Every culture looks at the same stars, and for this reason, many constellations have numerous stories. In Hawaiʻi, during Hoʻoilo, the winter season from November through April, a seasonal constellation commonly called the Pleiades is high in the night sky. This tight cluster of stars is important to Hawaiian culture as it signals the Makahiki season.
To find this cluster of stars, first locate the three stars that make up Orion’s Belt. Look west, beyond the V-shaped stars that form the face of Taurus the Bull, and you will see a tight cluster of stars that many people mistake for the Little Dipper. In Hawaiʻi, these stars are known as Makaliʻi, which translates to “tiny eyes.” This is a euphemism for “greedy eyes” and recalls the legend of a greedy and malevolent chief.
Chief Makaliʻi lived on the western side of Hawaiʻi Island in the leeward village of Kona. No one knows exactly why, but Chief Makaliʻi desired to bring destruction and strife to the people and animals who lived there. To do this, he took all the food in the land—the fruits, stems, and even the roots—leaving nothing to eat or grow.
The chief commanded the aliʻi to collect every growing thing in a carrying net. Once the net was full, he violently swung it into the heavens, where it hung tangled on a cluster of stars. Without food, the stomachs of the people and animals rumbled with hunger. The starving people cried out, “All the food is hanging in the stars above us! The aliʻi will not return it to us. How do we stop this suffering?” No one could answer their plea for help.
Finally, the squeaky voice of a tiny ʻiole, the Hawaiian rat, was heard: “I will get our food back.” The people stared in disbelief. How could ʻiole retrieve the food hanging in the stars?
The tiny rat ran up the arm of the evil chief and leaped into the sky. Jumping from star to star, he climbed into the heavens to where the net hung tangled. ʻIole began to nibble at the bottom of the net. Soon, the ropes gave way, and the food, plants, and roots inside fell like rain all over the land.
The rat fell too, landing on a rock in Ka Lae, the southernmost tip of Hawaiʻi Island. There he lives, and the rock bears the imprinted marks of ʻiole’s feet.
The stars where the net was caught were named after the greedy chief with tiny eyes. Their rising signals the seasonal change to winter and the start of the Makahiki season—a time when people harvested their food, gave thanks, and refreshed their spirits with games, hula, mele, and aloha.