Day 47 - Rapa Nui (Part 2)

Monday, 29 September 2014

The first person to come back with an unbroken egg was the winner, and his leader would be the 'birdman', or Tangata Manu, and he would be the leader of the entire population for the next year, until the next competition. There were certain procedures that followed, such as the leader's head, eyelashes and eyebrows had to be shaved, and then he would go around the island with his family and tribe members, sometimes singing and dancing, to demonstrate his victory and his 'tapu' or power. Depending on which confederation he belonged to, he would then either go to the Rano Raraku crater or Anakena where he would remain in isolation for the entire year. This was among the greatest honour one could attain in the name of his clan. How he would rule in isolation I have no idea. 

This method of choosing a new leader ensured equality in one way because a leader can be from any class of tribe, as long as his Hopu wins. But it was unequal in other ways because if one tribe's leader won and that tribe was at war with another tribe, that other tribe would be persecuted by the winning tribe. Hence, it was not uncommon for warring tribes to 'disappear' into caves or jungles for a year, to escape persecution. 

Orongo is a ceremonial village built in the birdman era and used until 1866. The competition would take weeks if not months. During the competition, the leaders of the various tribes would stay in these ceremonial villages, waiting with anxiety for news from their respective Hopus. The village has been destroyed over the years, but has been restored to some extent for touristic purposes. It has very low doors and ceilings, and so were most probably only used to sleep. We saw not only remnants of the restored village but also the small island of Motu Nui where the Hopus had to swim to, and the cliff that they had to climb down from. Not fun.

There are also caves nearby where virgins used to be kept as presents for the winning Hopu. Fair skin was considered beautiful then (why am I not surprised?) and so they kept virgins in the cave, sometimes for up to a year, so that they developed fair skin, and the winning Hopu could then choose a virgin to be his bride. How romantic. And yes, I am being sarcastic.

This competition lasted until about 1866, when Christian missionaries started coming to the island to spread Christianity, and when the people embraced Christianity they stopped the competition.