Islands of bright green in the blue crater lake of Easter Island’s Rano Kau is one of the most amazing sites I’ve ever seen. It was spectacular from the plane as we flew into Easter Island. It’s better up close. The only trouble is, its too vast to fit inside the viewfinder of my camera.
After spending the last couple of days exploring Easter Island’s famed Moai and the ancestor worship associated with them, today my partner and I are turning our attention to Tangata-manu – the Birdman.
The visit the centre of the Birdman cult you need to head to the archaeological village of Orongo. It is spectacularly situated between the volcano crater and the sea, some 300 metres above the water.
To get here we have hiked up the volcano slope from Hanga Roa. The trail to Orongo began at a cave where rafts were once built. A cave painting of the Birdman can be seen on the cave’s roof.
From here we walked steadily upwards out of Hanga Roa and got great views back over the town and the airport. We paused for a few moments to watch today’s Lan flight from Santiago make its pass by the island before turning back to the airport. Someone else will be taking in that view of the crater I enjoyed so much.
We continued up to the crater lake of Rano Kau Orango and are again gobsmacked by the sight. The crater rim is a bit like an ice cream cone that someone has taken a bite from. A gap is due to erosion caused by the ocean. I can see right through to the bluest water I’ve ever seen.
After a lap of the rim we head to the Orongo visitor centre to explore the home of the Birdman cult.
According to information found at the Orongo visitor centre, the Rapa Nui people worshipped the Make-Make god from the 16th Century. Make-Make was related to fertility, spring and migratory seabirds. Orongo was the centre of this worship. People would come for a few weeks each year at the start of spring.
The main event was the the ritual of Tangata-manu or Birdman. The story goes something like this. A chief or representative of each tribe would compete to see who could get the first egg of the manatura or Sooty tern bird from Motu Nui, an islet off Easter Island’s rugged cost. Seems simple enough. But it wasn’t.
The competitors had to climb down the sheer cliffs – remember Orongo is perched 300 metres above the sea – and swim across dangerous waters to Motu Nui islet. There they would wait days for the arrival of the sea birds. The competitors then had to find a freshly-laid egg, swim with it back across the dangerous waters, climb back up the 300-metre sheer cliff and present the unbroken egg to a priest. The winner was declared Tangata-manu or Birdman for that year.
From my view over Moto Nui from Orongo, it seems like a pretty dumb thing to do. But it was had huge significance to the Rapa Nui people. And it’s not as ancient as you might think. The last competition was held in 1867.
We take to the visitor centre’s 10-stop interpretive trail to find out more. The trail around the village includes a reconstructed home and several ruins. Priests would gather at the site known as Mata Ngarahu to adjudicate on Birdman contest.
It is generally accepted that the cult of the Birdman came after the cult of the Moai. However, at one of the homes here at Orongo stood the famous Moai Hoa Haka Nana Ia. The back of the 2.5-metre-high statue was carved with petroglyphs. The Moai was removed in 1868 and is kept in the British Museum. Chile wants him back.
Orongo is also Easter Island’s main rock art site. Thousands of petroglyphs are around the area, many of them depicting Make-Make and Birdman. Some are visible clearly in rock tablets around the village.
Something not represented in petroglyphs are icebergs. They do appear in another interpretation of the Birdman story – a really bad one.
After descending from the slopes of Rano Kau and returning to Hanga Roa for dinner, we head to a nearby hotel resort that screens the Rapa Nui movie weekly. It is truly awful. Wafer thin plot, dreadful acting and a ridiculous, unbelievable story line that involved a priest sailing away from Easter Island on an iceberg. It is amusing though to see some of the locations that we’ve just visited.
From the Travels with my Teddy archive. Louise visited Easter Island in November 2012.