Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation Volume 13 Article 4 Issue 3 September 1999 News and Notes Follow this and additional works at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj Part of the History of the Pacific slI ands Commons, and the Pacific slI ands Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation (1999) "News and Notes," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 13 : Iss. 3 , Article 4. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol13/iss3/4 This Commentary or Dialogue is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Hawai`i Press at Kahualike. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation by an authorized editor of Kahualike. For more information, please contact [email protected]. et al.: News and Notes sisted of imitations of conventional designs, with some details of public lectures by distinguished researchers on Easter Island changed, as well as completely new models. These falsifications archaeology, history, ecology and preservation, as well as work­ do not lack value, for they reveal an innate ability to adapt to shops on Rapanui art. Robert Hemrn and Marcelo Mendez given circumstances without losing sight of the traditional carv­ showed an excellent documentary, an aerial survey of Easter ing techniques. Island, with some stunning footage. Otto Klein describes the difference between the ancient Twenty Rapanui islanders and their unique skills were the and the modern carvings very well: "An essential difference main attraction. They were flown in for the occasion, together between the ideo-plastic manifestations of the past and those of with a huge lump of volcanic rock from the island. The Rapanui recent times: while the former were generated on a religious included four stone carvers and sixteen members of the Riu basis, the latter resulted from individual efforts of some profi­ Hoko Rapa Nui dance troupe. The four carvers, well-known cient sculptors who took advantage of a unique opportu­ artisans of the island, Pedro Pakarati Araki, Pablo Hereveri nity" (Klein 1988:246). Teao, Benedicto Tuki Pate and Esteban Pakarati, spent twelve Without a doubt, woodcarving was affected by contact days transforming the rock into a 1999 moai. The stone was not with the west. The loss of sacredness could well have occurred the traditional volcanic tuff from Rano Raraku, but a lump of before the arrival of the first missionaries; however, the strong the more malleable red scoria from Maunga Orito, a type of influence of the Catholic Church is clear. It became the nexus, stone originally used primarily for pukao. It was collected from or the intermediary between humans and the higher forces. This Maunga Orito, a quarry south of Puna Pau. The carvers, en­ is how many carvings became detached from their original closed in a Plexiglas 'cage' to protect the audience from flying meaning, from their symbolism; desecrated and out of context, rock fragments, daily until the moai was lying, ready and wait­ they survived in form only. However, with time they acquired a ing. The Riu Hoko made regular appearances during the carv­ new meaning and, finally, even new designs emerged. ing and performed Polynesian dances in front of the cage. When not performing, they managed workshops about Easter REFERENCES Island music, dance, and traditional body painting. After the Coli, A. 1973. Documentos de los archivos generales de los SSCC en Roma. Recopilados por el R.P. Americo Coli, "Lile de Paques et statue had been erected and the finishing touches added, the la Congregation des Sacn~s Coeurs". Documentation Ms. carvers added two eyes made ofcoral. 272.788-95 (972)-5, Roma. Englert, S. 1948. Tierra de Hotu Matua. Historia, Etnologia y Lengua A MEMORABLE NIGHT de la Isla de Pascua. Imprenta y Editorial San Francisco, Chile. My wife and I paid several visits to the slowly evolving Klein, O. 1988. lconografla de la Isla de Pascua, Ed. Universidad moai during the third week of May (always thankful of the mu­ Tecnica Federico Santa Maria, Valparaiso. seum's pay-what-you-like policy). On Friday the 14th we had Kurze, Joan Seaver. 