{"id":5276,"date":"2013-08-28T01:10:09","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T01:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginaisladepascua.com\/?page_id=5276"},"modified":"2023-11-02T16:26:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T16:26:30","slug":"easter-island-mystery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/rapa-nui-culture\/easter-island-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Island Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Myths and legends<\/h1>\n<figure>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4587 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imaginarapanui.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Make-Make1.jpg?resize=640%2C428&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"easter island mystery\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" \/><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<!-- Widget Shortcode --><div id=\"custom_html-13\" class=\"widget_text widget widget_custom_html widget-shortcode area-arbitrary \"><div class=\"textwidget custom-html-widget\"><div class=\"content-box-redes-sociales\"><div class=\"addtoany_shortcode\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\"><a class=\"a2a_button_whatsapp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/whatsapp?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"WhatsApp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_button_facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/facebook?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"Facebook\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_button_x\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/x?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"X\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_button_email\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/email?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"Email\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- \/Widget Shortcode -->\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/\">Easter Island<\/a> mystery is mainly due to its isolation. This made the <a title=\"Rapa Nui Culture\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/rapa-nui-culture\/\">Rapa Nui culture<\/a> and <a title=\"Easter Island History\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/easter-island-history\/\">history<\/a> have not been completely unraveled and made the Easter Island myths and legends very relevant. They been transmitted orally by the natives and collected by ancient visitants. But these myths, that try to explain past events, are usually adorned by the imagination of the teller or the listener. Therefore, the historical reconstruction based on them wanders between reality and fantasy.<\/p>\n<!-- Widget Shortcode --><div id=\"text-47\" class=\"widget widget_text widget-shortcode area-arbitrary \">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 0.7em; color: #c4c4c4; margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 5px;\">ADVERTISING<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"anuncio\">\r\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-9974337153208599\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Banner_Central Rapa Nui -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9974337153208599\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4035446418\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><!-- \/Widget Shortcode -->\n<h3>Hotu Matu\u2019a and the seven explorers<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s the main Rapanui legend and it tries to explain Easter Island\u2019s settlement. The legend says that the Ariki (king) Hotu Matu\u2019a lived in a beautiful continent called Hiva. One night in his dream he received a message that his land would sink, and that he needed to find a place to take his people. Following a wise seers advice, Hotu Matu\u2019a sent seven explorers towards the morning sun, in search of a favorable land to live and grow yams (a staple in their nutrition).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1208 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imaginarapanui.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Catamaran-Polinesio-Hokulea-Santiago-Caruso-001.jpg?resize=544%2C509&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"easter island mystery\" width=\"544\" height=\"509\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After several days of sailing, the seven explorers arrived on a small and uninhabited island that seemed fertile enough to live on. It is said that besides yams, the explorers took a <strong><a title=\"Easter Island Heads\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/rapa-nui-culture\/moai-easter-island-statues\/\">moai<\/a><\/strong> with them and a mother of pearl necklace, and that this was abandoned when they returned to Hiva, leaving behind on the island only a single explorer.<\/p>\n<p>Sometime later, Hotu Matu\u2019a arrived on the island in two great ships with his entourage, which consisted of his wife, his sister and another 100 people. Since then, the island has been called <a href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/\"><b>Te pito o te henua<\/b><\/a>, which means \u201cthe world\u2019s navel\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This legend is the reason why some researchers say that when Hotu Matu\u2019a arrived on Easter Island, it was already inhabited and that he found yams and several standing moai statues. Some believe that the seven explorers represent the seven generations or tribes that inhabited the place, of which only one survived and mixed with the people of Hotu Matu\u2019a.<\/p>\n<p>These seven explorers are represented by the seven moai that are found in <strong><a title=\"Ahu Akivi\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/easter-island-sightseeing\/easter-island-archaeology\/ahu-akivi\/\">Ahu Akivi<\/a><\/strong>. [hr light grey]<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>Long ears and short ears<\/h3>\n<p>Another Rapa Nui myth says that after the arrival of the Polynesians, another controversial immigration arrived on the island whose racial characteristics differed from the natives\u2019 characteristics. The newcomers were more stout and sturdy and were known as the Hanau E\u2019epe or \u201cwide race\u201d, contrary to the Hanau Momoko or \u201cthin race\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3483 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imaginarapanui.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Ahu-Nau-Nau4.jpg?resize=640%2C361&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"easter island mystery\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some versions say that the Hanau E\u2019epe had very developed earlobes and relate them to the Incas, unlike the Hanau Momoko who didn\u2019t present that trait, because of their Polynesian heritance.