Non smetteremo di esplorare. E, alla fine di tutto il nostro andare, ritorneremo al punto di partenza per conoscerlo per la prima volta.
(T. S. Eliot)
(We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.)
L’origine dei Rapa Nui e della loro società.
L’ipotesi, oggi più accreditata, è quella che li considera discendenti dai grandi navigatori della Polinesia orientale. Questi uomini non si preoccupavano di restare in mare per due o più settimane; avevano un’incredibile conoscenza del cielo notturno, riuscivano a tracciare una rotta con le stelle, usando tecniche ancora oggi utilizzate nel Pacifico. Lasciarono 5000 anni fa le isole Marchesi (oggi Polinesia francese) e peregrinarono in un vasto “triangolo”, segnato a nord dalle Hawaii, a sud-ovest dalla Nuova Zelanda e a sud-est dall’isola di Pasqua, area nella quale pare si stabilì fra il 300 e l’800 d.C. Si spostavano con canoe a doppio scafo, vere “arche di Noè”, piene di donne bambini piante e animali.
24-27 June, 2014
The origin of the Rapa Nui people and culture
The most credible hypothesis is the one that considers these people to have descended from the great seafarers of eastern Polynesia. These men were not afraid to travel by sea for over two or three weeks. Their great knowledge of the night sky allowed them to trace their route according to the stars, using techniques still today in use in the Pacific Ocean. 5000 years ago, they left the islands known today as French Polynesia and wandered around a vast “triangle” marked in the north by the Hawaiian islands, in the southeast by New Zealand and in the southwest by Easter Island, where it seems that they settled around 300-800 A.D. They traveled in impressive canoes, veritable “Noah’s arks” laden with women, children, plants and animals.
24-27 June, 2014
The origin of the Rapa Nui people and culture
The most credible hypothesis is the one that considers these people to have descended from the great seafarers of eastern Polynesia. These men were not afraid to travel by sea for over two or three weeks. Their great knowledge of the night sky allowed them to trace their route according to the stars, using techniques still today in use in the Pacific Ocean. 5000 years ago, they left the islands known today as French Polynesia and wandered around a vast “triangle” marked in the north by the Hawaiian islands, in the southeast by New Zealand and in the southwest by Easter Island, where it seems that they settled around 300-800 A.D. They traveled in impressive canoes, veritable “Noah’s arks” laden with women, children, plants and animals.
Una delle leggende più accreditate narra di un re polinesiano, mitico eroe Hotu Matu’a, che, sconfitto nel suo paese, approdò con la moglie Avareipua e il seguito a Rapa Nui, fondando la prima dinastia (tra il V e il IX secolo d.C.) I suoi sei figli diedero origine alle principali tribù (mata).
Come si è evoluta la società Rapa Nui non è chiaro, per via della perdita di preziose testimonianze orali dei maori ronga ronga, come spieghiamo in seguito.
Popolata l’isola, ci fu una fase chiamata ahu mohai, a cui corrispondono la spartizione dei terreni fra le diverse tribù, e la costruzione di circa 1680 moai, le grandi statue in pietra vulcanica per cui è famosa. Gli arichi (re) discendevano tutti dalla tribù Miru, la più importante. Sappiamo che la terra era coltivata a frutta e verdura con un sistema di orti protetti da pietre; che la pesca era praticata e che esistevano tabù che impedivano di alimentarsi con certi frutti e pesci, per preservarli dall’estinzione.
La deportazione nel 1863 dei maori rongo rongo, depositari della tradizione, ad opera di mercanti di schiavi peruviani, ha provocato la perdita del patrimonio culturale degli autoctoni.
Solo loro comprendevano il significato delle tavolette scritte in rongo rongo (note dal XIX secolo), l’unica forma di scrittura oceanica conosciuta, composta da segni mnemotecnici, senza alcun rapporto con la lingua parlata.
