Eastern Island - Myth. Easter Island

pages: [1] 2 3 

Similar pages:

  • myth turtle mother
  • turtle island myth
  • eastern island
  • easter island myth
  • eastern island people
  • hotu matua

  • How to Link to This Page


    It will appear on your page as:

    Easter Island Eastern Island - Myth from www.lost-civilizations.net


    Eastern Island - Myth


    - Alfred Metraux's Ethnology of Eastern Island -1971

    The ancestors of the natives of Te Pito O Te Kainga ("A Little Piece of Land", later called Rapa Nui by other Polynesians and Eastern Island by Europeans) came from two places known as Marae Renga and Marae Tohio in a land called Maori ("Land of the Native People"), or Hiva ("Black"; perhaps a reference to the basalt of volcanic islands, perhaps Mangareva; Hiva was a Polynesian name for the Marquesas Islands).]

    In Hiva, Hau Maka had a dream in which his spirit traveled to a far country, looking for a new residence for his king Hotu.1 His spirit arrived at three small islands (Motu Nui, Motu Iti, Motu Kao-kao) and a big hole (the volcanic crater of Rano Kau) on the southwest corner of Te Pito O Te Kainga.

    The spirit traveled counter-clockwise around the island, naming twenty-eight places including Anakena (an anchorage on the north coast of the island and future residence of the king); Papa o Pea (where young princes would be raised), and Ahu Akapu (where the abdicated king would live). When Hau Maka awoke he told his brother Hua Tava about the dream.

    The island was the eighth, or last, island in the dim twilight of the rising sun. He named the island "Te Pito O Te Kainga A Hau Maka" ("The Little Piece of Land of Hau Maka"). Hua Tava told his brother to tell king Hotu Matua of the new land.

    fter hearing about the dream, Hotu Matua ordered Hau Maka to send some young men to explore the island. Hotu Matua told his two sons Ira (the first born) and Raparenga, and Hua Tava's five sons-Kuukuu, Ringiringi, Nonoma, Uure, and Makoi-to build a canoe and search for the island of Hau Maka's dream. He gave them the directions to the island:

    i lunga (upwind; i.e., southeastly, into the southeast tradewinds)

    e tau (it juts out)

    e revareva ro a (as a permanent contour)

    i roto i te raa (in the midst of the [rising] sun)

    He told them that there were three islets and a big hole, also a long and beautiful road. So the seven men left in a canoe stocked with yams, sweet potatoes, bananas, and other foods.

    The canoe was named Oraora-ngaru ("Saved from the waves"), or Te Oraora-miro ("The pieces of milo wood lashed together").

    They left on the 25th day of Vaitu Nui (April) and arrived on the 1st day of Maro (June), a voyage of five weeks.2 The explorers found the three islets and the big hole.

    They sailed on to Hanga Te Pau, where they landed. Makoi was placed in charge of marking and naming the land. Kuukuu was placed in charge of farming.

    On the tenth day of Maro (June), they climbed the slopes of Rano Kau. Kuukuu planted the yams. On the fifth day of Anakena (July), the explorers began to go around the island counterclock-wise, starting with the south coast.

    They followed the footsteps of Hau Maka's dream soul and named the places as Hau Maka had named them. When fish swarmed near shore at Hanga-o-honu (Bay of Turtles, on the north coast), they caught the fish with their hands and tossed them ashore. They cooked and ate the fish there.

    When they were near Anakena, Ira saw a turtle and tried to lift it, but it was too heavy for him; Raparenga tried and failed. Kuukuu tried and lifted the turtle off the ground, but it struck him and broke his spine. The turtle, which was a spirit (kuhane), swam back to Hiva.

    Kuukuu was taken to a nearby cave on the plain of Oromanga. He begged the others not to leave him, but his companions departed after piling six stones outside the cave to take their places and to keep Kuukuu company. Kuukuu died in the cave.

    The explorers went to the west side of the island and discovered a surfing spot. They rode a wave to the right and called the place where they landed Hanga Roa; they rode a wave to the left and landed at Apina Iti.

