Makemake (also written asMake-make; pronounced[ˈmakeˈmake] inRapa Nui[1]) in theRapa Nui mythology ofEaster Island is the creator ofhumanity, the god of fertility and the chief god of the "Tangata manu" orbird-man sect (this sect succeeded the island's more famousMoai era). He appeared to be the local form, or name, of the old Polynesian godTane. He had no wife.[2]
Makemake, as a face with large eyes or perhaps a skull with large eye sockets and a phallic nose, is a frequent subject of theRapa Nuipetroglyphs.[3]
Métraux states that Easter Island's "greatest religious festival, the only one concerning which circumstantial details survive, was that of the bird-man, intimately linked with the cult of the god Makemake."[4]
Makemake drove the birds to nest on the islet ofMotu Nui ('big islet'), the center of thetangata-manu (bird-man) sect. Four gods were associated with it: Makemake;Haua-tuꞌu-take-take, usually simply called "Haua";vîꞌe Hoa, Haua's wife; andvîꞌe Kenatea.[5] Each of the four gods had a supernatural servant, whose "names were given" in the ceremonies.[6]
Theivi atua was the 'seer' who has the vision to select who swam to Motu Nui. Ahopu was one of those who make the swim to the islet. Per Englert, thehopu manu were "those who served thetagata manu and, upon finding the firstmanutara egg, took it to Orongo [on the mainland]." Themanu tara, or sooty tern, was the bird that the ceremony centred on; it was the firstmanu tara egg that was the goal of the ceremony.
Makemake's principal companion wasHaua. "The formula which accompanies an offering to Makemake always includes Haua who appears in the myth as the god's companion."[7]
Makemake's offspring were Tive, Rorai, Hova and "the noblewoman Arangi-kote-kote".[8]
In 2000, BBC produced the documentary "The Lost Gods of Easter Island"[9] exploring a carved wooden idol thatDavid Attenborough purchased in an auction room. It was cheap because the seller believed it was a forgery. Its whole history is discovered: while there was still wood of the (now locally extinct)Toromiro tree on Easter Island it was carved to represent the god Makemake, traded with the crew of Captain Cook's ship, transported toTahiti, probably traded by the Tahitians eventually ending up in the auction.
Thetrans-Neptuniandwarf planetMakemake is so named because sightings of both the planet and the island occurred close toEaster: the planet was discovered shortly after Easter 2005, and the first European contact with Easter Island was on Easter Sunday 1722.[10][11] The dwarf planet's code name was "Easterbunny".
Media related toMakemake at Wikimedia Commons