The hillside of Rano Raraku volcano on Rapa Nui feels like a place that froze in time.
Embedded in grass and volcanic rock, almost 400 moai – the monolithic human figures carved centuries ago by this remote Pacific island’s Rapanui people — remained untouched until recently. Some are buried from the neck down, the heads seemingly observing their surroundings from the underground.
Around them, there has been a pervasive smell of smoke from still-smoldering vegetation – the vestige of a wildfire that broke out in early October. More than 100 moai were damaged by the flames, many of them blackened by soot, though the impact on the stone remains undetermined. UNESCO recently allocated nearly $100,000 for assessment and repair plans.
In this Polynesian territory that now belongs to Chile and is widely known as Easter Island, the loss of any moai would be a blow to ancient cultural and religious traditions. Each of the moai – the nearly 400 on the volcano and more than 500 others elsewhere on the island — represents an ancestor. A creator of words and music. A protector.
The president of Rapa Nui’s council of elders, Carlos Edmunds, recalled his emotions when he first heard about the fire.
“Oh, I started crying,” he said. “It was like my grandparents were burned.”
It takes a close look at a map of the Pacific to find Rapa Nui, a tiny triangle covering about 63 square miles (164 square kilometers). Home to about 7,700 people – about half of them with Rapanui ancestry — it’s one of the world’s most isolated inhabited islands. The quickest way to get there is a six-hour flight from Santiago, Chile, covering 2,340 miles (3,766 kilometers). Much farther away, to the northwest, are the more populous islands of Polynesia.
The remoteness has shaped the community’s view of the world, its spirituality and culture. Its small size also plays a part: it seems everyone knows one other.
Rapa Nui was formed at least 750,000 years ago by volcanic eruptions. Its first inhabitants were sailors from Central Polynesia who gradually created their own culture. The moai were carved between the years 1000 and 1600.
The first Europeans arrived in 1722, soon followed by missionaries. Current religious activities mix ancestral and Catholic beliefs.
The arrival of outsiders had grim effects: Hundreds of Rapanui were enslaved by Peruvian raiders in 1862 and taken to South America, where many died in cruel conditions.
In 1888 Chile annexed the island and leased it to a sheep company. Only by the 20th century did the islanders begin to recover their autonomy, though there were no written Rapanui annals to recount their early history.
Without such books to preserve their legacy, the Rapanui have imprinted their people’s memory in activities and traditions passed from generation to generation. The hand of the fisherman who casts a hook carries the wisdom of his ancestors. The women’s hairstyle evokes the pukao, a hat made of reddish stone placed on the heads of the moai.
Even music is not merely music.
“You write books; we write songs,” said Jean Pakarati, head adviser of Ma’u Henua indigenous community. “Dancing is an expression and that expression is history.”
Pakarati’s duties include helping administer Rapa Nui National Park; she was shaken by the damage to moai within the park’s boundaries.
“Everything that affects archaeology, as you call it, is so important,” she told The Associated Press. “It is part of us.”
At 2 in the morning on Oct. 4, when the fire was finally controlled, those risking their safety around the burning crater were untrained volunteers using shovels and rocks, cutting down trees and branches.
“Family, friends and Rapanui came,” Pakarati said. “What are you going to tell people when they are in such anguish, when they know that their volcano, where the moai were built, is burning?”
The fire covered 254 hectares (about one square mile). It originated away from the volcano, on a cattle ranch, but the wind brought flames to Rano Raraku. Some residents say they know who started the fire, but don’t expect any punishment due to a cultural reluctance to file a complaint against fellow Rapanui.
Each moai preserves precious information about its tribe. When an important Rapanui died — a grandfather, a tribal chief — some of his bones were placed under the ceremonial platform called an ahu and his spirit had the possibility of rebirth after a craftsman carved a moai in his likeness. Thus every moai is unique, bearing a name of its own.
When the moai were carved, the island was divided according to its clans, but most of the statues were created in Rano Raraku. The ahu were built near the sea.