1997. Ingrained Images. Wood Carvings from the pleasure of watching the transformation of the moai from a Easter Island. Easter Island Foundation. stony enigma to an alert guardian and watchman: with much Metraux, A. 1950. La Isla de Pascua, Fondo de Cultura Econ6mica, Mexico. Pomp and Circumstance, the eyes were placed in their sockets Metraux, A. 1978. Ethnology ofEaster Island, Bernice P. Bishop Mu­ in a (possible) reconstruction ofhistory. seum, Honolulu. The evening started at the Linder Theater with a lecture, Puelma, M. 1978. Isla de Pascua en /774. Los Viajes de James Cook. "Archaeology and Ecology of Easter Island" by distinguished Ed. El Observador, Quillota. archaeologist Sergio Rapu, discoverer ofthe one authentic moai Ramirez, J. M. 1988. Cu/tura Rapa Nui, Serie Patrimonio Cultural eye in existence, and former governor of the island. Rapu made Chileno. Colecci6n Cu/turas Aborigenes. Departamento de Ex­ the discovery during an excavation at Ahu Nau Nau, the 'main' tensi6n del Ministerio de Educaci6n, Chile. ahu at 'Anakena Beach. About fifteen fragments of coral found Seaver, J. 1993. Rapa Nui crafts: wooden sculpture past and present. In S.R. Fischer (ed.), Easter Island Studies. Contributions to the beneath the ahu were eventually pieced together for the famous History of Rapa Nui, in Memory of William Mulloy, Oxbow 'eye', an eye socket-shaped piece of carved coral representing Books, Oxford. the almond-shaped visible part of an eye (with a red stone for a pupil) and fitting into a moai eye socket. The eye is now one of Moai ~i9htin9s the main attractions of the Padre Sebastian Englert Archaeo­ logical Museum on the island where Rapu was director from The Eyes of the Moai 1969 to 1990. Though other coral fragments have been found or A Perfect Night Out in Manhattan on the island, none have been pieced together as another eye. Peter Gravild Korning, Denmark Rapu made an excellent speech about the cultural and natural history of Rapa Nui from the first settlements until after the ar­ SINCE LAST MAY, NEW YORK CITY counts yet another rival ofEuropeans in the 18th century. celebrity among its citizens: a new-born moai with sparkling After Rapu's lecture the audience was guided to the Kauf­ new eyes. It greets visitors to the American Museum ofNatural mann Theater where the Riu Hoko Rapa Nui performed a suc­ History from its place in the basement just to the left of the en­ cession of absolutely stunning dances and chants to the music trance. It is tangible proof of the success of the "Legacies of a of the ma? 'aporo, the fatete and the toere. Performing with People, Masters of Stone" project that took place May 3-16 at their usual confidence and an energy level worthy of an Iggy various locations at the museum. The project included a number Pop concert, the dancers took the New York audience by storm, Rapa Nui Journal 81 Vol. 13 (3) September 1999 Published by Kahualike, 1999 1 ------------------------- -- I Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, Vol. 13 [1999], Iss. 3, Art. 4 barely leaving time enough for the enthusiastic applause be­ It is tempting to speculate on the fate ofthe moai eyes. Let tween numbers. Surely the best show in town that night! us for a moment assume (for it is by no means a certainty) that After the Riu Hoko performance the newly carved moai many statues had inlaid eyes, "many" not in the sense of a cer­ eyes were brought to the scene and Sergio Rapu said a few tain amount or percentage, but many in the same sense that well-chosen words. Then the Rapanui, followed by everybody many moai had pukao. It else, went in procession from the theatre to the moai waiting in was a feature that a the basement. Seeing a procession of Rapa Nui in traditional statue would typically costumes and body paint in the half-lit museum at night was an have. It seems reason­ almost surreal experience and one we shall never forget. It wllS able to assume that the as if a forgotten, long-gone people had suddenly returned to the destruction of a moai world ofthe living. would include the re­ moval and/or destruction HE TRANSFORMATION of its eyes, since these The moai awaited in the basement with all the withdrawn undoubtedly increased aloofuess common to its older relatives thousands of miles its power or at least (to away. The audience formed a semicircle around some of the the sacrilegious de­ Riu Hoko members who performed a series of short chants and stroyer) had important dance steps in front of the statue. Finally a member of the symbolic meaning. troupe placed the eyes in their sockets. The transformation was Maybe the statues were immediate and extraordinary! The moai seemed to wake up. It thought to be completely lost much ofits air ofmystery, becoming alert, vigilant, and just powerless without their a little bit frightening! It must have been the perfect guardian of eyes, the eyes being, in its village. The effect ofsuch a transformation on the hearts and A group with Sergio Rapu prosaic language, a kind minds of the prehistoric Rapa Nui must have been overwhelm­ (center) standing in front ofthe of magic battery. One ing. completed moai at the Museum of Natural History New York. (Photo could see an indication The eye-opening ritual is of course utterly inauthentic by Peter Koming). towards this in the fact from a historical point of view as nobody has the faintest idea that the eye-sockets of of how the original eyes were placed in their sockets.