Easter Island Sites
Rano Kau
Our final site is not known for its giant moai or dramatic ruins but for its natural beauty. It is not until you get to the very top of the trail that you see the view. And what a view it is. I literally fell to my knees in awe when I first saw it. A giant caldera stretched out before me. Glistening lakes and marshes dotted the floor of the crater. Hawks rode thermals along its green and brown streaked walls. With the tradewinds trying to left me up - and myself almost willing to let them - I peered over the other side. The knife edge crater wall drops 1000 feet to the deep blue sea. Between the curvature of the earth and the circular edge of the caldera one gets a strong sensation of vertigo.
This was the final setting for Rapa Nui culture. It was here on the crater's rim that they built the village of Orongo. Up until the 1878 the islanders practiced ancient rights and tests of skill. Most famous was the ritual whereby Rapa Nui would scale down the sheer cliffs, swim through shark infested water and then fast on the tiny islets off shore waiting for the first sooty tern to lay her eggs. The winner of the competition had special rights and privileges granted them for the duration of the following year.

The rocks at Orongo are carved with hundreds of petroglyphs of birdman. The sea birds, especially the frigate bird, became an important symbol for the Rapa Nui. As frigates nested in trees, they became more and more scarce due to the deforestation on the island. Changing weather conditions as well as over hunting also contributed to decrease in the number of other bird species. Although the birdman cult seems to have overtaken the statue building cult there are ties between the two. In on of the houses at Orongo was found an 8' high moai, complete with sacred loin cloth bas relief carved on it. But superimposed over the moai body are birdman and other symbols of the Orongo practitioners. So it appears that the two groups had some how come to terms with the differing beliefs that were present on the island.

I am often asked if I felt anything mystical while on Easter. Often, alone and with the ever-present tradewinda howling in my ears, I felt a deep sense of loss on the island. One feeling kept rising up in me again and again as I climbed among the unfinished moai on the barren walls of Rano Raraku. It was the feeling of failure. I believe the Rapa Nui knew they were special people and in the end they knew they had only themselves to blame.

 

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