It is not certain how the moai – which average 13 feet (four meters) in height and weigh many tons — were transported to their ahu. One theory is that they were moved as if they were standing, dragged with small turns as one would do with a refrigerator.
Rapa Nui’s council of elders, headed by Carlos Edmunds, brings together the leaders whose predecessors were born in Rapanui tribes. Among other responsibilities, Edmunds, 69, fights for the island’s autonomy, preventing land from being sold to foreigners, insisting that certain areas are regulated only by Rapanui, ensuring that tourists prove that after a visit they will not stay to become residents.
Edmunds’ mother tongue is Rapanui, the only language he spoke until he turned 18 and left for South America to study.
His ancestors were born in Anakena, site of a beach with white sand and transparent waters where King Hotu Matua is believed to have landed 1,000 years ago, bringing the first inhabitants of Rapa Nui with him.
When Chile leased the island, the foreigners who took over stripped all Rapanui tribes of their property, though several ahu and moai can still be seen on land they used to control.
Edmunds recently visited the moai in Anakena that were carved by his ancestors; he says the protection of his loved ones never abandons him. “For us, the spirits continue to live.”
In his house, he keeps a small moai that an artisan carved for him. Pointing to his neck, where Catholics often wear a cross, he said: “I can’t wear moai because it’s very heavy, but I have moai in there. Made of stone, of wood, these figures protect me.”
Moai were not meant to be eternal. When they fell apart or needed replacement, their remains were used to erect a new one in the same location.
Between the arrival of Europeans and the mid-19th century, all the moai erected on platforms had been toppled, perhaps due to environmental factors or neglect. Major restoration projects and new archaeological surveys, led by foreign experts, commenced in the 1960s and ’70s.
At that time, said Rapanui historian Christian Moreno, many of the islanders didn’t understand why foreigners were so fascinated by the statues, which no longer served a specific religious or cultural role.
Gradually, Moreno said, the community began to delve into its collective memory, talking to elders and – bit by bit — retrieving the history of the moai.
“Then the Rapanui once again understood that the moai represent the ancestors who walked through the same land that we do, who breathed the same air as us, who saw this very ocean,” Moreno said.
Now, in Rapa Nui, people can trace a family history just by knowing their last name and where the moai named after their ancestors were placed.
The moai have a place in a history class at the Eugenio Eyraud high school. When teacher Konturi Atán finished drawing one on the blackboard on a recent day, the students laughed. It looked more like a bishop on a chessboard.
Atán, 36, joined the laughter as he began the day’s lesson: “Compare ancient civilizations with Rapa Nui.”
“What about the moai? Were they related to religion or to politics?” he asked. “It’s quite complicated, right?”
Atán said he constantly tries to incorporate Rapanui culture into the curriculum guidelines designed by Chilean authorities. He has taught about the island’s relation to the ocean, and led field trips to sites where moai are positioned.
“Local schools are structured theoretically, politically and technically from the continent (Chile),” he said “What we do is provide the skills and, from there, the history of the island, the culture, the link with the community.”
Among the deep-rooted Rapanui traditions is the umu – a traditional feast. It’s offered to tourists at the Te Ra’ai restaurant, where meat covered with banana leaves is cooked in a pit over wood and volcanic stones.
Through 18 years of operation, Te Ra’ai has welcomed up to 120 foreigners per day, but from March 2020 to last August there were none. To protect the community from COVID-19, the mayor banned foreigners from entering the island, whose economy depends 80% on tourism.
The mayor of Rapa Nui is Pedro Edmunds, the brother of Carlos Edmunds. Unlike other mayors eager to plunge into new projects, he does not even add streetlights without first consulting the community’s ancestors.
“Incorporating heavy machinery on an ancestral territory is a violation of the protective spirit of the place,” he explained.
Before making renovations anywhere on the island, or even moving a rock from one place to another, the spirits of the dead are summoned. In some cases, the new project will be celebrated with an umu; in more delicate cases, such as how to deal with pandemic-related restrictions, the ancestors have been asked to advise on ancient Rapanui principles.
