In this article we would like to explain some interesting information about the Moais (whose image is also part of the logo of our brand Anakena Natural Cosmetics) and in particular about the return of a Moais from Santiago de Chile to Easter Island on March 8, 2022.
Moais are sculptures carved out of stone and the best known image of Easter Island. They represent the ancestral guardian spirit and are an integral part of the culture of Rapa Nui, as Easter Island is called in the indigenous language.
In the following we quote a text written by the "Rapa Nui Technical Secretariat", an entity subordinated to the National Council of Monuments, created in 2013 with the aim of leading the institutional work for the protection and conservation of cultural heritage, a task carried out together with the National Advisory Commission for Monuments, also called CAMN Rapa Nui, composed of local institutions and experts:
"In ancient times, the mōai were also called "'ariŋa ora" which means "living face".
An example of the great importance of the moais is the event of March 8, when the Rapa Nuis welcomed the return of one of the moais who was in Santiago with a series of traditional umu or curanto celebrations. The Curanto - in the Rapa Nui language Umu called - is a form of thanksgiving, cooking and eating together, accompanied by singing.
"A curanto was performed in Santiago de Chile to bless his journey home when the moai left the museum and another when he arrived on Rapa Nui to bless his arrival, that he returns to breathe his air, feel his wind, contemplate his ocean and see his people," explains Anakena Manutomatoma.
It is believed that the mōai were "the embodiment of the spirit of the ancestors of each tribe," guardians of the Mana (spiritual power). "Do you think they don't cry when they are gone? It is important for scientists to return the things they have taken from here to their place of origin. Because this mana is here. And it's even more important that we teach it to our children," Isabel Pakarati explains.
It remains to highlight that the mōai were created from toba lapilli, red slag, trachyte, basalt and coral. As for the recently returned from the National Museum of Natural History in Santiago. Tupuna (ancestor, here Moai) concerns, this was created from basalt."
Contact information:
Technical Secretariat of the Rapa Nuis Patrimony
National Council for the Preservation of Historical Monuments
Facebook: secretariatcnicapatrimonio
Instagram: @stp_rapa_nui_
In the photo you can see the beautiful moai in the Sebastian Englert Museum on Easter Island, after returning from the Chilean mainland after 152 years. He was recently given the name "Tau", which means "pretty/beautiful", but this name is not official. The original name of this moai is not known.
Size: 1.50 meters
Weight: 715 kilo
Drawing of the moai of the expedition of the Chilean corvette O'Higgins, made by Dr. Rudolph Amandus Philippi Krumwiede around 1870 (National Museum of Natural History, Santiago de Chile). The scientist Philippi (b. September 14, 1808 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, † July 23, 1904 in Santiago de Chile) was a Chilean paleontologist, botanist, zoologist, and malacologist of German descent, and director of the National Museum of Natural History in Santiago de Chile from 1853 to 1897 (i.e., until he was 89 years old).