Origins
As I grew up in my Easter Island culture, I became more and more curious as to my people's origin. My family would not speak of where the Easter Islanders came from. However, I hear some archeologists have come up with
some interesting ideas... Our culture is a "mixture of Peruvian and
Polynesian ideas," they claim. To prove this, they site: the resemblance
to the masonry work found in Peru; the presence in Easter Island's volcanic
lakes of totra reeds, unknown anywhere else in Polynesia but common
along the west coast of South America; the Peruvian custom of wearing ear
plugs, also found on Easter Island; interest in solar phenomena common to
both Rapa Nui and Peru; the gigantic statues of both areas, which have many
similarities.
My ancestors came by boat and landed at a crescent beach around A.D. 400.
They were intrepid men who voyaged windward in search of a new land for
their King and his people. Legend has it that a man called Haumaka, during
an evening crowded with vivid dreams, let his spirits go to search for an
island. After touching down, calculating the terrain, and seeing the beauty
that encompassed him he cried aloud, "This is the place, and this is
the great bay where King Hotu-Matua will come and live." Seven kings'
sons were sent off to make ready for the king's arrival. Their names were
Ku'uku'u A' Huatava, Nonoma A' Huatava, Rinirini A' Huatava, Uure A' Huatava,
Makoi Rinirini A' Huatava, Raparena, and Ira. They travelled almost endlessly
in a single canoe equipped with fire and makoi wood. When they arrived they
named their landing point Anakena.
While in their own country of Hiva these men knew about the making of stone
statues. When Hotu-Matua and Queen Ava-Reipua arrived, exhausted from their
prodigious voyage, they scanned the surroundings and realized it was a bad
land. The King exclaimed, "Ours is a bad land too: there is wretchedness
there also. The high tide will destroy everything."
Well, my ancestors thrived on the island for quite a long time before there
were any inter-clan battles. Around 1100 A.D., great statues appeared. The
population reached about 7,000 and land was becoming more and more cultivated.
Life was just evolving quite naturally and peacefully. When the growing
population and rapid deforestation for agriculture and for the Moai escalated
to monumental competition the clans turned against one another in cannibalism
and warfare. The battle between the Short Ears and the Long Ears in 1680
marked the downfall of the ancient Easter Island culture. Problems, caused
by competition for land and scarce resources, persisted well into the eighteenth
century when the Europeans arrived.