Among these is “umanga” — a concept of collective responsibility for passing on knowledge and skills.
“It is beautiful because those who are empowered with knowledge help those who do not have it and together we multiply it,” said Edmunds. “We, as Rapanui, have taken care of ourselves. We lost care when the state stepped in and applied foreign rules on our ancestral codes.”
Edmunds, the mayor for 25 years, worries about the future but also has hope.
“Our daughters and sons have not lost the essence of being Rapanui and that guarantees that this culture will have a future,” he said. “We are a society that respects its environment and is tremendously protective of its culture”.
That culture includes the Rapanui language, which has only 14 letters. Yet a single word can incorporate metaphor, parable and philosophy simultaneously. A single name can express who you are, what you do, what you love.
“I’ve asked many times to people from other countries: who are you? And they all tell me their names,” said Jean Pakarati. “When someone asks me that question, my answer is: ‘I am Rapanui.’”
—María Teresa Hernández, The Associated Press
Mlima Rano Raraku kwenye kisiwa cha Rapa Nui ni kama mahali ambapo wakati umekwisha. Katika nyasi na miamba ya volkano, karibu moai 400 - sanamu za binadamu zilizochongwa karne nyingi zilizopita na watu wa kisiwa hiki cha Pasifiki cha mbali cha Rapanui - zilibaki bila kuguswa hadi hivi karibuni. Baadhi yao wamezikwa kutoka shingoni hadi chini, na inaonekana kwamba vichwa vyao vinaangalia mazingira yao kutoka chini ya ardhi. Karibu nao, kumekuwa na harufu kubwa ya moshi kutoka kwa mimea iliyokuwa ikivuma - mabaki ya moto wa mwituni uliotokea mwanzoni mwa Oktoba. Zaidi ya moai 100 ziliharibiwa na moto, nyingi zikiwa nyeusi kwa sababu ya chokaa, ingawa athari kwenye jiwe bado haijulikani. UNESCO imetoa fedha za karibu dola 100,000 kwa ajili ya ukaguzi na mipango ya ukarabati. Katika eneo hili la Polynesia ambalo sasa ni la Chile na linajulikana sana kama Kisiwa cha Pasaka, kupoteza moai yoyote kungekuwa pigo kwa mila za kale za kitamaduni na kidini. Kila moja ya moai - karibu 400 kwenye volkano na zaidi ya 500 wengine mahali pengine kwenye kisiwa hicho - huwakilisha babu. Muumba wa maneno na muziki. Mlinzi. Rais wa baraza la wazee wa Rapa Nui, Carlos Edmunds, alikumbuka hisia zake aliposikia kwa mara ya kwanza juu ya moto huo. "Oh, nilianza kulia", akasema. "Kama vile babu na nyanya yangu walivunjwa moto, inahitaji kuangalia kwa karibu ramani ya Pasifiki ili kupata Rapa Nui, pembetatu ndogo inayofunika karibu kilomita 64 za mraba.""" Ni moja ya visiwa vya pekee zaidi vilivyo na watu duniani. Njia ya haraka zaidi ya kufika huko ni ndege ya saa sita kutoka Santiago, Chile, ikifunika maili 2,340. Mbali zaidi, kaskazini-magharibi, kuna visiwa vyenye watu wengi zaidi vya Polinesia. Kutokuwa mbali kumeunda mtazamo wa jamii ya ulimwengu, kiroho na utamaduni wake. Ukubwa wake mdogo pia unafanya sehemu: inaonekana kila mtu