Pu o Hiro (which means Hiro's Trumpet) is a stone on Easter Island that was used as a musical instrument by the ancient Rapa Nui. [1] [2] It is also known as Maea Puhi ("stone to blow" or "wind stone"). [1] [3] When blown through its main hole, it would produce a sound that resembled a trumpet. [1] It was used to invoke Hiro, the deity of rain. [1] [4]
Pu o Hiro is approximately 1 to 1.25 meters tall. [1] [3] It is a stone aerophone. [1] It is an ovoid rock with multiple natural holes. [3] There is one main hole that was used to blow and three outlet holes. [1] The main hole is natural and located at the top of the stone. [2]
The stone has multiple petroglyphs. [3] Some include vulva forms known as komari, a symbol of fertility. [1] [2] [5]
Pu o Hiro had multiple uses, although it is not clearly defined. [1] It had been used to invoke Hiro, the rain deity. [6] It was also used to summon a gathering of neighbors. [2] [7] It also could have warned of a potential enemy attack. [3] It may also have been fishing talisman, used to make sounds that would attract fish to the shoreline. [2] [7] Additionally, it was a war trophy, moved around the island by the victors in battle. [2] It may have also been used for fertility rituals. [1] [2]
Around 1250 to 1500 CE, the Pu o Hiro was located in Hanga Roa which was the main village. [2] Today, the stone sits in a plain near Hanga o Honu. [3] A legend states that it was brought there from Hanga Roa by a raiding party of Tupa-hotu warriors. [5] It is located near the north coast road. [1] Traveling eastward, it would be a few feet from the right side of the road. [2] It is fenced off to discourage tourists from disrupting it. [2]
During times of drought, the Ariki Paka (subordinate chiefs) would hold a ceremony. [1] They would dress dress up in ceremonial clothing. [1] They would pray for rainfall and chant the following song: [1]
E te uá, matavai-roa a Hiro-é
(The rain, the great tears of Hiro)
ka hoa mai koe kiraro
(Send us down)
ka rei mai koe kiraro
(Pour down)
e te u´a matavai-roa a Hiro-é
(The rain, the great tears of Hiro)
Easter Island is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.
Hanga Roa is the main town, harbour and seat of Easter Island, a municipality of Chile. It is located in the southern part of the island's west coast, in the lowlands between the extinct volcanoes of Terevaka and Rano Kau.
The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian peoples of Easter Island. The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Easter Island make up about 60% of the current Easter Island population and have a significant portion of their population residing in mainland Chile. They speak both the traditional Rapa Nui language and the primary language of Chile, Spanish. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast.
Motu Nui is the largest of three islets just south of Easter Island and is the westernmost place in Chile. All three islets have seabirds, but Motu Nui was also an essential location for the Tangata manu cult which was the island religion between the moai era and the Christian era. Motu Nui is the summit of a large volcanic mountain which rises over 2,000 meters from the sea bed. It measures 3.9 hectares in land area and is the largest of the five satellite islets of Easter island. It is one of three islands that is closest to Point Nemo, the place in the ocean that is farthest from land, the other two being Ducie Island, one of the Pitcairn Islands, and Maher Island in Antarctica.
Rapa Nui National Park is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located on Easter Island, Chile. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name of Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua. The island is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern extremity of the Polynesian Triangle. The island was taken over by Chile in 1888. Its fame and World Heritage status arise from the 887 extant stone statues known by the name "moai", whose creation is attributed to the early Rapa Nui people who inhabited the island starting between 300 and 1200 AD. Much of the island has been declared as Rapa Nui National Park which, on 22 March 1996, UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site under cultural criteria (i), (iii), & (v). Rapa Nui National Park is now under the administrative control of the Ma´u Henua Polynesian Indigenous Community, which is the first autonomous institute on the island. The indigenous Rapa Nui people have regained authority over their ancestral lands and are in charge of the management, preservation and protection of their patrimony. On the first of December 2017, the ex-President Michelle Bachelet returned ancestral lands in the form of the Rapa Nui National Park to the indigenous people. For the first time in history, the revenue generated by the National Park is invested in the island and used to conserve the natural heritage.
Makemake in the Rapa Nui mythology of Easter Island is the creator of humanity, the god of fertility and the chief god of the "Tangata manu" or bird-man sect. He appeared to be the local form, or name, of the old Polynesian god Tane. He had no wife.
