CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE WORLD

- EXPEDITION WILL SAIL ON A REED RAFT

The voyage from Easter Island seeks to prove that ancient people were capable of crossing the seas before the Europeans

Isla de Pascua- In December of this year or January 1997 will depart the first trip around the world, headed by Spaniard Kitin Munoz, in a prehistoric boat whose design was copied from images carved on rock by ancient inhabitants of this Chilean territory.

The project has two aims: to prove that the original inhabitants of the island culture were capable of realizing transoceanic voyages with resistant boats, and also to demonstrate that there could have be a cultural, botanical and blood relationship between civilizations separated by the sea. The ship model will be 40 meters (131 feet) long made of reeds with 3 masts and a coating of fish oil to resist the water.

Munoz will have the help of 10 indigenous boat builders from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia who will use primitive techniques of fabricating boats from totora. Furthermore, the Spanish adventurer has established his point of embarkation on the "sacred beach" of Anakena where supposedly the first king of Rapa Nui arrived, Hotu Matua.

The raft has been baptized Mata-Rangi (Eyes of Paradise) and its crew will consist of ten Rapanui who will take turns as they complete the goals of the voyage.

Munoz explained: "With this voyage I would like to demonstrate that many of the parallels that exist between different cultures and people, that today are attributed to artibrary causes, had their reason in the voyages that had crossed seas and oceans in remote times and before the European expeditions of the 15th century."

The plan is to sail towards the west taking advantage of the prevailing winds and ocean currents and to complete three grand stages: Oceania, The Old World, and America.

He said, "In the first phase, the ship will travel through all the Polynesian islands such as Mangareva, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Tonga and Fiji reaching finally Australia. There the boat will be taken out of the water and dismanteled to permit the reeds to dry, an operation that will take about two months." With respect to provisions, Munoz stated that food will be carried on board and furthermore, there will be fishing during all the voyage.

- El Mercurio de Valparaiso, July 15, 1996

EASTER ISLANDERS TO HONOR THE CULT OF THE ASTRONOMER KING

They will revive a ceremony at one of their solar observatories where it has been proved that the ancient Rapanui had considerable astronomical knowledge

Isla de Pascua- On the 21st of June of this year, the day that marks the winter solstice, there will return to this island, after a century, the recreation of the ceremony "Ahi Renga" -- to await the sunrise farthest north and the beginning of (Southern hemisphere) winter.

The author of this initiative is the administrator of the Parque Nacional Rapa Nui, archaeologist Jose Miguel Ramirez Aliaga, who explained in a series of meetings with local tour guides and teachers, that the ancient Rapanui included among their considerable cultural activities a "knowledge of astronomy" that was related to the power of the religious aristocracy and the control of the production of food.

A large part of this knowledge was lost during the downfall of the island society in the middle of the last century when the learned men disappeared as a result of slavery and epidemics.

However, the restoration of the patrimonial monuments of the island in the early '60s and the recent work of astronomers like William Liller, a Chilean resident, permitted the rescue of one of the most interesting themes and one little known in the exceptional historical and cultural development of the Rapanui: archaeoastronomy.

All the world knows the moai, at least as a distant image. But it is difficult to perceive the true meaning: that they are the product of a thousand years of evolution by a group of Polynesians that were capable of developing an architecture and megalithic sculpture unique in the world, as well as a hieroglyphic writing that resists revealing the secrets of a small island with scarce resources and nearly complete isolation for centuries.

When one studies carefully the island's history and the social, political, religious and ambient context, one can understand that extra-terrestrials did not create the moai, but instead a highly organized society headed by a religious aristocracy and learned men and warriors.

In different parts of the world, other societies arrived at this level of development and constructed megalithic monuments, in many cases related to astronomical orientations. Among these, Stonehenge in England, the Mayan Caracol in Palenque, Mexico, and the Incan Temple of the Sun.

Some 300 Ahu (ceremonial temples) exist on Easter Island built to support the moai, images in stone up to 10 meters tall (32.8 feet) and weighing 80 tons that incarnated the spirit of the ancestral founders of the blood lines and who projected their power (mana) through their eyes to their descendents and their territory.

According to data found by Professor Liller, some dozen island Ahu are oriented astronomically. Furthermore, the principal solar observatory of the island is the Ahu called Huri a Unrenga which was restored by the archaeologist William Mulloy in 1972. It is an inland Ahu next to the principal road from Hanga Roa to Anakena with a single moai that curiously has four hands.

The monument is oriented with precision towards the rising winter solstice sun, and the rising and setting sun at the equinoxes is marked with two hills towards the east and west respectively.

According to the archaeologist Jose Miguel Ramirez, although the site is not included in the Parque Nacional Rapanui that at the end of last year was incorporated in the list of the Patrimony of Humanity of UNESCO, it is of interest to all to recuperate a part of the special relevance of the cultural heritage and thus place a high value on this attractive tourist site . And in fact, the Island attracts a selective tourism more interested in the culture than in the beaches, and this is a topic that merits ample diffusion.

This initiative combines the work of islanders concerned with the rescue and preservation of the Rapanui culture through various organizations supported by entities such as the Hanga Roa Municipalidad, the Lorenzo Baeza Vega school, and CONAF.

- El Mercurio de Santiago, 17 June 1996