anajuana. Rapa Nui ilijengwa miaka 750,000 iliyopita na milipuko ya volkano. Wakaaji wake wa kwanza walikuwa mabaharia kutoka Polinesia ya Kati ambao hatua kwa hatua waliunda utamaduni wao wenyewe. Moai hizo zilitengenezwa kati ya mwaka wa 1000 na 1600. Wazungu wa kwanza waliwasili huko mwaka wa 1722, na punde si punde wakatokea wamishonari. Shughuli za kidini za sasa huchanganya itikadi za mababu na za Kikatoliki. Kuwasili kwa wageni kulikuwa na matokeo mabaya: Mamia ya Rapanui walifanywa watumwa na wapiganaji wa Peru mwaka wa 1862 na kupelekwa Amerika Kusini, ambako wengi walikufa katika hali mbaya sana. Mwaka 1888 Chile ilichukua kisiwa hicho na kukikodisha kwa kampuni ya kuchunga kondoo. Ni katika karne ya 20 tu ambapo watu wa kisiwa hicho walianza kupata uhuru wao, ingawa hakukuwa na maandishi ya kihistoria ya Rapanui ya kueleza historia yao ya mapema. Bila vitabu kama hivyo kuhifadhi urithi wao, Rapanui wameweka kumbukumbu ya watu wao katika shughuli na desturi zilizopitishwa kutoka kizazi hadi kizazi. Mkono wa mvuvi anayetupa ndoano hubeba hekima ya mababu zake. Mtindo wa nywele wa wanawake huo unakumbusha pukao, kofia iliyotengenezwa kwa jiwe lenye rangi nyekundu iliyowekwa juu ya vichwa vya moai. Hata muziki si muziki tu. "Wewe huandika vitabu; sisi huandika nyimbo", alisema Jean Pakarati, mshauri mkuu wa jamii ya wenyeji wa Mau Henua. <unk>Dancing ni usemi na usemi huo ni historia.<unk> Majukumu ya Pakarati ni pamoja na kusaidia kusimamia Hifadhi ya Taifa ya Rapa Nui; alitikiswa na uharibifu wa moai ndani ya mipaka ya Hifadhi. "Kila kitu kinachohusiana na akiolojia, kama unavyokiita, ni muhimu sana", aliliambia shirika la habari la Associated Press. "Kama ilivyoelezwa, ""Katika saa mbili asubuhi ya Oktoba 4, wakati moto ulipokamilika, wale waliohatarisha usalama wao karibu na kreta iliyokuwa ikiwaka moto walikuwa wajitoleaji wasio na mafunzo wakitumia makombora na mawe, kukata miti na matawi." "Familia, marafiki na Rapanui walikuja", Pakarati alisema. "Watu wanaoshuhudia moto huo wanaogopa sana, kwa sababu wanajua kwamba volkano yao, ambapo moai zilijengwa, inawaka moto. ""Moto huo ulifunika eneo la ekari 254 (karibu maili moja ya mraba)." Mlipuko huo ulitokea mbali na volkano, katika shamba la ng'ombe, lakini upepo ulileta moto hadi Rano Raraku. Baadhi ya wakazi wanasema wanajua ni nani aliyeanzisha moto huo, lakini hawataraji adhabu yoyote kwa sababu ya kutokubali kwa kitamaduni kuwasilisha malalamiko dhidi ya Rapanui wenzake. Kila moai huhifadhi habari zenye thamani kuhusu kabila lake. Wakati Rapanui muhimu alikufa - babu, mkuu wa kabila - baadhi ya mifupa yake iliwekwa chini ya jukwaa la sherehe lililoitwa ahu na roho yake ilikuwa na uwezekano wa kuzaliwa tena baada ya fundi kuchonga moai katika mfano wake. Hivyo kila moai ni ya pekee, ikiwa na jina lake mwenyewe. Wakati moai zilipochongwa, kisiwa hicho kiligawanywa kulingana na makabila yake, lakini sanamu nyingi ziliundwa huko Rano Raraku. Ahu zilijengwa karibu na bahari. Haijulikani