of protected land, and is home to a few migratory birds such as the Pacific golden plover, then there are sea birds like the Laysan albatross and the red footed boobies and the Hawaiian state bird, the nene. The lighthouse remains one of Kauai most popular attractions, which is ideal to visit if you are at one of the various Hawaii rentals.

by: VacationRentalPeople

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