Makemake Mythology

After his fieldwork in 1934-1935 Alfred Métraux describes Makemake as very probably the most important god of the Rapa Nui religion. When missionaries asked about the old gods of the island, his was the only name they heard. The Minor Planet Center record also names him as the creator of humanity and the god of fertility.

In the creation account that Métraux reports, Makemake first leaves his seed in a gourd full of water and then on stones, but the result is not good. At last he turns to clay, and the first people, Tive, Rorai, Hova and the noble woman Arangi-kote-kote, are born from it. Métraux sees these attempts as a known theme of Polynesian mythology.

Many rock carvings on Rapa Nui show a mask or skull with large eyes, and the islanders identified this face as Makemake. Métraux notes that the face closely resembles the Tiki motif of the Marquesas Islands. The glyph of Makemake is derived from this face.

In the account Métraux recorded, an old priestess keeps watch over a skull in the bay of Tongariki. A wave carries the skull out to sea, and the priestess follows it, swimming for days until she comes ashore on the island of Motiro Hiva. There the god Haua tells her that it is not a skull but the god Makemake.

In the accounts Haua is the companion of Makemake, and according to Métraux his name is spoken in every prayer of offering made to Makemake. According to what Katherine Routledge gathered in 1914-1915, four gods were connected with the eggs. They were Hawa-tuu-take-take, the 'chief of the eggs', Makemake, and two goddesses, Vie Hoa, the wife of Haua, and Vie Kenatea.

According to the account, Makemake and Haua drive the sea birds before them and bring them to Rapa Nui. They leave the birds first at Hauhanga and then at Vaiatare, but in both places people find the eggs and eat them. In the end they settle the birds on the islets of Motu Nui and Motu Iti, where people cannot reach them.

Every year in spring, which is September in the southern hemisphere, the manutara birds come to Motu Nui. The servants of the competitors swim to the islet and wait to find the first egg. The master of the one who brings back the first egg becomes the birdman of that year, the tangata manu. Métraux writes that this festival was closely bound to the cult of Makemake.

According to Routledge's record the manutara is the sooty tern, and it comes to Motu Nui in September. Its cries can be heard from kilometres away. The arrival of the birds also opened the season for deep-sea fishing. Until then the fish of the deep waters were considered poisonous.

Orongo is a village of stone houses on the rim of the Rano Kau crater, where the competitors and those who knew rongorongo stayed during the ceremonies. Birdman figures and the face of Makemake are carved into its rocks. Today it is part of Rapa Nui National Park, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995.

According to Routledge the winning competitor shaves his head, paints it red and takes a new name. That name is given to the year, so the years are remembered by the names of the birdmen. The birdman lives alone for a year in a house at Rano Raraku, and for five months of it he is under strict tabu.

Routledge writes that some men died in rough seas, dashed against the rocks as they swam ashore carrying the egg. In one such event only one man survived, and he put this down to Makemake having warned him not to swim. The story shows that the god was believed to interfere in the course of the contest.

In the account Métraux recorded, the priestess teaches the islanders to set aside the share of the gods before eating and to say 'Makemake and Haua, this is for you'. The same words were also spoken over sugar cane, fish, tuna and eels.

In 1862 Peruvian slave traders carried off hundreds of people from the island, and the epidemics that followed greatly reduced the population. Métraux writes that the loss of most of the priests in this raid explains the break in the religious tradition. According to Routledge the last ceremony at Orongo was held in 1866 or 1867.

Métraux thinks that Tāne, the New Zealand god of forests and birds, lies behind the name Makemake, and he says that both gods carry the fertilising power of nature. This is Métraux's own interpretation, and no such identification appears in Rapa Nui sources.

Makemake was added to some astrology software after 2008, and its glyph spread in the form that NASA also uses. No commonly accepted tradition of interpretation has formed. Classical sources do not mention this body, and it has no link to the system of dignities.