There has been a lot of speculation on the problems of water supply in the fresh water on Rapa Nui in remote past. “The Island has no rivers, creeks or valleys which wash its countryside nor water sources which refresh the thirsty,” wrote Father Sebastian Englert in his book “The
The Man who was born from a Chicken Two men of the royal Miru tribe were walking to the well known bay of Hotu Iti where there was an abundance of fish and lobster. On the way, they stole a chicken to eat later in the day, one of the
Ursula Rapu My father was called Alejo Kana Kyoka. He was the son of a Chinese, but my grandmother’s husband accepted him as his son and gave him the family name of Rapu. He was white skinned and, when I was born and he saw me as dark as my
“Iorana, welcome Manutara and thank you for coming to Rapa Nui” are the first lines of a song written by Parapina Araki when the legendary seaplane, coming from east to west, descended over Vinapu and alighted on the sandy strip at Mataveri. Manutara is the Easter Island seagull which each
The rebirth of ancestral medicine The Rapanui community of today is in the process of reclaiming many different aspects of their social and political life. One of them is the rebirth of ancestral medicine. Currently on the Island is an old field hospital, built in the 1970s, which was originally
AVA RANGA UKA A TOROKE HAU German Archaeological Excavation (2nd Stage) New studies are being done by the German and Swiss archaeological team, together with the Anthropological Museum and the Mata Ki Te Rangi Foundation of Rapa Nui, at Ava Ranga Uka a Toroke Hau near Vaitea (located in the
The Tokotoko guard the secrets of our land “Bind life to other life”… was the call to our ancestors to set sail toward new islands. Our women took the valuable seeds, the harvests of our future, and bound them to their bodies. Under each breast they would roll a cutting
Rosa Ika Paoa The daughter of Napoleón Ika and Flora Paoa, Rosa today is 73 years old. With her 17 brothers and sisters, she belongs to the aristocratic Miru tribe. “My father is the son of a Frenchman who took refuge on the Island after his cargo ship, the “Jean”,
Overfishing on Rapa Nui A group of scientists, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, recently arrived on Easter Island following an exploration of the ecosystems of the Salas y Gómez Islands, where it was supposed that man had not yet intervened, and Easter Island. The Chilean government put the Chilean
Nga Rongoa Ancestral Medicine on Rapa Nui Within the philosophical world view of the Rapanui, good health is based on the union of man and nature, between life and death, in the present, the past and the future. Any mishap or disease has its origin in supernatural forces and is in
The Maori legend Uru Kehu says: “The ancient seas roared under the influence of the moon and the stars and the Uru Kehu o Nga Tupuna finally disembarked. Our ancestors with the red and golden hair arrived to our island. Most of them perished in the cold ocean when the
Guerillas of “Che” Guevara in Rapa Nui Political asylum On February 26, 1968, while I was Governor of Easter Island, I received a radio-telegram – we didn’t have telephones then – from the then Minister of Interior, Edmundo Pérez-Zujovic, who informed me that the Chilean government had accepted a petition
