Kauila

There are few things so simple, so heartwarming, and so very family-friendly as watching Disney movies. Especially when Lilo & Stitch is a live-action remake of the animated film, a retold story of a broken family, a six-year-old Hawaiian girl Lilo and her older orphaned sister. 

I went to the theatre with my daughter to watch the movie this afternoon. The relationship between Lilo and the creature Stitch reminded me of the Hawaiian goddess Kauila. I first learned about the huge sea turtle goddess, Kauila, from the marine biologist Christine Figgener's memoir, My Life With Sea Turtles. Lilo’s sister, by the way, also wished to become a marine biologist.

Kauila, like Stitch, transformed herself into a human girl to play with the keiki, the children, and protect them. In Hawaiian mythology, Kauila is associated with green sea turtle and empowered with the ability to turn from turtle to human guardian of the community, especially the children who play near the shore.

That's an admirable story which deserves to be told many times.