Makemake (mythology)

Makemake (also make- make, pronounced [ makemake ] ) is the creator and fertility deity of the culture of Easter Island. In the birdman cult ( Tangata manu) is Makemake, the chief deity. Makemake appears in the stories of Rapanui almost always together with its companion Hawa. Both Makemake and Hawa occur only in the religion of Easter Island, but not in other Polynesian religions.

Legend

The creation myth of Rapanui tells the following story:

One myth tells of the beginning of the Rapanui Makemake cult:

Cult

Makemake is often depicted on petroglyphs on the islands as a mask-like face with large, owl -like eyes.

From about the year 1500 to 1867 an annual ceremony took place, which was based on the Makemake cult and served to determine the head of the island. Each tribe sent a warrior who had to swim to the offshore island of Moto Nui to return the first bird egg of the year. The chief of the tribe, the Warriors brought the egg, was appointed for one year at the " bird man " ( tangata -manu ), who in addition to the function as the head of a mediating function between the inhabitants and the god Makemake.

Reception

The original 2005 FY9 called trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Makemake was named as an allusion to the discovery date of Easter on Easter Island.

Swell

• Alfred Metraux: Ethnology of Easter Iceland, 1971, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 160, Honolulu, Bishop Museum Press.
• Katherine Routledge: The Mystery of Easter Iceland, 1919 ISBN 0-932813-48-8
• Jo Annevan Tilburg: Easter Iceland: Archaeology, Ecology and Culture, 1994, Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press.