What is the significance of the Easter Island statues?
Easter Island is famous for its stone statues of human figures, known as moai (meaning “statue”). The island is known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors and were made from around 1000 C.E. until the second half of the seventeenth century.
What do moai represent?
What do the Moai represent? It’s thought that the Moai were symbols of religious and political power and leadership. Carvings and sculptures in the Polynesian world often have strong spiritual meanings, and followers often believe a carving had magical or spiritual powers of the person or deity depicted.
How did the statues get on Easter Island?
Easter Island – The Statues and Rock Art of Rapa Nui. Using basalt stone picks, the Easter Island Moai were carved from the solidified volcanic ash of Rano Raraku volcano. Once completed, the statues were then moved from the quarry to their intended site and erected on an ‘ahu’.
What do the people of Rapa Nui speak?
At home, Rapa Nui families usually speak Spanish. Makohe’s brothers raise their children only in Spanish. “They decided it’s better for them to speak Spanish because they’re going to go to school in Chile.
Is Rapa Nui endangered?
A constant influx of Chilean and international tourists seriously threatens the traditional rights of native Rapa Nui people to own land and protect their sacred sites, including more than 900 moai statues, burial sites and ceremonial grounds….Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
| Status | Endangered |
|---|---|
| Posted | June 3, 2020 |
Why did the Rapa Nui build the moai?
Moai statues were built to honor chieftain or other important people who had passed away. They were placed on rectangular stone platforms called ahu, which are tombs for the people that the statues represented.
What is Rapa Nui famous for?
Easter Island, Spanish Isla de Pascua, also called Rapa Nui, Chilean dependency in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the easternmost outpost of the Polynesian island world. It is famous for its giant stone statues.