Easter Island was traditionally ruled by a monarchy, with a king as its leader.
The Hanga Roa Stadium is a football stadium in Hanga Roa, the capital of Easter Island, a territory of Chile. It is the home ground of the CF Rapa Nui, the Easter Island football team. The stadium holds about 1,000 people.
Ahu Akivi is a particular sacred place on the Chilean island of Rapa Nui, looking out towards the Pacific Ocean. The site has seven moai, all of equal shape and size, and is also known as a celestial observatory that was set up around the 16th century. The site is located inland, rather than along the coast. Moai statues were considered by the early people of Rapa Nui as their ancestors or Tupuna that were believed to be the reincarnation of important kings or leaders of their clans. The Moais were erected to protect and bring prosperity to their clan and village.
Maunga Puna Pau is a small crater or cinder cone and prehistoric quarry on the outskirts of Hanga Roa in the south west of Easter Island. Puna Pau gives its name to one of the seven regions of the Rapa Nui National Park.
Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, Easter Island, located in the mid-Pacific Ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated. Its inhabitants, the Rapa Nui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease, civil war, environmental collapse, slave raids, various colonial contacts, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasion. The ensuing cultural legacy has brought the island notoriety out of proportion to the number of its inhabitants.
The Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum is a museum in the town of Hanga Roa on Rapa Nui in Chilean Polynesia. Named for the Bavarian missionary, Fr. Sebastian Englert, OFM Cap., the museum was founded in 1973 and is dedicated to the conservation of the Rapa Nui cultural patrimony.
Juan Edmunds Rapahango was a Rapa Nui politician, the former Mayor of Hanga Roa, the municipality of Rapa Nui, in Chilean Polynesia. He is the son of Henry Percy Edmunds, director of the Williamson-Balfour Company, and Victoria Rapahango, an important native respondent for early ethnologists visiting the island. He is the father of the former mayor Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa. As mayor, Edmunds Rapahango promoted tourism to the island and helped to develop the island's infrastructure. He collaborated closely with William Mulloy and supported the American archaeologist's restoration projects. Edmunds Rapahango saw that Rapa Nui archaeology would play an important role the future of the island's economy.
The Rapa Nui calendar was the indigenous lunisolar calendar of Easter Island. It is now obsolete.
Hotel Hanga Roa, also known as Hanga Roa Eco Village & Spa, as of 2020 branded as Nayara Hangaroa, is a hotel in Hanga Roa, Easter Island, overlooking the bay on the Avenue Pont. The hotel was used extensively in the 1994 film Rapa Nui. In 1994, the hotel was purchased by the Panamericana hotel firm who extended the property with 10 fake thatched roofed bungalows, nine of which have three rooms. The 60 other rooms are located in the main building. Later, the hotel was acquired by Tanica hotels, owned by the Schliess family from mainland Chile. The Hito family, an extended family from Easter Island, occupied the premises for six months in 2010, claiming ancestral property rights. The hotel closed in 2011 for refurbishment and was projected to include a new museum and theatre, shopping complex, pool, tennis courts and other rooms. The hotel staff were mainly Rapa Nui locals, but the management was not from Easter Island. After a protracted conflict between the Hito family and the Schliess family, an agreement was reached in 2020. Under the agreement, property rights were transferred to the Hito family while the Tanica hotel group retained the right to exploit the hotel for 15 years. In 2020 the Costa Rican Nayara Resort group took control of the marketing.
Siméon or Timeone Riro ʻa Kāinga Rokoroko He Tau was the last ‘ariki (king) of Rapa Nui from 1892 until his death. He ruled the island during a brief period of indigenous autonomy between Chile's initial annexation in 1888 and the country's reassertion of colonial authority in 1896. Riro died unexpectedly during a diplomatic trip to Chile to discuss the island's sovereignty with colonial authorities, leading to suspicions that he had been poisoned.
Angata, full name María Angata Veri Tahi ʻa Pengo Hare Koho was a Roman Catholic Rapa Nui religious leader from Easter Island during the late 19th and early 20th century. After experiencing a prophetic vision in which God instructed her to retake the land and livestock, she led an unsuccessful rebellion on the island against the Williamson-Balfour Company, intending to create a theocracy centered on Roman Catholicism and Rapa Nui spiritual values.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Chilean island and special territory of Easter Island in March 2020.
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