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, other researchers say that the difference between the two groups was based fundamentally on their physique and because of this, the Hanau E\u2019epe constituted the working class while the Hanau Momoco, the thinner ones, were the tribe or the dominant class. For them, the stretching of the earlobe (characteristic trait of the moai) was none other than a common practice in many cultures around the world and that what happened was that at some point in history, the word E\u2019epe mixed with the Rapanui word \u2018Epe, which means earlobe, given birth to the legend of the \u201clong ears\u201d and the \u201cshort ears\u201d.  [hr light grey]<\/p>\n<h3>Make-Make, the creating god<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4586 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imaginarapanui.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Makemake2.jpg?resize=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"easter island mystery make make\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As the legend goes, <strong>Make-Make<\/strong>, after creating the Earth, felt lonely and thought that something was missing. He took a pot full of water and look at his reflection within it, at that moment a bird came to rest on his shoulder and Make-Make was amazed by the their fused reflections, and thus decided to create us by making his firstborn son.<\/p>\n<p>But Make-Make wasn\u2019t satisfied and wanted to make a being just like him, that could think and talk. His first attempt was to fertilize some tones, but he wasn\u2019t successful. Then, he fertilized the water and the sea filled with fish. Finally, he fertilized the red clay earth and from it made a man. But the man was lonely, so he made him fall asleep and from his rib created the woman.<\/p>\n<p>It was Make-Make, in collaboration with the god Haua, who took the birds (<a title=\"Easter Island Animals\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/easter-island-animals\/\"><strong>manutaras<\/strong><\/a>) to the islets (motus) in front of the <strong><a title=\"Rano Kau\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/easter-island-sightseeing\/easter-island-volcanoes\/rano-kau\/\">Rano Kau<\/a><\/strong> volcano so that the <a title=\"Tangata Manu\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/rapa-nui-culture\/tangata-manu-the-easter-island-birdman\/\"><strong>Tangata Manu or \u201cBirdman\u201d<\/strong> <\/a>cult could be created.<br \/>\n[hr light grey]<\/p>\n<h3>Moai Kava Kava<\/h3>\n<p>Legend states that on one fateful day, the ariki Tu\u2019u Koihu, Hotu Matu\u2019a\u2019s oldest son, was on a midnight walk in <a title=\"Puna Pau\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/easter-island-sightseeing\/easter-island-volcanoes\/puna-pau\/\"><strong>Puna Pau<\/strong><\/a> when he found two spirits, or aku aku, asleep in front of him. Upon a closer look he noticed that they had skeletal bodies, and he decided to walk away and leave them. However, he woke them as he tried to run away, so the aku aku chased him in fear that he\u2019d tell someone what he\u2019d seen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4591 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imaginarapanui.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/moai-kava-kava0.jpg?resize=500%2C458&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"easter island mystery kava kava\" width=\"500\" height=\"458\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tu\u2019u Koihu<\/strong> denied having seen them but the spirits didn\u2019t believe him and kept watch on him for two days and two nights. Seeing that he wasn\u2019t telling anyone, they left. Once he was free from the spirits, the ariki returned to <i>Tore Ta\u2019hana, <\/i>went into a<i> <\/i>hut, and carved into a piece of<a title=\"Easter Island Flora\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/easter-island-flora\/\"><strong> toromiro<\/strong><\/a> Wood the two disembodied figures of the aku aku he\u2019d seen. This was the means of communication the ariki found to tell the world what he\u2019d seen.<\/p>\n<p>This was, according to tradition, the origin of the Kava Kava moais (\u201cstatues with ribs\u201d) that the islanders used to carve out of wood and hang on the inside of their front doors to keep away evil spirits.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Widget Shortcode --><div id=\"text-47\" class=\"widget widget_text widget-shortcode area-arbitrary \">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 0.7em; color: #c4c4c4; margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 5px;\">ADVERTISING<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"anuncio\">\r\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-9974337153208599\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Banner_Central Rapa Nui -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9974337153208599\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4035446418\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><!-- \/Widget Shortcode --><br \/>\n<!-- Widget Shortcode --><div id=\"custom_html-13\" class=\"widget_text widget widget_custom_html widget-shortcode area-arbitrary \"><div class=\"textwidget custom-html-widget\"><div class=\"content-box-redes-sociales\"><div class=\"addtoany_shortcode\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\"><a class=\"a2a_button_whatsapp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/whatsapp?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"WhatsApp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_button_facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/facebook?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"Facebook\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_button_x\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/x?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"X\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_button_email\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/add_to\/email?linkurl=&amp;linkname=\" title=\"Email\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- \/Widget Shortcode --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Myths and legends The Easter Island mystery is mainly due to its isolation. This made the Rapa Nui culture and history have not been completely unraveled and made the Easter Island myths and legends very relevant. They been transmitted &#8230; <a title=\"Easter Island Mystery\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/rapa-nui-culture\/easter-island-mystery\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Easter Island Mystery\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":478,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_bos_mb_destination":[""],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5276","page","type-page","status-publish","no-featured-image-padding"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5276"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24723,"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5276\/revisions\/24723"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginarapanui.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}