    They rode a third wave in and landed by Hanga O Rio. They caught more waves, then went ashore and rested in a cave at Pu Pakakina.

    Ira sent the other explorers surfing so he and his brother Raparenga could secretly place some stone figures Ira had brought from Hiva. While the others were surfing, Ira set up three stone figures with necklaces of mother-of-pearl shell.

    The shining necklaces could be seen from the ocean: the shells of Ruhi Hepii when a surfer rode a wave to the right, the shells of Pu when a surfer rode the wave to the left, and the shells of Hinariru when the surfer went straight ahead.

    Ira sent Makoi around the island to name places with names from the homeland of Hiva. [Sixty place names are given.] After this was done, Ira taught Makoi string figures and the secret content of the figures.

    A man named Nga Tavake, who had preceded the explorers onto the island, then appeared, and the six explorers told him, "This is a bad land, for when we planted yams, grass grew up instead." Then they all went to the yam plantation planted by Kuukuu and weeded it.

    Ira taught the secret of the shells necklaces and directions to his brother Raparenga; Uure overheard their conversation and tricked Ira into giving the secret to his brother Makoi.

    Ira, Raparenga, Uure, Nonoma, and Ringiringi left Te Pito O Te Kainga on the twenty-fifth day of Tangaora Uri (October) to return to Hiva. Makoi remained on Te Pito O Te Kainga. As the canoe left, Makoi chanted the directions back to the island: "There are eight islands.

    Te Pito O Te Kainga is the eighth. Once it has been lost, it cannot be found again! Ruhi to the right, Pu to the left, necklace around the figure of Hinariru at Papa O Rae straight ahead!"3

    King Hotu Matua ruled Hiva after his father Matua. During Matua's reign, a group of people called the Hanau Eepe came and took one side of the island from the Hanau Momoko, the people whom Matua ruled.

    Then the Hanau Eepe tried to move the border to gain more territory. They were captured and imprisoned. In the meantime, Matua told his son Hotu Matua to launch a canoe and immigrate to Te Pito O Te Kainga because a rising tide was destroying their land.

    Hotu ordered his assistants Teke and Oti to get plants and animals to take with them on their voyage. The two men gathered banana shoots, taro seedlings, sugarcane, yam, sweet potatoes, hau trees, paper mulberry trees, sandalwood trees, toromiro trees, ferns, rushes, yellow roots, tavari plants, moss, and ngaoho plants, along with birds, pigs, and chickens.

    Matua reminded Hotu to take along flies as well, since the number of human beings depended on the number of flies. He told Hotu to take the Hanau Eepe prisoners as well to farm the land.

    Hotu then ordered his master canoe builder Nuku Kehu to launch the double-hulled canoe that had been built for the voyage.

    page 1 ) next page
    return to Ancient civilizations

    Write new one

    AlicePop, 31/05:
    the volanoes could have errupted but then carved these long things and the incas or mayans could have carved faces for a tradition of dead spirits.but how do you explain the faces in one exact spot?

    hw, 22/03:
    very interesting

    Erika , 09/09:
    There should be more pictures of the rituals.

    ALEX, 07/04:
    WOW! That's some SERIOUS stuff

    liliukolani, 09/12:
    this is true blooded hawaiian and you guys are lieing

    kire, 16/09:
    I thought it was easter not eastern island

    wana , 13/05:
    very interesting but whats happen to the people

    hector, 02/02:
    Sorry, but in Spanish Languages ( and the spanish europeans) Call the island : Isla de Pascua, not Eastern Island. Thank you

    Andrew, 05/01:
    There are Author up there

    Charlie, 09/08:
    The folks who doubt these stories should take spelling lessons. I see many incorrectly spelled words. Lack of education and fear caused by religious beliefs of things unknown make many people denounce what they can't see and touch. How sad.

    devin rinas, 27/04:
    why did you guys make them?

    Mayan Gods
    Mayan Geography
    Mayan Pyramids of Chichen Itza

    Easter Island:
    Eastern Island - Myth
    Easter Island: stones, history

    Inca Civilization