Saturday March 4th, 2017:
We had travelled to Easter Island to see the stone statues, or moai, that have generated so much mystery, and to learn more about the Rapa Nui culture. Despite our illness, exacerbated by the high humidity, we were not disappointed!
There are 887 known moai, and many have now been restored to their rightful place standing on a ceremonial platform, or ahu. With the exception of 5 moai at Ahua Akivi, they face inland. They are carved mainly from volcanic tuff from a single quarry, and are huge: 4-5 m high and weighing up to 20 tonnes, but the largest is nearly 10 m tall, and weighs 80 tonnes. Some were topped with gigantic pukao, or top-knots, of red scoria, around 2m in diameter and height and weighing 10 tonnes. Just how they were transported to their ahu, raised, and the pukao installed is unknown. The eyes of the moai were embellished with coral or shell, and red scoria pupils.
The following map of Easter Island shows the location of the ahu and moai, mostly scattered around the coast.
After a leisurely breakfast on a warm, muggy sunny morning our guide arrived and we joined others on two half-day tours of cultural sites in the south western corner of Easter Island. Matu A was a tall, animated Rapa Nui man. His long black hair was at times braided, other times hanging loose, held back by a colourful bandana, and he was constantly fiddling with a traditional necklace of seeds and shells he wrapped around his right wrist. His English was good, though delivered at quite a clip, and he seemed to manage switching between several languages with ease!
Matu A, our Rapa Nui guide
The south western headland, or “peninsula”, of Easter Island is dominated by the extinct volcanic crater of Rano Kau, while the 3 km long runway of the airport straddles the putative, but low-lying, isthmus. Our first site, Vinapu, was a bit of an anti-climax, given all the pictures we’d seen of standing moai: here they had been toppled leaving an empty ceremonial platform, or ahu, and colossal heads part buried face-down in soil and grass. However, it was an opportunity for Matu A to introduce himself and his topics. It also provided a wonderful view to the east along the south coast of the island.
View NE up the coast from Vinapu
Ruined ahu and broken moai at Vinapu
Matu A had an infectious passion for his Rapa Nui culture – and a healthy disdain for the way this has been portrayed in TV documentaries and movies! We’d known there was considerable mystery surrounding the origins of the Rapa Nui people, and of the construction and meaning of the moai. His passion and disdain added to the intrigue of the history and culture of Easter Island. But are we now the wiser? Maybe not, but then our World would be a poorer place without mystery and unanswered questions!
We learnt that the Rapa Nui people are of Polynesian origin, not South American despite Thor Heyerdahl’s claims, and they have strong genetic, linguistic and cultural ties with other Polynesian islanders right across the Pacific. Settlement is believed to have occurred between 300 and 1200 AD with the population peaking maybe at about 7,000. It had declined to around 2,000 when the island was first visited by Europeans, and subsequently declined to 111 by 1877 due to the ravages of European diseases and Peruvian slave raiding.
We also learnt that the statues at Vinapu were not standing because some time in the 1770’s continuing into the 1830’s there was a large scale huri mo’ai, or statue toppling, that lead to the destruction of most of the 887 known statues. Possibly, internal conflict within the Rapa Nui community resulted in the wilful destruction of a significant fraction of their ancestors’ heritage! Later, we visited ahu were the moai have been restored, but more of those later.
Rano Kau is an extinct volcano formed 150,000 or more years ago. The crater rim is about about 320 m high and 1.5 km across, and the interior crater walls drop very steeply to a lake 200 m below the rim. This lake is an internationally recognised wetland, and the whole crater and headland are part of the Rapa Nui National Park and World Heritage Site. The exterior slopes down to the airport to the north, and elsewhere to coastal cliffs. The views were spectacular!
A panorama of Rano Kau and a telephoto view of the crater lake and wetlands
The now restored ceremonial village of Orongo is above the sea cliffs on the western flank of the volcano, with views across the sea to the three small islands of Motu Nui, Motu Iti and Motu Kau Kau. The dwellings are low, stone walled buildings with sod roofs, no windows and tiny, low doorways.
The three islands of Motu Nui, Motu Iti and Motu Kau Kau, from back to front
Matu A talked about the “bird man” cult, in which Orongo played a pivotal role. The basic idea was that men of importance appointed hopu (deputies of lesser rank) who would swim to Motu Nui and await the arrival of the sooty terns. Meanwhile, the contestants, i.e. the men of importance (not the hopu!), resided in the dwellings we could see at Orongo. The first hopu to collect an egg would announce his success from the summit of Motu Nui and after a period of fasting swim back to the mainland and deliver the egg to his patron who would then become the tangata-manu for the following year. The tangata-manu was considered sacred, entitled to gifts of food, and not expected to do anything other than sleep and eat for the year of his tenure. However, his clan had exclusive rights to that season’s harvest of eggs from Motu Nui.
The restored dwellings of Orongo, and their tiny doorways
This competition was dangerous, and many hopu died by falling off the cliffs, drowning at sea, or being taken by sharks. Apparently, replacements were readily available.
The weather changed while we were having lunch back at the Altiplanico. The sun was gone, a squall came through, and our afternoon was cloudy and decidedly humid. However, the whole landscape looked much refreshed, and even greener! We were taken to Puna Pau and Ahu Akivi. Puna Pau was a small crater where red scoria was quarried for making the round top-knots or pukao that were placed on some of the moai.
Interior grazing lands near Puna Pau, and rain drops on a flower at Ahu Akivi
Ahu Akivi was where we got to meet seven moai installed on their ahu. This was the only site where the moai face out to sea, although they are actually some distance from the coast!. Getting up close and personal with the moai was off limits – a tourist once souvenired part of a moai’s ear! – but you can judge their size relative to the people off to the sides in the following image.
The moai at Ahu Akivi
What do the moai represent? Matu A tried to explain this to us: based on the few remaining oral traditions and surmise by archaeologists and anthropologists, moai are possibly representations of deified ancestors or living people of significance, watching over the clan and its lands. It is believed that for the moai’s creators, they were indeed carriers of a spiritual essence. They may also represent the status of the chief who instigated the erection of the moai: the larger the moai, the greater his spiritual power. And he may or may not be buried at the site.
Back at the Altiplanico, the weather cleared and we were treated to a glorious sunset!
The dying moments of the day!
No comments:
Post a Comment