Reimiro
Encyclopedia
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. The name comes from the Rapanui
Rapa Nui language
Rapa Nui , also known as Pascuan or Pascuense, is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken on the island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island....
rei 'stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
' or 'prow
Prow
thumb|right|295pxThe prow is the forward most part of a ship's bow that cuts through the water. The prow is the part of the bow above the waterline. The terms prow and bow are often used interchangeably to describe the most forward part of a ship and its surrounding parts...
' and miro 'boat'. Thus the crescent represents a Polynesian canoe.
Each side of the reimiro ended in a human head. The outer, display side had two small pierced bumps through which a cord was strung for hanging it. The inner side contained a cavity that was filled with chalk made from powdered seashells.
A reimiro provides the image of the Flag of Rapa Nui
Flag of Rapa Nui
The flag of Easter Island, also known as the flag of Rapa Nui or Isla de Pascua, is a white flag charged with a red Reimiro, an Easter Island wood carving. The red Reimiro was made out of wood and worn by the women of Rapa Nui. It was adopted on 9 May, 2006.-References:...
(Easter Island). It also appears to feature in the rongorongo
Rongorongo
Rongorongo is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Easter Island that appears to be writing or proto-writing. It cannot be read despite numerous attempts at decipherment. Although some calendrical and what might prove to be genealogical information has been identified, not even...
script of Easter Island (as glyph 07:
), and one reimiroRongorongo text L
Text L of the rongorongo corpus, also known as reimiro 2, is the smaller of two inscribed reimiro in London and one of two dozen surviving rongorongo texts.-Other names:...
is preserved with a long rongorongo text.
Although the human heads on the reimiro are unique to Easter Island, the pectoral itself is part of a wider tradition. In the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, for example, women wear shell pectorals which resemble reimiro.