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Petroglyphs and Legends of Rapa Nui Georgia Lee

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Petroglyphs and Legends of Rapa Nui Georgia Lee Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation Volume 13 Article 4 Issue 4 September 1999 Petroglyphs and Legends of Rapa Nui Georgia Lee Keremo Ika 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 Lee, Georgia and Ika, Keremo (1999) "Petroglyphs and Legends of Rapa Nui," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 13 : Iss. 4 , Article 4. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol13/iss4/4 This Research Report 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]. Lee and Ika: Petroglyphs and Legends of Rapa Nui Petroglyphs and Legends ofRapa Nui Georgia Lee and Keremo Ika Societal tensions are expressed in legends and myths. On rainwater. And yet legends on Easter Island tell of the god Rapa Nui, we fmd many legends that focus on warfare and Makemake who arrived in the disguise ofa turtle and carried an vengeance; even the offshore islets are said to have taken their islander on his back to that "beautiful island," Motu Motero position after quarreling with one another (Metraux 1971:389). Hiva. The description of Salas y G6mez as a beautiful place is Poignant (1967:69) notes that anxieties and fears reflected the ample proof that the legend is just that-there seems to have facts of life on this stress-ridden island, and that myths are also been no actual knowledge ofthe place linked with the land. "Named locations" often were described in In 1805, Amasa and Samuel Delano ofthe ship Perserver­ detail in order to establish territorial claims. ance sighted Salas y G6mez and named it Pilgrim Island. They As the Polynesians moved from island to island, knowl­ were searching for seals for the fur trade. Unable to land due to edge of mythical events went along with them. Then, in isola­ high surf, they were able to observe birds and great numbers of tion, each group adapted the old stories to suit their present re­ sharks. They tried for three days to go ashore but finally gave ality and new elements were absorbed into the legends. Many up and sailed on. They noted driftwood, some in large pieces, Polynesian societies contain legends about beings that are half­ and supposed it to be the ruins of a ship that had been wrecked fish and half-man, and a Mangaian (Cook Islands) legend de­ there. scribes a love-sick maiden who traveled to her lover on the The naturalist and German poet, Adalbert von Chamisso backs ofsharks. She then was visited by her brother in the form came here in 1816 on the Russian ship Rurik, and did manage of a pigeon, and he carried her back home on his wings to disembark. To his astonishment he found a dying man; one (Poignant 1967:31, 51). Some of the most popular legends tell day sooner and they might have been able to save him. Both his of characters with supernatural powers, such as the ability to identity and the story ofhow he came to be here died with him. transform themselves into other creatures. Chamisso wrote: "It makes one shudder to imagine the possibil­ It is, however, the rare legend that can be connected to a ity that a human being could be cast ashore alive on it, for the petroglyph site. Of all the many of panels of petroglyphs on eggs of the waterfowl could have sufficed to lengthen his for­ Easter Island, there are legends for only a very few. Thus it is saken existence all too much upon this bare, sunburned piece of important to preserve the knowledge of them, and we can but stone between sea and sky." lament the loss of others. I am grateful to the islanders who Let us now look at the legend of Makemake who appeared shared these legends with me and who worked with my petro­ to an islander in the guise of a turtle, and a petroglyph site on glyph documentation project over the years: Keremo Ika, who Easter Island that is said to commemorate a magical visit to was instrumental is acquiring the legends as well as helping to Salas y G6mez. [md them in the field; Raul Paoa; Kihi Haoa Cardinali; Leo­ nardo Pakarati; and Felipe Teao. Several UREP participants THE LEGEND OF MOA PARA'S TURTLE AND THE TUNA OF assisted with documentation, with thanks in particular to Curtiss HERA. Johnson. The petroglyphs associated with this legend are located at Omohe, on the northwest coast of Easter Island (Figure I), on A MAGICAL VISIT TO SALAS y GOMEZ sections of flat lava flow. The two rock art panels are close to­ Salas y G6mez lies 413 miles east of Rapa Nui and was gether, near the edge of a cliff. One has a simple large turtle declared a National Monument (Santuarios de fa Natureza) in (Figure 2); the other has many elements including turtle, tuna, 1976. Latitude 26° 25' 27" S, longitude 105° 21' 55" W. This island has the distinction of being named after two explorers: a Spanish pilot, Jose Salas Valdes, who discovered it on 23 August 1793, and a Spanish captain and pilot, Jose Manuel G6mez of the frigate Victor who redis­ covered it on 18 or 19 October 1805. Salas y G6mez has millions of sea birds and the waters around it teem with fish, but few humans ever set foot here. N A more unlikely spot is hard to imagine. Salas y G6mez is a barren % mile long rock-the top of a volcanic peak that only rises 100 feet above sea level. The only vegetation is a fern, as­ jlenium, growing in natural depressions that catch Figure 1. Map of north portion ofEaster Island showing locations of the two petroglyph sites. Neither are accessible by roads. Rapa Nui Journal 114 Vol. 13 (3) September 1999 Published by Kahualike, 1999 1 Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, Vol. 13 [1999], Iss. 4, Art. 4 faces, outline shapes of hare paenga (boat house foundations), but it was intact when Lavachery (1939:Figure 13) visited and and a few komari (vulva forms) (Figure 3) (Lee 1992:Figures sketched the petroglyph prior to that damage. 4.69 and 4.70). The single turtle image (Figure 2) has the shell indicated in double outline; the panel with a turtle and tuna is far more The Legend elaborate with numerous designs, crowded into every possible Moa Para lived at Taha Taha 0 Ruhi, beside Ahu Ma­ space. The turtle at the second loci has makemake faces on its hatua. He was a great fisherman and a famous carver ofstat­ back, inside the body of the tuna, and all around both figures. ues. But he had become weary and passed his days dream­ The faces are interspersed with hare paenga outlines and ko­ ing about traveling to other places and meeting new people. mario One day, while he was deep in thought, a wave cast up on The image of hare paenga is an interesting one in the is­ the shore a spirit in the form of a turtle. The spirit/turtle land's rock art. Although the actual stone house foundations are said, "Moa Para, why are you sad? Are you dreaming of found all over the island and signified status dwellings, petro­ other places?" Moa Para replied, "How I would like to glyphs showing hare paenga are limited to one part of the is­ know other places and travel like the wind!" At this, the tur­ land. One ofthese is the Omohe location where 92% ofthe total tle offered to take him on his back to another island: "Only (39 examples) are to be found (Figure 3). A second site, Kahu climb on my back and we will travel together." So Moa Para Ma Hau (near the former leper sanitarium) has three examples, climbed onto the back of the turtle and said, "I am ready; and a site called Hereke, on the way to Omohe, has one. Why take me where you wish." this motif is so localized is not known; perhaps it was a clan After a time they came to an island called Motu Matiro marker. Lavachery (1935) suggests that all the motifs at Omohe Hiva (Salas y G6mez). The spirit said, "This place is Motu related to fertility, but it is difficult to fit a house foundation in Matiro Hiva. It is beautiful. I will leave you here and return a fertility category. to Te Pito 0 te Henua and if some day you want to return, Komari (vulva forms) constitute the most prevalent image only call my name, Makemake." in the island's rock art: 564 have been documented (Lee 1992) The spirit returned to Te Pito 0 te Henua and many and it is likely that this number is lower than the original num­ years passed. Moa Para became bored and tired of being ber. Many small beach cobbles or small boulders that were cov­ alone and he called to the spirit, "E Makemake ka oho ko ered with this motif were removed from the island and now re­ mai koe kia au ka ma 'u atu ki te kainga." [Makemake, re­ side in museums around the world.
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