The
Polynesian Cultural Center added a new Rapa Nui exhibit as
part of its 40th anniversary celebration in 2003.
Rapa
Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island, which forms the
eastern apex of the Polynesian Triangle.
Totally out of proportion to its small size, Rapa Nui is famous
throughout the world for its historic stone statues, which the
Polynesian people there call moai [pronounced like 'mo-eye'].
In
preparing for the new exhibit, the Polynesian Cultural Center,
with the consent of the government (Easter Island is a territory
of Chile) and elders of Rapa Nui, invited four respected
stone carvers to Laie,
Hawaii,
where
they created
seven authentic moai: two of them approximately 6 meters
long are reclining — one of them partially finished; and
the other five about 3.5 meters high have been erected on an ahu or
burial platform patterned after the famous one in Rapa Nui: Ahu
Nau Nau at Anakena.
When
the four Rapa Nui carvers finished their work in the spring of
2003, they named the platform where the five moai now
stand Ahu Tu'u Koihu in honor of the
first Rapa Nui chief who oral history says started the tradition
of building the statues that have become icons of Polynesia to
the rest of the world.
| While
the moai are obviously the main focus, the new exhibit
also includes a Hare Vaka — literally
a "canoe house," so named because its shape is
that of an overturned canoe. The people of Rapa Nui say the
aerodynamic shape of the hare vaka helps counter
island winds. The Mana Vai or "gardening
pit" is an innovation unique to Polynesian places that
do not have much soil, such as coral atolls and Rapa Nui:
The people dig composting pits, sometimes sheltered by natural
features, where they plant staple foods such as taro, bananas,
sugar cane and sweet potato. A partially finished Hare
Ma'ea or "stone house" also
shows the type of historic structures on Rapa Nui that played
a part in their annual Tangata Manu or "bird
man" competitions. |
 |