wazi jinsi moai - ambao kwa wastani wana urefu wa meta nne na uzito wa tani nyingi - walivyopelekwa kwenye mwili wao. Nadharia moja ni kwamba walihamishwa kana kwamba walikuwa wamesimama, wakisukumwa kwa zamu ndogo kama vile mtu angefanya na friji. Baraza la wazee wa Rapa Nui, linaloongozwa na Carlos Edmunds, linawakusanya viongozi ambao watangulizi wao walizaliwa katika makabila ya Rapanui. Edmunds, 69, anajihusisha na masuala ya kujitegemea kwa kisiwa hicho, akizuia ardhi isinunuliwe kwa wageni, akisisitiza kwamba maeneo fulani yanadhibitiwa na Rapanui tu, na kuhakikisha watalii wanathibitisha kwamba baada ya ziara hawatabaki kuwa wakazi. Lugha ya mama ya Edmonds ni Rapanui, lugha pekee aliyoizungumza hadi alipofikia umri wa miaka 18 na kuondoka kwenda Amerika Kusini kusoma. Mji wa Anakena, mji wa kwanza wa Rapa Nui, uliokaliwa na Mfalme Hotutu Matatu, ambaye aliishi huko miaka 1,000 iliyopita. Chile ilichukua kisiwa hicho, na wageni waliochukua eneo hilo waliwaondoa makabila yote ya Rapanui mali zao, ingawa bado kuna aina kadhaa za Ahu na Moai katika maeneo ambayo walikuwa wakitawala. Edmunds hivi karibuni alitembelea moai huko Anakena ambazo zilikuwa zimetengenezwa na mababu zake; anasema ulinzi wa wapendwa wake haumwachi kamwe. <unk>Kwa ajili yetu, roho huendelea kuishi.<unk> Katika nyumba yake, ana moai ndogo ambayo fundi alimwumba. Akionyesha shingo yake, ambapo Wakatoliki mara nyingi huvaa msalaba, alisema: "Siwezi kuvaa moai kwa sababu ni nzito sana, lakini nina moai huko. Zimetengenezwa kwa mawe, kwa mbao, sanamu hizi hunilinda. Moai hazikukusudiwa kuwa za milele. Mawe hayo yalipoanguka au kuhitaji kubadilishwa, mabaki yake yalitumiwa kujenga jengo jipya mahali hapo. Kati ya kuwasili kwa Wazungu na katikati ya karne ya 19, moai zote zilizojengwa kwenye majukwaa zilikuwa zimepinduliwa, labda kwa sababu ya sababu za mazingira au kupuuzwa. Kazi kubwa za ukarabati na uchunguzi mpya wa akiolojia, ulioongozwa na wataalamu wa kigeni, ulianza katika miaka ya 1960 na <unk>70. Wakati huo, alisema mwanahistoria wa Rapanui Christian Moreno, wengi wa wakazi wa kisiwa hicho hawakuelewa kwa nini wageni walivutiwa sana na sanamu hizo, ambazo hazikuwa tena na jukumu maalum la kidini au kitamaduni. Hatua kwa hatua, Moreno alisema, jamii ilianza kuchunguza kumbukumbu yake ya pamoja, kuzungumza na wazee na <unk> kidogo kidogo <unk> kupata historia ya moai. "Basi Rapanui walielewa tena kwamba moai wanawakilisha mababu ambao walitembea kupitia nchi ile ile ambayo sisi hufanya, ambao walipumua hewa ile ile kama sisi, ambao waliona bahari hii yenyewe, "Moreno alisema." Katika eneo la Rapa Nui, watu wanaweza kufuatilia historia ya familia yao kwa kujua tu jina lao la familia na mahali ambapo moai walipewa majina ya mababu zao. Moai wana nafasi katika darasa la historia katika shule ya sekondari ya Eugenio Eyraud. Mwalimu Kontori Atan alipomaliza kuchora picha hiyo kwenye ubao, wanafunzi walicheka. Ilionekana zaidi kama askofu kwenye ubao wa mchezo wa chesi. "Mwanamume mmoja mwenye umri wa miaka 36 aliyeitwa Atan, aliandika hivi: ""Ninafurahi sana kwamba nimepata nafasi ya kuwa na mwandishi wa habari wa habari wa habari za ulimwengu wa Rapa Nui." Je, zilihusiana na dini au siasa? <unk> aliuliza. <unk>Ni ngumu sana, sivyo?