Rapa Nui: Who are the Moai?

As soon as you step onto the island you’ll see them – tall fellas, strange hats. Rather quiet and mysterious.

They are called Moai.

Most Rapa Nui islanders, including the four carvers who came in 2003 to the Polynesian Cultural Center to create these replicas, believe the ancient Moai carvings represent their ancestors. They point out, as evidence, that no two Moai are the same.

Since it was not practical to import the rough stone material used to carve the original version (called scoria) from Rapa Nui, the carvers who came to the Polynesian Cultural Center worked with local engineers and a cement factory to create a cement-like compound they felt was similar to the stones they were used to carving. The carvers then used traditional toki or adzes as well as modern steel chisels, hammers, and even jackhammers to shape the ma'ea or stone into Moai.

Each carver brought pieces of white coral and dark scoria to Hawai'i to make the "eyes" for the Moai; and after they placed these eyes into the sockets they had carved, then the Moai were no longer "blind," but now "could see. The eyes give life to the Moai and, therefore, to the people who were [traditionally] buried.