Birdman mythology

The Birdman mythology (also Pascuense mythology) originates with the of Easter Island. The Rapa Nui are the aboriginal Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island, located in the south eastern Pacific Ocean.
==Spirit World in the sea==
The ic represent deified ancestors, who are of the spirit world in the sea. It was believed that the living had a symbiotic relationship with the dead where the dead provided everything that the living needed (health, fertility of land and animals, fortune etc.); and the living, through offerings, provided the dead with a better place in the spirit world. Most settlements were located on the coast and moai were erected along the coastline, watching over their descendants in the settlements before them, with their backs toward the spirit world in the sea.
==Birdman cult==
The bird-man cult, known as , succeeded the island's Moai era as warfare erupted over dwindling natural resources. The Birdman cult was suppressed by Christian missionaries in the 1860s. Thus, crafting of the statues had ended. Though the cult declined after the island population adopted , the birdman popularity and memory is still present in the decoration of the island's church. The origin of the cult and the time thereof are uncertain.
The bird-man cult is comprised of the following eight deities:
* Make-make, the chief deity, and his servant
* Hawa-tuu-take-take (Chief of the eggs), and his servant
* Vie Hoa, wife of Hawa-tuu-take-take, and her servant
* Vie Kanatea, and her servant
The names of all eight are chanted by contestants during various rituals of the competition, preceding an egg hunt that involved a dangerous swim to from the main island.
==References==
Category:Easter Island
Category:Antediluvian
Category:Cultural
Category:Mythopedia