The island's mysteries and the spirits travelling through me

 I have really broaden my Chilean vocabulary. From NYE on “carretear” (to party) has come on the top 5. And today, it is my first night indoors. And very appreciated. 

 

The Rapa Nui hangover is the catharsis of the things learned. In order to explain the feelings I shall write down some facts of this very fascinating place. 

First things first. I have had the privilege of staying at a person's place who really exemplifies the convergence of the traditional Rapanui culture and a modern, educated and more 'continental' background. This has allowed me to hear the oral tradition as well as to see the documented theories.

The Rapanui culture is believed to descend from the Polynesian, most probably from the Marquesas Islands. 
It is a culture strongly influenced by oral tradition, and the stories of different spirits as objects of worship, the Makemake being the creator.The Makemake symbolises a penis and the Fallopian tubes. As in many cultures, procreating has a central position. After all, the act of procreation is the thing we all know how to do.

A makemake hanging from Sebas's neck

It is also important to keep the concept  of ‘mana’ in mind, I knew the word from Maori and it means spiritual power, prestige, although it can be understood in a more modern twist as some sort of a unique “mojo”.
Leaving aside the theories of the making and transporting of Moais, these, in local language were actually called aringa ora or living faces. Why? The Moais are placed on the ahu, the plattform, where the ashes of the person with mana rested. Mana was first reserved for royals, but in later centuries, as the island was divided according to trades (like the Born in Barcelona in the middle ages and similar to the Roman example) people with special aptitudes (good carver, fisherman, etc) started to be given mana as well. 
The eyes of the Moais were made out of coral, but the corals have already succumbed the erosion of time. The Moai was erect and the corals were the last thing to place. Once eyed, it was believed that the mana of the person in the ahu was travelling through the statue and the eyes would carry their mana to the village they overlook. A very beautiful representation, although an arduous job. I jockingly said that those Rapa Nuis might have had a lot of time in their hands when they came up with the idea of building gigantic stone sculptures to carry them around the island. 

You can see some Moais with eyes, just as a replica, to get an idea of how they could have looked like

There is a lot to explain about the fascinating living faces, the legends, the birdman tradition, their Tapati festival, the mystery and magic in the island and how many people with Rapanui ancestry are so gifted in plastic arts (obviously). I shall also mention a spirit of some sort took me over in La Perouse and has showed me the relevance of what I believe to be a twin soul, but to no (deserved, undeserved or understood at all) path to resolution. 
There are 'caleta' (heaps) more absolutely unique facts from this place, but what got me was an analogy that resonated in me particularly. 

The Rapanuis burned their deceased loved ones with wood. It is believed they also transported the Moais with wood, although a proven theory suggests it was made by tilting  the statue with ropes, like when you move a fridge.

A sort of Polynesian rat also threatened the trees and so did the lack f guano from birds, eaten in times of scarcity.  In the 16^th century scarcity was so big they even ended up eating each other. 

So here I go. I am now reading the book collapse which sort of deals with the ways of rise and destruction of every civilisation (with a very special mention on mining in Australia, mates). 

glad it is posed as the threat it is

The Rapanuis knew they were doomed to extinction if they didn’t modify some behaviour or put some solution-oriented methods to preserve the trees. But they didn’t stop. We are talking about quite an advanced and organised society capable of moving statues that weighted tons from the main source many km further without the use of cranes. People capable of carving magnificent statues out of rocks on a mountain.

But incapable of saving their precious trees on time. Quoting Jared Diamond from his book “collapse” [it was an] ecologic disaster unfolding in complete isolation.

It made me think a lot about civilisation. In general civilisations have many factors in common:

We settle in a place, we create hierarchies, we create Gods and give them some human or animal shapes to make them familiar according to our cosmovision, people challenge the leaders and wars unfold to be the next one, we create trading systems and we all have a tendency to create symbols, buildings, statues, phallic constructions with which we attempt to identify with and which are endangered of being torn down by a potential enemy as a symbolic threat to our societal foundations. We all want to prevail so we teach each other history, in oral, in paintings or written form. 

And, yes, we have an illusion that makes society in general believe that things can be done the same way even if destruction is evident in many aspects.

And I don’t think we learned from past civilisations. We just use other resources to do same old. It was never taught to me in history: "...and this civilisation disappeared because of the abuse of power and resources".

We are now a civilisation at large scale. I can dream of community life and economy, but we’ve never been so connected. I, a simple average-salary person have managed to see half the world the past years. Communication is possible, we should think that correcting mistakes should be more possible than ever before and alas, we are leading ourselves to extinction on a global basis. 

Maybe I am developing very pessimistic thoughts from the sample I see in this mini-Rapaworld I am discovering, but I still think, despite the quite predictable destiny, that  I prefer being on the side of awareness and change.

On a sad note I must confess being a vegan on this island filled with binge meat eaters has really become a challenge. Vegan-sustainable pescatarian so far. Still against the  murdering of the fish, but at some "asados" with locals my only choices were fish caught on the spot or chewing on a stick.

Post script: gràcies Bego per deixar-me verbalitzar el que no havia tingut ocasió aquests dies. M'ha ajudat a canalitzar els meus pensaments sempre difusos. Love you always. Wish you were here.