Hina, the Woman Who Lives in the Moon

Hina is said by some to the the greatest of Polynesian goddesses. In certain tellings she is the original creator of the world, the goddesses and gods, and human beings. One story tells of her love affair with an eel, who is killed; she buries his head, and several days later the first coconut tree springs forth from the grave. Hina is perhaps best known as the woman who lives in the moon. There she creates beautiful tapa cloth from the park of the mulberry tree, which we see as clouds surrounding the moon.

Hina represents that part of ourselves that creatively brings forth nourishment even in the midst of what appears to be death and decay.