Analola Tuki
In the 1950s, she worked with Thor Heyerdahl and recalls how the Islanders put antique finishes on their crafts and sold them as relics. The Rapanui removed stones from underneath the palm trees, sculpted them and then, with a paste made of banana fruit mixed with the sap of the tree, would make the stone look aged. In later years, she helped the Spanish adventurer Kitin Muñoz with his Mata Rangi project (1998) and worked on the Kevin Costner film (1993-4) where she was in charge of the kitchens. She also worked for 38 years in the old hospital and the leper colony, taking care of more than 50 patients until the last one died. According to her, many of those who were in the leprosarium were actually healthy people. “I remember that if anyone had a birthmark, they were immediately sent to the leper colony and there they were infected and died.”
When they were born, I had them all at home, except the youngest, Akahanga, who was born in the hospital. When my first was born, my parents and my in-laws helped me. I had to get down on all fours and push and the baby came out. My mother received him. With that experience, I was able to have the others by myself. I cut their cords; I measured four fingers, tied it firmly with three knots which was an old marking and then with a mata’a (obsidian blade) cut it. With the last one in the hospital, I had problems and almost died.
I had a lovely childhood with my brothers and sisters. I remember that there used to be a lot of cattle and pigs; lobsters could be pulled out of the water every day between Tahai and Mataveri Otai. When I was 9 years old, we would go to Rano Kau volcano to plant mangos, flowers, bananas, grapes, avocados, figs, just everything and then we’d swim and play. We had a good time. Life was very simple and lovely.
When I was 7 or 8, I went to school, but I didn’t finish any course. At that time we had a small school. At the beginning, the teachers did the classes in Spanish and we didn’t understand anything. We played more than we studied. Later, when the nuns arrived, they did the classes in Rapanui. I remember that all day long they would say Hapi (book). They would beat us with a whip – not so much me, but my friend and desk mate, Rufina Paoa, got beaten a lot. Classes started punctually at 8 in the morning. All the children, regardless of their age, went to the same class which was held outside in the patio. We used to escape to eat grapes, olives or whatever there was in the area.
On Sunday the whole family used to go to Mass. From the time we were little, my mother taught us to sing in Rapanui and Tahitian. She sang beautifully. After Mass, everyone would go to the town square. They’d take the children to play and the adults would talk. It was the real social center.
My husband was one of the first musicians on the Island. He played accordion and guitar and I sang. We both were concerned to pass all our artistic knowledge to our children. Our descendants, the Rapu-Tuki, are true artists; they are musicians, singers, dancers and craftsmen who keep the Rapanui culture alive.
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