Rapa Nui mythology
Rapa Nui mythology,also known asPascuense mythologyorEaster Island mythology,refers to thenativemyths,legends,andbeliefsof theRapa Nui peopleofEaster Islandin the south easternPacific Ocean.
Origin myth
[edit]According to Rapa Nui mythologyHotu Matuꞌawas the legendary first settler andariki mau( "supreme chief" or "king" ) ofEaster Island.[1]Hotu Matu'aand his two-canoe (or one double-hulled canoe) colonising party werePolynesiansfrom the now unknown land ofHivaNuku Hiva, Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva, Mount Oave, Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, Fenua. They landed atAnakenabeach and his people spread out across the island, sub-divided it between clans claiming descent from his sons, and lived for more than a thousand years in their isolated island home at the southeastern tip of thePolynesian Triangleuntil the arrival of Dutch captainJacob Roggeveen,who arrived at the island in 1722.[2]
Ancestor cult
[edit]The most visible element in the culture was the production of massive statues calledmoaithat represented deified ancestors. It was believed that the living had asymbiotic relationshipwith the dead where the dead provided everything that the living needed (health, fertility of land and animals, fortune, etc.), and the living through offerings provided the dead with a better place in the spirit world. Most settlements were located on the coast and moai were erected along the coastline, watching over their descendants in the settlements before them, with their backs toward the spirit world in the sea.[3]
Tangata manu cult
[edit]TheTangata manuorbird-mancult succeeded the island'sMoaiera when warfare erupted over dwindling natural resources and construction of statues stopped.[4]The deityMake-makewas the chief god of the birdman cult. The cult declined after the island population adoptedCatholicism,though the birdman's popularity and memory were not erased and it is still present in the decoration of the island's church.[5]
Deities and heroes
[edit]- Make-make,creator of humanity
- Uoke,tectonic deity
- Hotu Matu'a,legendary king and cultural hero
- Aku-Aku,spirits of the dead
- Manana Take
- Tangata manu
- Hanau epe
- Haua
- Hina-Oio
References
[edit]- ^Carlos Mordo, Easter Island (Willowdale, Ontario: Firefly Books Ltd., 2002)
- ^Steven L. Danver(22 December 2010).Popular Controversies in World History: Investigating History's Intriguing Questions.ABC-CLIO. pp. 223–224.ISBN978-1-59884-077-3.Retrieved10 January2012.
- ^Barbara A. West (2009).Encyclopedia of the peoples of Asia and Oceania.Infobase Publishing. pp. 683–684.ISBN978-0-8160-7109-8.Retrieved10 January2012.
- ^Phil Cousineau (1 July 2003).Once and Future Myths: The Power of Ancient Stories in Our Lives.Conari Press. pp. 181–182.ISBN978-1-57324-864-8.Retrieved12 January2012.
- ^Steven L. Danver (22 December 2010).Popular Controversies in World History: Investigating History's Intriguing Questions.ABC-CLIO. p. 225.ISBN978-1-59884-077-3.Retrieved10 January2012.
Further reading
[edit]- Kjellgren, Eric; et al. (2001).Splendid isolation: art of Easter Island.New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.ISBN9781588390110.
- Robert D. Craig. Dictionary of Polynesian mythology. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1989ISBN0-313-25890-2,ISBN978-0-313-25890-9
- Peggy Mann. Easter Island: land of mysteries. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976.ISBN0-03-014056-0,ISBN978-0-03-014056-3
External links
[edit]- Easter Island legends and myths- Easter Island Traveling
| Culture |
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geography andgeology | ||||||
| Administration |
| |||||
 | ThisChile-related article is astub.You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | This article relating to a myth or legend from Oceania is astub.You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |