Easter Island is more than just about the giant stone heads. I won't go into all the usual facts that one can easily find on Google, but here are a few interesting tidbits/random facts:
Did you know...
... That the giant stone heads, also known as Moais, actually have torsos
Easter Island is famous for its moais. Based on radio-carbon dating, they were carved in the period 1100-1680. There are 887 moais that have been inventoried on the island, and most of them have torsos to the top of their thighs.
... That the moais represented deified ancestors
It was believed that the living has a symbiotic relationship with the dead where the dead provided everything that the living needed (health, fertility of land and animals, fortune etc.) And the living, through offerings, provided the dead with a better place in the spirit world.
... There were only 110 Rapa Nuis (name of indigenous people of Easter Island) left in 1877
This is where the Bird Man competition took place. One would climb down the cliffs, swim to the far island and be the first to retrieve the egg of a bird that comes around only once a year.
The Rapa Nui population dropped from a high of approximately 15,000 just a century earlier to just 110 after natural resources were used up, spread of diseases by European sailors and Peruvian slave raiding. And out of the 110 people, only about a third of them had offspring. With over 97% of the population gone within a decade, many of the cultural knowledge of the Rapa Nui civilization were lost.
Nowadays, Easter Island has about 5,800 residents, of which some 60% are descendants of the aboriginal Rapa Nui. Speaking with the people, you can tell that genealogy is very important to them as everyone knows who is who among the Rapa Nuis.
... That it is believed that Rapa Nuis resorted to cannibalism
A century ago, as the island became overpopulated and resources diminished, its inhabitants endured famines and the population declined precipitously possibly due to cannibalism. In the world of survival of the fittest, the warriors gained more power making way for the Bird Man Cult.
... That Easter Island is the only society that chose its leader based on athletic achievement
The leader is chosen based on the winner of the Bird Man competition each year. It's best to describe the competition with some visual:
Here's an image of a contestant. Nice, isn't it? Totally captures the intensity of the race! ;-)
... That Easter Island is the only community with 100% of its people voluntarily converted to Catholicism
Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in 1864 and the first church was constructed. The Bird Man cult declined after the island population adopted Catholicism, though the birdman popularity and memory is still present in decoration of island's church.
... That the island's spirit world is believed to be still very much alive
In recent years, the locals talk about a string of mysterious, freak fatal accidents (i.e. fell on a knife, container fell on the head, heart attack, etc.) that happened to seven of the Rapa Nuis (no gringos) in a row.
No comments:
Post a Comment