On an island with no other borders than the vastness of the sea and the fine line of the horizon:  With no other close neighbors than the stars in the sky above or the sea creatures in the ocean below, a people with a culture of peculiar charm and mystery settled this island and had lived there for many centuries.
     The inhabitants of this charming and mysterious place called their land: Te Pito o TeHenua, 'the navel of the world.'  Ancient master navigators that settled the island, related stories of a great flood when all humans perished and nothing alive was left above the sea except the navel of the world and its people.  Other pre-historic tales mentioned that they were the only people on the world.
     However, these inhabitants, cut off in one of the loneliest place of the globe, created a complex and prosperous culture. In 1722, a Dutch explorer, Jacob Roggeveen, sighted and visited the island.  This happened to be on a Sunday, Easter Sunday to be precise, and the name stuck: Easter Island (Isla de Pascua in Spanish).  And since then, what Roggeveen saw has captured the imagination of every visitor.
     Today inhabitants are of Polynesian descent, but for decades anthropologists have argued the true origins of these people, some claiming that ancient South-American mariners settled the island first.  According to Dr. William Mulloy, an archeologist who studied Easter Island for many years, "... anybody who got here, in prehistoric times, was lost -and had to stay."
     Sadly and much later, what many explorers who visited the island found, was a scattered population with almost no culture they could remember and without any links to the outside world.  The Easter islanders were easy prey for 19th century slave traders which depreciated even more their precarious culture, knowledge of the past, and skills of the ancestors.  Today the knowledge of belonging is much more in evidence.
     After decades of neglecting traditional art forms, Easter Islanders have begun to take pride in their heritage.  In "On Giants of Easter Island" by Charles Lebaron, a more in-depth study of the culture and research done on the Easter-islanders is presented.  The Polynesian name of the island is Rapanui, which is a name given by a Tahitian visitor in the 19th century who says that the island looked like the Tahitian island of'Rapa,' but bigger, 'Nui.'
     With this clear Polynesian connection, symbols and elements began to be used by the islanders.  The first flag-like object we have knowledge to be used by the natives was "the 'Te-reva,' which means to hang in Polynesian," writes Grant McCall from the University of New South Wales.  McCall also added that "Te-reva is the name used for such standards in Tahiti. One of such Te-reva is preserved on the Museum of Valparaiso in Chile."  "The banner has on it many devices of Polynesian origins, like the paoa (warriors paddle or club) on each side two facing Tangata Manu, or bird men, and two Reimiro."
     However the most striking symbol of the island is absent on the flags.  I am referring to the famous Moai, monolithic statues carved from the island rock. The Moai are seen all over the island, and in different shapes, sizes, and stages of completion. Many Moaiare left unfinished at the quarry site.  No one is sure yet as to what purposes did the Moai served, but outside scholarly research together with accumulated local knowledge, shows evidence that the Moai were carved by the ancestors of the present inhabitants. Ron Fisher in his work "Easter Island Brooding Sentinels of Stone," mentions as one explanation for the statues that "two classes of people, the-so-called Long Ears and Short Ears, lived on the island. The Short Ears were enslaved by the Long Ears, who forced the Short Ears to carve the Moai. After many generations and during a rebellion, the Short Ears surprised the Long Ears killing them all, which explains the abrupt end of the statue-carving."
     This writer believes this to be the reason as to why the Moai were not chosen as a symbol of Rapanui, since the Moai are a representation of oppression and slavery.  Further, the tourist industry and commercialization of the island since the mid 70's have made the Moaia very commercialized artifact.  On the other hand, the Reimiro is presently used as the main and sole device of the current Rapanui un-official flag. Georgia Lee of the Easter Island Foundation, describes the Reimiro as "ancient ceremonial wooden pectorals worn by chiefs. It is of lunette shape with heads on the ends." It is a symbol of kinship and authority.  Further to this significance, Grant Mc Call added: "One of the precious surviving samples of Rapanui writing, the Rongo-rongo, is carved on a Reimiro."  Finally in true vexillological fashion, the Reimiro had been used on a previous flag. 
The current flag, which I saw in a TV documentary very briefly and without any comment by the narrator, is of a white field with a red Reimiro at the center.  The flags are homemade and in secret, explaining the choice of colors. The flag does not represent separatist feelings or intentions, but rather is representative of the Polynesian past and culture of the Rapanuians. (Pascuenses in spanish.)   But according to Georgia Lee, writing to me after returning from a recent trip from Rapanui, the Reimiro flag has separatist intentions today; whether or not this was true in the past.  "I noted," she goes on, "that on New years Eve 1999/2000, the Rapanui flag was flown by some islanders with the Chilean flag BENEATH it."  However, the government of Chile, which had given to the island larger autonomy than in the past, as well as the means to get connected to the outside world and other Polynesian cultures, isn't supportive of The Reimiro flag.  The only official flag allowed to be hoisted is the flag of Chile.

     I want to thank Georgia Lee of the Eastern Island Foundation and Grant McCall of the University of New South Wales, for their kind spontaneous help and contributions; and also to the Rongorongo Organization for allowing us to use a picture of an actual Reimiro to illustrate this piece.

For more information contact the following organizations:

http://www.netaxs.com/~trance/eif.html-------------------- Easter Island Foundation
http://www.netaxs.com/~trance/rapanui.html -------------- Easter Island home page
http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/south pacific/Rapanui.html --  Rapanui Index page
http://www.hawaii.edu/~ogden/piir/pacific/Rapanui.html --  Rapanui Home Page by Grant McCall
http://www.rongorongo.com-------------------------------The Rongorongo Organization