<unk> Atán alisema yeye daima anajaribu kuingiza utamaduni wa Rapanui katika miongozo ya mtaala iliyoundwa na mamlaka za Chile. Amefundisha juu ya uhusiano wa kisiwa hicho na bahari, na kuongoza safari za shambani kwenye maeneo ambapo moai ziko. "Makampuni ya kimataifa ya ufundi na teknolojia ya kimataifa, pamoja na kampuni ya U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.S.A. na U.A. na U.S.A. na U.A. na U.S.A. na U.A. na U.S.A. na U.A. na U.S.A. na U.A. na U.A. na U.S.A. na U.A. na U.A.A. na U.A. na U.A.A. na U.A." Inatolewa kwa watalii katika mkahawa wa Te Ra'ai, ambapo nyama iliyofunikwa na majani ya ndizi hupikwa katika shimo juu ya mbao na mawe ya volkano. Kwa miaka 18 ya uendeshaji, Te Ra'ai imekaribisha hadi wageni 120 kwa siku, lakini kutoka Machi 2020 hadi Agosti iliyopita hakukuwa na yeyote. Ili kuwalinda watu dhidi ya COVID-19, meya wa mji huo aliwakataza wageni kuingia kisiwa hicho ambacho uchumi wake unategemea utalii kwa asilimia 80. Meya wa Rapa Nui ni Pedro Edmunds, ndugu ya Carlos Edmunds. Tofauti na meya wengine wanaotamani kujiingiza katika miradi mipya, hata haongezi taa za barabarani bila kwanza kushauriana na mababu wa jamii. "Kuingiza mashine nzito katika eneo la mababu ni ukiukaji wa roho ya ulinzi wa mahali hapo", alielezea. Kabla ya kufanya marekebisho mahali popote katika kisiwa hicho, au hata kuhamisha jiwe kutoka mahali pamoja hadi pengine, roho za wafu huitwa. Katika baadhi ya kesi, mradi mpya utaadhimishwa na umu; katika kesi nyeti zaidi, kama vile jinsi ya kukabiliana na vizuizi vinavyohusiana na janga, mababu wameulizwa kushauri juu ya kanuni za kale za Rapanui. Miongoni mwa hizo ni <unk>umanga<unk> <unk> dhana ya wajibu wa pamoja wa kupitisha maarifa na ujuzi. "Ni nzuri kwa sababu wale ambao wamepewa uwezo wa maarifa kuwasaidia wale ambao hawana na pamoja sisi kuzidisha", alisema Edmunds. <unk>Sisi, kama Rapanui, tumejitunza wenyewe. """Tulipoteza huduma wakati serikali ilipoingilia kati na kutekeleza sheria za kigeni kwenye kanuni zetu za ukoo,"" Edmunds, meya kwa miaka 25, ana wasiwasi juu ya siku zijazo lakini pia ana matumaini." "Binti zetu na wana wetu hawajapoteza kiini cha kuwa Rapanui na hiyo inahakikisha kwamba utamaduni huu utakuwa na siku zijazo", alisema. "Sisi ni jamii inayoheshimu mazingira yake na ni ulinzi mkubwa wa utamaduni wake". Lugha ya Rapanui ina herufi 14 tu. Hata hivyo neno moja linaweza kujumuisha mfano, mfano na falsafa kwa wakati mmoja. Jina moja linaweza kueleza wewe ni nani, unafanya nini, unapenda nini. <unk>Nimeuliza mara nyingi watu kutoka nchi nyingine: wewe ni nani? Na wote wananiambia majina yao, "alisema Jean Pakarati. "Wakati mtu ananiuliza swali hilo, jibu langu ni: ""Mimi ni Rapanui."""