Rapa Nui People

The Rapa Nui people live on Easter Island.
Rapa Nui is the original name of this island of volcanic origin and triangular shape, located in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.

Contemporary Rapa Nui keep their rites, ceremonies and ancestral beliefs.
Some of their practices vary depending on this people's different stages since their prehistory.
In what is known as the expansive stage, an unusual religious fervor toward the ancestors took place: three hundred ceremonial altars and almost six hundreds moai were built. Priests were endowed with special power. Political crisis and starvation followed in what is known as the decline phase. The Rapa Nui were now praying for food. Such is the origin of the fertility cult of the god Make Make.
However, old concepts as Mana and Tapu prevailed. Mana is the supernatural power or magic.
It is in hands of the spirits and of some initiated.
This magic can be transmitted to any object, and so can be to those people living close to powerful men.
Ceremonial Shrines The moais, were directly sculpted in volcanic rock, using basalt stone-cutters.
Once finished, they were lifted, and carried to the volcano's foot, using ropes made out of vegetable fibers. After placing them in the upright position, the Rapa Nui carved the moais' eyes, noses, and elongated ears, while tattooing its back. By dragging them with ropes and wooden structures, or by pushing them with bascular movements - as if they were walking by themselves - they were transported to a given ceremonial shrine.
The long and hard task of moving one of these sculptures ended when the moai was placed on the ahu or shrine, with the ocean at its back. Here Ariki, the King, presided the ritual to invest the moai with a power capable of protecting the lineage and the island.
They have an importan ceremonie which is celebrated every year, representatives of different lineage competed to obtain the first egg of the seagull known as Manutara, that nested on a small island, Motu Nui, located in front of Orongo.
Whoever brought the egg, unbroken and after a tough fight, was entitled as Tangata Manu. This meant that the winner was the reincarnation of the very Make Make god