Interesting Facts and Question About Easter Island (Rapa Nui) | Solved

Easter Island is a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the south-easternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania.

Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapa Nuii people.

Easter Island covers roughly 64 square miles in the South Pacific Ocean, and is located some 2,300 miles from Chile’s west coast and 2,500 miles east of Tahiti.

It was annexed by Chile in the late 19th century and now maintains an economy based largely on tourism.

Interesting Facts about Easter Island:

How it get the name as “Easter Island”?

Do you ever think how the island get the name as Easter Island even it has no connection with the Easter egg or bunnies or any festival.

The island was originally known as Rapa Nuii to its earliest inhabitants, the island was christened Paaseiland, or Easter Island, by Dutch explorers in honor of the day of their arrival in 1722.

Who created the Hugh stone heads?

The moai or Easter Island heads or Easter Island statues, represent the most important pieces of Rapa Nuii art and they have become its trademark.

However, in spite of their abundance, there are around 600 moai distributed throughout the whole island and 397 are in the Rano Raraku quarry, there are still plenty of unanswered questions regarding these stone giants.

Even though oral tradition states that it was Hotu Matu’a, or the seven explorers that reached the island before him, who brought the first Moai to the island, the most accepted theory is that it was the first Polynesian villagers who started sculpting stone once they were settled.

These stone giants were created by the Rapa Nuii to represent their ancestors or past rulers, who after dying had the ability to extend their mana (spiritual power) over the tribe to protect it.

How the Stone Heads Move?

Of all the interesting Easter Island facts, the transportation of the island’s statues “moai” is considered remarkable given that they were moved n across the island without the use of wheels, cranes or large animals.

Scientists have tested several theories most commonly concluding that islanders used a combination of log rollers, ropes and wooden sledges.

In 2011, however, Terry Hunt of the University of Hawaii and Carl Lipo of California State University Long Beach worked with National Geographic to prove that a mere 18 people could move a 3m (10ft) moai replica weighing 5 tonnes a few hundred metres with just three strong ropes and some practice.

Who is Tukuturi?

Tukuturi is an unusual moai. Its beard and kneeling posture distinguish it from standard moai. The peculiar posture of this statue is well known on Easter Island and is called tuku turi or simply tuku. It was the posture used by the men and women who formed the chorus in the festivals called riu, where the posture was known as tuku riu.

Typical also of the singers was the slightly backward inclination of the trunk, the raised head, and the goatee, all also seen in the statue.

Tukuturi is made of red scoria from Puna Pau, but sits at Rano Raraku, the tuff quarry.

It is possibly related to the Tangata manu cult, in which case it would be one of the last moai ever made.

It seems likely that this statue represents a riu singer and was made after the production of classic statues had ceased.

Rongo Rongo

Rongorongo scripture, or kohau rongo rongo as the natives call it, is a scripture system consisting of glyphs carved on wood or tablets, which to this day have yet to be deciphered.

The most common translation of the term kohau is “wood used for making the hull of the canoe” and rongo rongo means “the great message” or “great study”, for which the kohau rongo rongo has been translated to “recitation wood’ or “narrator staffs”.

According to oral tradition, the first king to arrive on Easter Island, ariki Hotu Matu’a, had 67 tablets that corresponded with the 67 Maori wisdoms, such as knowing how to sail and knowing astronomy; however, no other writing of this kind has been found anywhere in Polynesia.

Other researchers think that the Rongorongo scripture was invented after the arrival of the Spaniards in 1770, since they asked the ariki to sign the island assignment contract.

This being the first contact the Rapa Nuii had with Eastern scripture.

Tapati Rapa Nuii

The Tapati Rapa Nuii festival, which literally means “Rapa Nuii week”, is the most important cultural festival in Easter Island, and it is celebrated every year during the first two weeks of February.

This festival was born in 1968 with the goal of promoting the RapaNuii culture among the islanders and instilling a sense of belonging within the youth.

During the Tapati celebration, the town is divided in two, each part constituting an “alliance” or clan representing the ancient races of the island. Each clan chooses a queen to represent and “lead” them during the competitions and the winner will have the right to the title of “Queen of the Island” for that year.

It’s not a beauty contest, but rather a peaceful confrontation between the two clans that will compete through the days and night; where each participant will be able to express their physical and artistic skills to earn points for each candidate.

The queen of the clan with the most points will win the crown.

Hugh Stone Heads are Not Just Heads

Archaeologists have known since the earliest excavations in 1914 that the Easter Island statues have bodies.

The public, however, widely referred to them as ‘Easter Island heads’ because the most commonly photographed moai were those buried up to their shoulders.

In 2012, photos of an excavation led by the Easter Island Statue Project coupled with a photo taken in the 1950s began to circulate, illustrating just how big the statues actually are. The sight was so striking that several national publications ran a story about it.