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{{Short description|Mythological dwarf people in Hawaiian tradition}}
{{Redirect|Island of the Menehune|the "Rocket Power" telefilm|Island of the Menehune (Rocket Power)}}
[[File:Alekoko fishpond.jpg|thumb|Alekoko "Menehune" fishpond.]]
[[File:Menehune Bank from 1946.png|thumb|Menehune bank from 1946. Made for [[Bank of Hawaii]] as a promotional giveaway to encourage island children to save their [[penny|pennies]].]]

'''Menehune''' are a mythological race of [[Little people (mythology)|dwarf-like]] people in [[Hawaiian religion|Hawaiian tradition]] who are said to live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the [[Hawaiian Islands]], hidden and far away from human settlements.

The Menehune are described as superb craftspeople. They built temples (''[[heiau]]''), [[ancient Hawaiian aquaculture|fishponds]], roads, [[canoe]]s, and houses. Some of these structures that Hawaiian folklore attributed to the Menehune still exist. They are said to have lived in [[Hawaii|Hawai{{okina}}i]] before settlers arrived from [[Polynesia]] many centuries ago. Their favorite food is the ''mai{{okina}}a'' ([[banana]]), and they also like fish. Legend has it that the Menehune appear only during the night hours to build masterpiece, and if they fail to complete their work in the length of the night, they will leave it unoccupied.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1894 |editor-last=Thrum |editor-first=Thos. G. |title=Stories of the Menehunes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QewRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA445 |journal=Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1885 |publisher=Press Publishing Co. Steam Print |publication-place=Honolulu, Hawaii |volume=21 |pages=112–117 |access-date=January 18, 2026}}</ref> No one but their children and humans connected to them can see the Menehune.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thrum |first=Thos |title=Hawaiian Folk Tales |publisher=A. C. McClurg & Company |date=1907 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfolktal00unkngoog/page/n126 110] |url=https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfolktal00unkngoog}} [[A.C. McClurg]].</ref>

==Theories==
In [[Martha Warren Beckwith]]'s ''Hawaiian AKA Ilenes Mythology'', there are references to several other forest dwelling races: the ''[[ilene Irenes]]'', who were large-sized wild hunters descended from [[Lua-nu'u|Lua-nu{{okina}}u]], the ''mu'' people, and the ''wa'' people.<ref>Beckwith 1970, pp. 321-323</ref> The Menehunes were two-feet-high pygmy people who fed from forest plants and lived in caves. They were builders and craftsmen. They eventually moved out of the Lanihuli valley to avoid breeding with other human groups.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archive |first=Internet Sacred Text |title=Hawaiian Mythology: Part Three. The Chiefs: XXIII. Mu and... {{!}} Sacred Texts Archive |url=https://sacred-texts.com/pac/hm/hm25.htm |access-date=2025-08-06 |website=Internet Sacred Text Archive |language=English}}</ref>

Some early scholars hypothesized that there was a first settlement of Hawai{{okina}}i, by settlers from the [[Marquesas Islands]], and a second, from [[Tahiti]]. The Tahitian settlers oppressed the "commoners", the ''manahune'' in the [[Tahitian language]], who fled to the mountains and were called Menahune. Proponents of this hypothesis point to an 1820 census of [[Kauai|Kaua{{okina}}i]] by [[Kaumualiʻi|Kaumuali{{okina}}i]], the ruling ''[[aliʻi|ali{{okina}}i aimoku]]'' of the island, which listed 65 people as ''menehune''.<ref>Joesting 1987, pp. 20-22</ref>

An A.D. 1500 census in the [[Wainiha, Hawaii|Wainiha]] Valley counted 65 menehunes in the area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shim |first=Kapena |title=Research Guides: Hawaiʻi - Censuses: Historical Censuses |url=https://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/c.php?g=105181&p=684171 |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu |language=en}}</ref>

Folklorist [[Katharine Luomala]] believes that the legends of the ''Menehune'' are a post-European contact mythology created by adaptation of the term ''manahune'' (which by the time of the colonization of the Hawaiian Islands by Europeans had acquired a meaning of "lowly people" or "low social status" and not diminutive in stature) to European legends of [[brownie (folklore)|brownie]]s.<ref>Luomala 1951</ref> It is claimed that "Menehune" are not mentioned in pre-contact mythology, but that is unproven since it was an oral mythology; the legendary "overnight" creation of the Alekoko fishpond, for example, finds its equivalent in the legend<ref>Nordhoff 1874</ref> about the creation of a corresponding structure on [[Oahu|O{{okina}}ahu]], which was supposedly indeed completed in a single day not by ''menehune'' but as a show of power by a local ''[[alii|ali{{okina}}i]]'', who commanded all of his subjects to appear at the construction site and to assist in building.

==Structures attributed to the Menehune==
* [[Menehune Fishpond]]<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite web |id=73000677 |url={{NRHP url}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Menehune Fishpond / Alekoko Fishpond |author=B. Jean Martin |date=September 29, 1971 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> wall at [[Niumalu]], Kaua{{okina}}i
* [[Kikiaola|Kīkīaola]] ditch at [[Waimea, Kauai County, Hawaii|Waimea]], Kaua{{okina}}i
* [[Necker Island (Hawaii)|Necker Island]] structures
* ''Pa o ka menehune'', breakwater at [[Kahaluʻu Bay|Kahalu{{okina}}u Bay]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hoʻihoʻi Kulana Wahi pana - Restoring Sacred Places |publisher=brochure published by Kamehameha Investment Corporation |year=2008 |url=http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/about/pdfs/kic_brochure.pdf |access-date=2009-10-20 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905110449/http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/about/pdfs/kic_brochure.pdf |archive-date=2008-09-05}}</ref>
* [[Ulupō Heiau State Historic Site|Ulupo Heiau]] at Kailua, Oahu

