{"id":3186,"date":"2020-10-16T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/?p=3186"},"modified":"2020-10-16T08:49:37","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T12:49:37","slug":"hawaii-lava-rock-curse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/hawaii-lava-rock-curse\/","title":{"rendered":"HAWAII LAVA ROCK CURSE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hawaii<\/div>\n

My last vacation to the Hawaii Islands landed me in Kauai<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nIt’s a beautiful island way more remote<\/strong> than any of the other Hawaiian Islands I’ve been to: Hawaii (Big Island<\/strong>), Maui, and Oahu.<\/p>\n

\nWhile on vacation, I of course like to shop for cool jewelry<\/strong>. Check out the beautiful Koa wood jewelry<\/a> here (coming from Maui), as well as the exclusive Pandora bead<\/a> here…<\/p>\n

\nI picked up some awesome pieces this time. Little odds and ends<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I can’t help myself!<\/h2>\n

\nTake a peek…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\"Hawaiian<\/p>\n

\nBut that’s not the purpose of this post.<\/p>\n

THE CURSE IS!<\/h2>\n

\nYou see, while going through the different tourist shops, I ran across several different pieces of lava rock (volcanic rock) jewelry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Pendants, earrings, bracelets, rings… very cool things!<\/h2>\n

\nAnd of course, when you’re looking at the lava rock (which is very, very light weight<\/strong>), the salesperson will undoubtedly tell you all about “The curse<\/strong>“!<\/p>\n

The curse is this:<\/h2>\n

\nIf you take (steal<\/strong>) lava rock from the Hawaiian Islands, a bad luck curse<\/strong> will be cast on you that will follow you through life… That is, until you return the lava rock back to the islands, back to where you took it from.<\/p>\n

\nThis curse is said to be caused by Hawaiian mythology<\/strong>, and their legendary God of fire and volcanoes: Pele<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\"Pele<\/p>\n

Is there any truth to this curse?<\/h2>\n

\nHawaiians say “yes!<\/strong>” They are a very superstitious culture<\/strong> and removing sand, rock or pumice (vesicular volcanic rock) from the Gods is taboo<\/strong>, and grave circumstances will pursue you.<\/p>\n

Things like:<\/h2>\n

\nA pet dying<\/strong>, losing your job, getting ill<\/strong>, having your house burn down, getting in a plane crash<\/strong>, having your marriage end… dire, grievous situations that have forced thousands upon thousands of visitors to believe that they are cursed<\/strong>, and to then to mail back the sand and rocks that they took to make Pele happy and to reverse the jinx or curse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\"Return<\/p>\n

Crazy?<\/h2>\n

\nNot so much!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nYou see, if you have bad luck in your life, a lot of people would look for the cause of this misfortune<\/strong>. Many do believe in karma <\/strong>(as do I).<\/p>\n

“IT MUST BE THE ROCK!”<\/h2>\n

\nBut did you know that it’s also the law?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hawaiian law:<\/h2>\n

\nHawaiian law states that if you remove minerals from a national park, it is illegal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nAnd yes<\/strong>, volcanic rock is considered a mineral<\/strong>. In fact, lava rock contains many minerals (it does come out of the Earth) like: Feldspar, Quartz, and Silicates<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nBut this is only if you remove the rock from a national park<\/strong>. There is a difference.<\/p>\n

\nThe whole island isn’t a park, but the whole island(s) are made up of 100% volcanic rock<\/strong> (that’s how they were created in the first place).<\/p>\n

\nSo while it may not be illegal<\/strong> on most parts of the island, it is frowned upon by the Hawaiian people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nThey always say “leave only footprints. Take away only memories<\/strong>” …and pictures! :)<\/p>\n

\n\"Hawaii<\/p>\n

So the curse is 100% false?<\/h2>\n

\nIt’s like that Brady Bunch episode where Bobby finds a “cursed” tiki idol<\/a>… It’s just not true.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nUnless you believe in that voodoo stuff.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nPreserving the parks is one thing<\/strong>, but getting your tie caught in a meat grinder<\/strong> is another…<\/p>\n

\nBecause, if you think about it, anywhere you walk on the island you’re picking up sand and rocks in your shoes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Doesn’t that count?<\/h2>\n

\nProbably so.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n“Oh crap! A rock’s stuck in my crocs…<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

I never believe in those things.<\/h2>\n

\nMany will say this “curse<\/strong>” was created by park rangers<\/strong> to discourage people from removing rocks. Others say bus drivers started the whole “curse<\/strong>” to keep people from bringing sand, dirt and rocks aboard (they didn’t want to clean it up<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

I don’t blame them either.<\/h2>\n

\nBut if this is the cause, then why do stores in Hawaii sell lava rock<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\n\"Hawaii<\/p>\n

What’s up with that?<\/h2>\n

\nYou can find tons and tons of stores selling not only lava rock, but green sand, black sand, red sand<\/strong>… everywhere you look; sand, rocks, shells…<\/p>\n

Won’t that make Pele mad as well?<\/h2>\n

\nIf we can’t take it, why can they sell it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nContradiction? <\/strong>Maybe. The salespeople will tell you that this volcanic rock doesn’t actually come from Hawaii<\/strong>. They say it’s imported from places like Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\nWhich brings up another question:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t those volcanoes have Gods too?<\/h2>\n

\nI would believe so.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nPele is a Hawaiian God<\/strong>, but then the rest of the globe is good for picking and stealing?<\/p>\n

\nGuess so.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nSee my point?<\/p>\n

\nAll in all, I bought a lava rock bracelet<\/a> just so I could write about this so-called curse. Take a look…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\"Lava<\/p>\n

\nThe package says it’s “natural<\/strong>” (some stores do sell lava-looking clay<\/strong>). It also says it’s handmade here.<\/strong> Whether this is really true or not, you decide.<\/p>\n

\nIt’s pretty difficult to believe that they’d pay to have all this rock imported<\/strong> in when it’s abundant in their own back yard. Get my drift?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nBut that’s my view. Take it or leave it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nI don’t believe in curses, but I do believe in bringing home some cool lava rock jewelry.<\/strong> :)<\/p>\n

And that’s good enough for me.<\/h2>\n

\nP.S.<\/strong> I was in a store in Coconut Marketplace<\/strong> that had a dish of rings (of various sizes) with a huge sign on it that read “lava rock rings $20<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

\nThe problem was, these were not lava rock<\/strong> (which is porous and black), these were Hematite <\/strong>instead (which is metallic and dark gray and also fragile).<\/p>\n

\nHematite rings<\/a> looks like this…<\/p>\n

\n\"Hematite<\/p>\n

\nThe salesperson swore they were “lava rock<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

\nIt’s just Hematite<\/a>. And even though it’s true that fragments of Hematite can be found in volcanic rock<\/strong>, that doesn’t make them volcanic.<\/p>\n

\nLava rock is lava rock…<\/strong> Just like this lava rock jewelry here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My last vacation to the Hawaii Islands landed me in Kauai. It’s a beautiful island way more remote than any of the other Hawaiian Islands I’ve been to: Hawaii (Big Island), Maui, and Oahu. While [Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gemstones","category-jewelry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}