Talismans of Rapa Nui Ho’onu o Tortuga or Turtle: In the old days, turtles were very common on Easter Island. La Perousse Bay was originally called Hanga Ho’onu or “Bay of Turtles”. According to the older people, the sandy shore of La Perousse was where the turtles of the Island
Hena Naku Hena Naku, the god of feathers, loved Te Pito o te Henua, the Navel of the World, the ancient name for Easter Island. The sea birds, which were under his protection, preferred to nest on the rocky cliffs that surround the Island. Hena Naku was covered with feathers
Teatro a Mil 2017 in Rapa Nui This coming year, the international theater festival “Santiago a Mil” will also include Easter Island. The artistic event, held every year in the month of January, will not only take over the streets, theaters and other public spaces of the capital city, but
Around three hundred megalithic statues stood upright on ceremonial platforms on Rapa Nui, the vast majority along the island’s nearly 60 km coastline. All of these, sculpted until the 17th century, did not face the sea; instead, they gazed vigilantly toward a village, toward some settlement, channeling the Mana (supernatural
A Choir for Rapa Nui Last December, the newly-formed Choir of Isla de Pascua offered its first presentations in the parish church and in the Hotel Hanga Roa. They sang some Christmas carols, songs from “The Sound of Music” and “The Wizard of Oz”, two Polynesian songs which had been
Ubud, Bali 2016 International Conference Early Pacific Migration Scientists from Australia, New Zealand, Russia, USA, Germany, Cook Islands and Rapa Nui, who have for many years been studying the migrations of the Polynesian ancestors across the Pacific Ocean, met between the 6th and the 10th of last November at Villa
Total Lunar Eclipse on Rapa Nui On January 31, at 5:51 a.m., local time, Easter Island will witness the beginning of a total eclipse of a so-called blue moon. Totality will be reached at 8:30 in the morning, when the shadow of the earth completely covers the moon. This phenomenon
Diving, Underwater Hunting and Sharks Testimonio de Testimony of Poki Tane Haoa Hundreds of divers come to Rapa Nui every year in search of some of the clearest waters on the planet which offer visibility at 60 to 70 meters (195 to 230 feet) of depth. Poki Tane Haoa, a
Tonga & Samoa, Cuna y Núcleo de la Expansión Polinésica / Crib and Nucleus of Polynesian Expansion Large migratory waves of Austronesian peoples reached Near Oceania around 3,500 years ago, causing a major cultural impact in the native populations of Papua New Guinea, the Bismarck archipelago and the Solomon Islands.
The moai of Rapa Nui are not simply statues. They are the deified ancestors of Rapanui tribes — men with Mana, the spiritual power that allowed them to protect their people from beyond death. Understanding the moai means understanding the cult of the ancestors: the most widespread belief system in
Let history remain history The first Europeans who came into contact with Te Pito te Henua were three Dutch ships commanded by Jacob Roggeveen on April 5, 1722, the date of Easter. This originated the name with which this unknown island was baptized that had not been recorded on any
The Tavake And its future, a challenge for Rapa Nui One of the loveliest spots on the Island is the Moai (statue) quarry at Rano Raraku. Anyone who has visited it has seen or heard the Tavakes, the red-tailed tropicbird. These majestic white birds, with their bright red tail trailing
