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TheTangata manu (Rapa Nui:taŋata manu;lit. 'birdman') was the winner of a traditional ritual competition on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to collect the firstsooty tern (manu tara) egg of the season from the nearbyislet ofMotu Nui, swim back to Rapa Nui, and climb the sea cliffs ofRano Kau to the clifftop village ofOrongo.
In theRapa Nui mythology, the deityMakemake was the chief god of the bird-man cult; the other three deities associated with it were Hawa-tuu-take-take (the Chief of the eggs, a male god), his wife Vie Hoa, and another female deity named Vie Kenatea. Each of these four also had a servant god who was associated with them. The names of all eight would be chanted by contestants during the various rituals preceding the egg hunt.
The identities of the contestants, all men of importance on the island, were revealed in prophecies byivi-attua priests, who could be either men or women.[1] Each contestant would then appoint one or sometimes twohopu, adult men of lesser status, who would be the ones to swim to Motu Nui carrying provisions in a bundle of reeds called apora under one arm. They would each await the arrival of the firstsooty terns, hoping to return with the first egg, whilst their sponsors waited for their return at the stone village ofOrongo on the southwestern tip of Rapa Nui. The race was very dangerous, and manyhopu were killed by sharks, by drowning, or by falling from cliff faces, though replacements were apparently easily available.[2]
Once the first egg was collected, the finder would go to the highest point on Motu Nui and call out to the shore of the main island, announcing his benefactor by the benefactor's new name and telling him, "Go shave your head, you have got the egg!" The cry would be taken up by listeners at the shoreline, who would pass it up the cliffside to the contestants waiting in Orongo. The unsuccessfulhopu would then collectively swim back to the main island while the egg-finder remained alone on Motu Nui and fasted; he would then swim back with the egg secured inside a reed basket tied to his forehead. On his reaching land, he would then climb the steep, rocky cliff face and present the egg to his patron (if it were still intact), who would have already shaved his head and painted it either white or red.
This successful contestant – not thehopu, but his sponsor – would then be declared the newtangata-manu, and would take the egg in his hand and lead a procession down the slope ofRano Kau toAnakena (if he was from the western clans) orRano Raraku (if he was from the eastern clans). The newtangata-manu was entitled to gifts of food and other tributes and his clan would have sole rights to collect that season's harvest of wild bird eggs and fledglings from Motu Nui. He then would go into seclusion for a year in a special ceremonial house; he would be consideredtapu for the next five months, and in that time would allow his nails to grow long and wear a headdress made of human hair. He would be expected to engage in no activity other than eating and sleeping during this time.[2]: 263
The bird-man cult was ended by Christian missionaries in the 1860s.[3] The origins of the cult are uncertain, as it is unknown whether it replaced the precedingMoai-based religion or had coexisted with it. However, archaeologist and anthropologistKatherine Routledge was able to collect the names of 86tangata-manu during the 1913–15Mana Expedition.[2]
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