Esperanza Pakarati (1922 – 2005) was the great-granddaughter of the last Rapanui priestess, Te Oho A Neru, whom she actually knew, and granddaughter of important local personages, the catechist Nicolas Pakarati and Juan Tepano-Huke.  She was married at a young age to Esteban Atan-Pakomio, who was later lost at sea leaving behind eight descendants.  In 1960, on a trip to South America, she met her second husband, Benito Alarcon, with whom she had two more children, Clara and Ricardo.  Benito, who was known as Pipi Tau Taoraha, remembers his wife with much respect and admiration.

 

“We had barely arrived on the Island with my wife when we received a visit from Victoria Atan, who was also called Ruau Tekarera, coming on horseback with a white chicken, to invite us to the La Perousse Bay.  Since at that time the Islanders weren’t allowed to roam freely over the Island, she had gotten a special permission from the Navy.  When we arrived at the little port, Esperanza stayed on the beach while Victoria took me to Ahu Hekii where she started a very strange ceremony which lasted almost an hour.  She spoke, she argued, she whispered and she sang in her language, placing her hands over my head.  When she was finally done, she said to me, “Poki Hiva, son of the continent, the Varua (spirits) have accepted you.  Within a week you will speak our language.”  Don’t ask me how, but it happened.

Esperanza was always a happy person and very loved by all.  Until she was 6, she was raised by Victoria Atan-Pakomio.  Then she went to live with her parents, Amelia Tepano and Santiago Pakarati.  She used to accompany her father and his brothers to plow the fields.  At that time many of the children would run about naked.  It was only when they were about 15 years old that they would receive their first clothing, a sailor’s jacket, and their first shoes made of the shoulder blades of a sheep tied with Kakaka (banana fiber).  She never complained.  On the contrary, she was simple but well-behaved.  She was selected along with two other young girls, Anisina Rapahango and Ana Maria Paoa-Rangitopa, to work with the English administrators of the Williamson Balfour Company, helping their wives.  She took on their values and made herself respected without stridency, by demonstrating her good sense with the things that happened.

 

As it happened, once she felt that one of her sisters, who had spent a long time living in France, was disrespectful toward her. Esperanza, the Atariki (the oldest of the children in the family) had ceded a property to her sister, who then took more than the amount agreed upon and built a house on it.  Esperanza responded in accordance to the old ways.  Without saying anything to anybody, she went over and burnt down the problem.

Te Oho A Neru, Esperanza’s great-grandmother, was the last priestess to have been kept in her youth in the cave of the priestesses (Ana Hua Neru).  She imparted some of the ancestral traditions of the Neru. Some priests used to observe the stars and make note of special births.  Those children were then selected, separated from their parents, raised and taught the sacred traditions.  They held monthly ceremonies, like the Papa Uihe Tu´u, on Poike Hill.  They would paint their sexual organs with Kiea (colored earths) and dance under the full moon, imitating the sounds of the whale and emanating their “feminine energy” throughout the Island.  After the slave raids, the Neru (priestesses) were abandoned to their own devices.  No one brought food to the cave where they lived any longer.  Esperanza’s great-grandmother survived by placing a stone in her mouth (a Maea Poro) which caused gastic juices to flow and keep her alive.

 

Esperanza maintained contact with the Varua, the three spirits that were allied with her family, Hiva-Kara´A-Rere, Pae-Pae-Atari-Vera and Mata-Vara-Vara.  She used to make a bonfire each week to invoke them and deliver food to them.  “She had a very special voice which was notable for its resonant quality.  I can still hear her.“