RAPA NUI - (PART IV) - BIRDMAN CULT

RANO KAU, ORONGO AND TANGATA MANU

It is believed that after the conflict that led to the fall of the moai, a new cult emerged. The surviving population developed new traditions to allocate the remaining, scarce resources. An intriguing result of the social changes was the Birdman Cult (Tangata Manu), probably evolving from earlier bird rites. It seems that it was created around 1680, after a military coup, and consisted on a competition run every spring. Then, men of importance or their proxies would descend the cliffs below the stone houses of Orongo, dive into the sea and swim three kilometres across shark-infested waters to Motu Nui, a nearby islet, to search for the season's first egg laid by a manutara (frigate, a pelagic sea bird). The first swimmer to return with an egg in a small reed basket tied around his neck would be named "Birdman of the year" and secure control over distribution of the island's resources for his clan for the year. He would shave his head, eyebrows and eyelashes, be painted white, and retire to Rano Raraku, where he would live for a year, under strict restrictions due to his sanctity and ritual power - tapu! He did not wash, cut his nails or bathe during the one year confinement. His wife could not enter his house, nor he hers for five months. The tradition was still in existence at the time of first contact by Europeans, and it ended in 1867.


"GROUP PHOTO at the Mirador on the road uphill to the ceremonial site of Orongo"


"RANO KAU - Dramatic view of the lake in the crater, which is covered with floating mats of vegetation, making it unfit for swimming or drinking..."


"RANO KAU - The caldera seen from the Mirador, looking south towards Orongo in the far distant upper right and the sea"


"RANO KAU - From the same spot, but looking east over the mile-wide crater lake"


"RANO KAU - The Knife edge crater drops almost three hundred meters to the sea"


"GROUP at Rano Kau"


"BIRDMAN"


"MOTUS, including Motu Nui"



"BIRDMAN and BIRDWOMAN at the Orongo ceremonial complex!"


"STONE HOUSES at Orongo"


"PETROGLIPHS - Lots of rock carvings can be found on Easter Island representing animals, notably birds or birdmen"


"It could be the ESMERALDA, the Chilean naval training ship, but it isn't..."



"THE VINAPU COMPLEX on the east side of the Rano Kau peninsula, just south of the far end of the air runway, is a site unique in Easter Island. Thor Heyerdahl would use this Inca-like stone ahu as an indicator that there was an important Peruvian influence on the island"


"AIRPORT RUNWAY - Point of departure either West for Tahiti or East for Santiago"

RAPA NUI - (PART III) - RANO RARAKU

MOAI SUPERMARKET - SEPTEMBER 2004


Like Thor Heyerdahl wrote «Rano Raraku remains one of the greatest and most curious monuments of mankind, a monument to the great lost unknown behind us...». There you may find at least three hundred ninety four moai that are in all stages of carving. A true moai supermarket...



"THE QUARRY - It was from this hill at Rano Raruku that all moai were carved. A path leads through the hundreds of moai"


"VIEW from Rano Raruku towards Ahu Tongariki, Poike Peninsula and the sea"




"TUTURI, the kneeling moai, was excavated by Thor Heyerdahl. Though very rare, it is not unique. This is the traditional pose for those giving an oral recitation or song"


"CARVED - First stage, carving on the rock"






"MOAI standing below their quarry sites waiting to be either finished or transported. Some others were abandoned haphazardly"

"EL GIGANTE - The largest statue carved is twenty meter long, but was not separated from rock..."


"CRATER - Fresh water lake at the Rano Raraku crater"


"MOAI SOUVENIR after lunch: chicken, rice and banana"




"AHU TONGARIKI - With its fifteen statues, Ahu Tongariki is the largest on the island, and certainly one of the most impressive. It was destroyed in 1960 by a tsunami that threw the moai more than 100 meters inland from their ahu, despite weighing several tons each. The site was reconstructed in recent years"


"AHU TE PITO TE KURA - MOAI - This is the biggest moai ever erected on an Ahu: ten meters high, with two meters long ears. According to some archaeologists, it was the last moai to be brought down"


"AHU TE PITO TE KURA - STONE - The name of the Ahu derives from this round and polished stone and means the navel of the world. According to the legend, it was Hotu Matua, first king of the Island that brought the stone with him in a canoe from Hiva. It's true that a compass seems disturbed when near the stone that probably has some magnetic field around..."


"AHU NAU NAU stands at Anakena and was restored in 1978. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs, so this is the only photo taken..."

RAPA NUI - (PART II) - MYSTERY ISLAND

MOAI - AUGUST 2004

Almost everything in Easter Island is involved in mystery and awe: the origins, the settlement, the population, the history, and the moai... After having strolled around Hanga Roa during the morning, we had a delicious Atum Tomero for lunch, and started the tour of the Island by visiting Puna Pau and Ahu Akivi in the afternoon!

***

PUNA PAU

Puna Pau was the mine for the pukao. The pukao are cylindrical stone topknots or headdress for statues, made of red scoria.


"VIEW from Puna Pau towards Hanga Roa"



"PUKAO - The topknots of the moai were carved at Puna Pau, the mine for this kind of work. Several cylindrical pukao rest on the ground, probably on the site where they were awaiting transportation when the works mysteriously stopped"

***

AHU AKIVI

The Ahu is a place of worship, called marae in other parts of Polynesia and heiau in Hawaii. These ceremonial shrines take many shapes, and not all had statues.


"THE GUIDE - Ahu Akivi is a superb site. The seven moai date from 1460 A.D. and face the sea. However, they are 2.5 km away from the shoreline, which may mean that they were facing an existing village, as almost all of the moai. These were restored by William Mulloy in 1960"


"MOAI - The seven moai of Ahu Akivi are very similar and seem to match the statistical average of the moai"



"NEW 7 WONDERS OF THE WORLD - You may vote the Easter Island Moai for the New 7 Wonders of the World. They [were] announced during the Official Declaration ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07!!!"


"HUMAN MOAI"

***

MANAVAI

Manavai were stone walled or sunken garden enclosures.


"SUNKEN GARDENS were an adaptation to an increasingly sterile land"

***

AHU VAIHU

Next morning the wind was blowing high when we started an whole day tour of the Island; the rain would fall in the afternoon. First photos are from Ahu Vaihu.



"HANGA TEE BAY - Ahu Vaihu lies on a small bay named Hanga Tee"


"FALLEN MOAI - At the Vaihu platform there are eight fallen moai, with the heads facing the soil. It seems they are lying exactly the way they fell or were thrown down..."


"FALLEN PUKAO - Near the moai there are also eight topknots. It seems they were recovered from water and placed in dry land in 1986"

***

AKAHANGA

Akahanga is referred to as the platform of a king and is linked to the legend of the foundation of the island. According to the legend, Hotu Matu'a, the legendary founder of the island and first ariki and his family and followers came from Hiva.


"MOAI, SEA AND SKY"


"EARTH OVEN"