Why were bananas sacred?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
August 25, 2003
Mai'a is the Hawaiian name for the banana (Musa species). The plants were carried to the islands with the first peoples who arrived in outrigger canoes. Hawaiians gave specific names to the many varieties grown on the islands. Both the fruit and the plants provided a wealth of materials to the resourceful Polynesians.
Bananas were considered the earthly form of Kanaloa, the god of healing. Nectar squeezed from the flowers strengthened weak babies, mashed ripe bananas were excellent recovery food for those who had been ill, sap from the buds settled stomach problems, and poultices made of pounded banana peels were packed on wounds to prevent infections.
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Hawaii IV by Glenn Cernosek
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Bananas were treated with respect and had certain rituals and taboos. Except for two varieties, women were forbidden to eat the fruit. Prior to the early 1800s, violation of this taboo resulted in death.
Once established, bananas produce several pseudostems arising from the rhizome. If the parent plant produced more than two young pseudostems, the additional ones were removed and given to a friend, neighbor, or planted in the wild. The young offshoots were not discarded as they could provide food or materials in an emergency.
Bananas were planted in specifically prescribed holes to accommodate the requirements of the root system. The holes were dug to the depth (and width?) equaling the length from the fingertips to the elbow. Some were planted at midnight of a full moon when the light shone down into the hole. Others were planted at noon when the least shadow was cast. This way the plant was believed to contain its own shadow and not lose any of its strength. ("Mai'a", Canoe Plants of Ancient Hawai'i)
Kazuo Yamasaki has posted a great photograph of Musa acuminata in fruit. To view this photograph, click on the link:
http://pharm1.pharmazie.uni-greifswald.de/systematik/7_bilder/yamasaki/yamas675.jpg
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