next page previous page return home

3. The Bay of Hiro is primarily not be looked for on a normal map. It is not a location in space but a location in time. But by mapping time onto the geography of Easter Island we can anyhow find Hanga Ohiro on the map:

This bay is located close to Anakena, in a central position on the northern coast, and moving from west to east (following the course of Moon) we can see that the steep coastline ('ebb') ends at Hanga Ohio. I suggest Ohio is Ohiro slightly deformed, maybe to indicate a position in space instead of in time.

Likewise hanau and moko should primarily be looked for in time, not in space. Universally, however, man identifies birth with what happens at the horizon in the east and death with the descent in the west of everything moving in the sky. Moko should then associate to the direction west (or southwest according to Polynesian thought) and, furthermore, to the descent of Sun in the evening or autumn.

Anakena is where the royal child Tuu Maheke was born:

... After Hotu's canoe had anchoraged, the child of Vakai and Hotu appeared. It was Tuu Maheke, son of Hotu, a boy. After the canoe of Ava Rei Pua had also arrived and anchoraged, the child of Ava Rei Pua was born. It was a girl named Ava Rei Pua Poki ...

If we think hanau at Anakena and moko at Hanga Ohiro, then there is a close connection between these two places:

Hanga Ohiro Moko
Anakena Hanau