The History of the Mu and Menehune Tribes

The Mu of the Menehune Tribe

The Mu were primarily banana-eating people and were a smaller tribe of the Menehune.

According to the Hawaiian scholar John M. Lydgate, the Mu were settled before the Menehune and are considered a much older race. The Mu are the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands who sought refuge in the Cascade mountain range. They are brown-skinned and the same height as the Menehune. Whereas the Menehune people lacked fire, clothes, and arts, the Mu originally lived in the Hawaiian town of Wainiha on Kauai and were considered very clever.

Why are Polynesian Little People at Mount Shasta?

The Nawao, Lua nu’u, Mu, Yaktavians, Menehune, Wa, and Manahune are all considered the original Little People groups from Polynesia. I believe that their names are interchangeable to refer to a single group now of Little People who live on Mount Shasta. These groups are more than mythical, as 65 people in the 1820 Census of Kauai listed “Menehune” as their ethnicity.

When the first settlers arrived in Hawaii, these groups were displaced, and some ended up in Mount Shasta in a similar volcanic environment.

---

Further Reading

John M. Lydgate, Mu and Menehune People, website