Le ricerche archeologiche affermano che il momento di maggior splendore della società Rapa Nui fu quello classico (fra l’800 d.C. e il 1680), durante il quale si costruirono enormi centri cerimoniali e produssero le grandi statue monumentali (moai), create per rappresentare gli antenati importanti di ogni tribù. Collocati su grandi piattaforme, i moai protessero i Rapa Nui per 800 anni.
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One of the most credible legends tells of a Polynesian kind, the mythical hero Hotu Matu’a, who was defeated in his own country and set sail with his wife Avareipua and their following for Rapa Nui. There they established the first dynasty between the fifth and ninth centuries A.D. Their six children gave rise to the island’s main tribes.
It is not entirely clear how the Rapa Nui culture evolved through the ages, because much of the precious oral testimony of the Maori Rongo Rongo was lost, as we will go on to explain.
Once the island was people, there was a stage referred to as ahu mohai, in which land was divided among the various tribes, and the great volcanic statues called moai, about 1680 in number, were built. It is these statues that make the island famous. The kings were all descendants of the Miru tribe, the most prestigious tribe of the island. We know that fruit and vegetables were grown within a system that used rocks as a means of protecting fields and plots. Fishing was prevalent as well, and a series of taboos forbidding the consumption of certain varieties of fruit and fish protected those species from extinction.
The deportation in 1863 of the Maori Rongo Rongo, guardians of the tradition, at the hands of Peruvian merchants, led to the loss of the island’s indigenous cultural heritage.
They alone were able to read the tablets written from the ninth century onward in rongo rongo. This was, as far as anyone can establish, the only from of writing in the Pacific Islands and was composed of mnemotechnical signs that bore no relationship to the spoken language.
Archaeological studies have established the apex of Rapa Nui culture was the classical age between 800 and 1680 A.D., when large ceremonial center and imposing monumental statues (moai) were built. These statues were created to represent each tribe’s main ancestors. Situated on large platforms, the moai stood protectively over the Rapa Nui people for 800 years.
***
One of the most credible legends tells of a Polynesian kind, the mythical hero Hotu Matu’a, who was defeated in his own country and set sail with his wife Avareipua and their following for Rapa Nui. There they established the first dynasty between the fifth and ninth centuries A.D. Their six children gave rise to the island’s main tribes.
It is not entirely clear how the Rapa Nui culture evolved through the ages, because much of the precious oral testimony of the Maori Rongo Rongo was lost, as we will go on to explain.
Once the island was people, there was a stage referred to as ahu mohai, in which land was divided among the various tribes, and the great volcanic statues called moai, about 1680 in number, were built. It is these statues that make the island famous. The kings were all descendants of the Miru tribe, the most prestigious tribe of the island. We know that fruit and vegetables were grown within a system that used rocks as a means of protecting fields and plots. Fishing was prevalent as well, and a series of taboos forbidding the consumption of certain varieties of fruit and fish protected those species from extinction.
The deportation in 1863 of the Maori Rongo Rongo, guardians of the tradition, at the hands of Peruvian merchants, led to the loss of the island’s indigenous cultural heritage.
They alone were able to read the tablets written from the ninth century onward in rongo rongo. This was, as far as anyone can establish, the only from of writing in the Pacific Islands and was composed of mnemotechnical signs that bore no relationship to the spoken language.
Archaeological studies have established the apex of Rapa Nui culture was the classical age between 800 and 1680 A.D., when large ceremonial center and imposing monumental statues (moai) were built. These statues were created to represent each tribe’s main ancestors. Situated on large platforms, the moai stood protectively over the Rapa Nui people for 800 years.
I conflitti che esplosero poi fra tribù e dinastie durarono due secoli e portarono lentamente all’abbattimento dei moai e alla nascita del culto al Tangata Manu o uomo uccello, fra il 1680 e il 1864.
La decadenza della civiltà dell’isola cominciò prima dell’arrivo degli europei, ma questi approfittarono delle lotte interne per prendere possesso dell’isola. Dopo gli olandesi, anche spagnoli, inglesi e francesi cercarono di introdurre nuove piante e animali.
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