==Other uses==
[[File:Menehune Statue .jpg|thumb|Menehune figurine.]]{{More sources|section|date=May 2025}}
* In the experimental 1970s' [[ALOHAnet]] developed at the University of Hawaii, the central communications processor for messaging handling was called the MENEHUNE, a [[pun]] on the equivalent ''IMP'' ([[Interface Message Processor]]) in the early [[ARPANET]]. The modern Ethernet was based on the [[carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection]] (CSMA/CD) methodology pioneered by ALOHA.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kuo |first=Franklin F. |author-link=Franklin F. Kuo |date=November–December 1981 |title=Computer Networks - the ALOHA System |url=https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/086/jresv86n6p591_A1b.pdf |journal=[[Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards]] |language=en |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=591–595 |doi=10.6028/jres.086.027 | pmid=34566062 |pmc=6753009 |issn=0160-1741 |access-date=2014-07-12|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* The Menehune is the school [[mascot]] of [[Waimea High School]] on Kaua'i and [[Makakilo Elementary School]], [[Maunawili Elementary School]], [[Moanalua High School]], and [[Mililani Waena Elementary School]] on [[Oahu]].
* [[United Airlines]] used the Menehune in brand advertising for their service to Hawaii in the 1970s through the 1980s. The figurines and travel agency displays are now collector's items.<ref>{{cite web |title=United Airlines Menehune |publisher=Advertisingiconmuseum.org |url=http://advertisingiconmuseum.org/inside/c11/3237033.html |access-date=2013-09-27}}</ref>
* [[Carl Barks]] wrote a story featuring [[Scrooge McDuck]] helped by Menehunes, "[[The Menehune Mystery]]".
* The Menehune play a key role in the ''[[Rocket Power]]'' TV movie, ''[[Island of the Menehune (Rocket Power)|Island of the Menehune]]''.
* The Menehune are key figures in the children’s story, "[[My Sister Sif]]", written by acclaimed Australian author, [[Ruth Park]].
* The ''[[Forerunner Saga]]'', set in the [[Halo (franchise)|''Halo'' universe]], identifies Menehune as members of the human subspecies ''[[Homo floresiensis]]'' settled on Hawaii following activation of the [[Halo Array]] 100,000 years ago. The ''floresiensis'' of this setting feature characteristics inspired by Menehune, such as shyness toward humans and a love for building clever structures.
* The ''[[Full House]]'' season 3 episode "[[List_of_Full_House_episodes#Season_3_(1989%E2%80%9390)|Tanner's Island]]" features Menehunes.

==See also==
*[[Anito]], similar supernatural beings in the Philippines
*''[[Homo floresiensis]]'', a presumed extinct species of very small bipedal tool bearers in the genus ''Homo'' found in South East Asia
*[[Huldufólk]], elves in Icelandic tradition.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFsAAAAAcAAJ&q=%C3%A1lfar+iceland&pg=PR48 |title=Icelandic Legends, Volume 2 |author1=Jón Árnason |author2=George E. J. Powell |author3=Eiríkur Magnússon |publisher=Richard Bentley |year=1866 |location=London |pages=xlii–lvi |chapter=Introductory Essay |access-date=20 June 2010}}</ref>
*[[Leprechaun]], Irish imp or fairy
*[[Korpokkur]] - mythological race of little people in Ainu folklore.
*[[Little people (mythology)]]
*[[Patupaiarehe]], similar supernatural beings in [[Māori mythology]]
*[[Paupueo]], whose owls chase away the Menehune
*[[Sihirtia]], similar supernatural beings in [[Nenets]] mythology
*[[Taotao Mona]], similar supernatural beings in the Marianas
*[[Trow (folklore)|Trow]], similar beings in Orkney and Shetland
*[[Vazimba]], similar belief in Madagascar

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book
|last=Beckwith
|first=Martha
|title=Hawaiian Mythology
|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]
|year=1970
|isbn=9780824805142
|url=https://archive.org/details/hawaiianmytholog00beck
|url-access=registration
}} [http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hm/index.htm www.sacredtexts.com]
*{{cite book
|last=Joesting
|first=Edward
|title=Kauaʻi, The Separate Kingdom
|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press |University of Hawaiʻi Press]] and Kauaʻi Museum Association.
|orig-year=1984
|year=1987
|location=Honolulu, Hawaii
|isbn=0-8248-1162-3
}}
* Luomala, Katharine (1951): "The Menehune of Polynesia and Other Mythical Little People of Oceania". ''Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin'' Vol. 203; Kraus Reprint, Millwood, N.Y., 1986
* [[Charles Nordhoff (journalist)|Nordhoff, Charles]] (1874): ''Northern California, Oregon and the Sandwich Islands'', Chapter V, p. 80: "The Hawaiian at Home: Manners and Customs". Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle, London; available free online at [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13222]
*{{cite book
|last1=Nordyke |first1=Eleanor C.
|title=The Peopling of Hawaiʻi
|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]
|year=1989
|isbn=0-8248-1191-7
}}
* Schmitt, Robert C., "Early Hawaiian Statistics," ''The American Statistician,'' Vol. 35, No. 1, pages 1–3, February, 1981; [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2683575] (Retrieved on 2008-02-16)

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.moolelo.com/menehune.html The Three Menehune of Ainahou]

[[Category:Hawaiian legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Dwarves (folklore)]]
[[Category:Forest spirits]]
[[Category:American legendary creatures]]