Marae Arahurahu (2) by junge1
Close
Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.
Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
Description
This is the actual restored marae. It is the size of a tennis court and walled, and the elevated platform, called an 'Ahu', is were sacrifices were placed.
Human sacrifices in Polynesia were widespread but rare.
When the first missionaries, members of the London Missionary Society, came to Tahiti in 1797 they were appalled by customs such as human sacrifice and at the overt sexual proclivities of the Tahitians.
They didn't waste any time attempting to convert the natives to Christianity. In the process they destroyed all marae and other cultural Polynesian customs.
Only in the early part of the 20th century began an effort to indentify and restore some of the marae and the centuries-old Polynesian traditions.
This picture was taken on 13 August 2009.
On a separate note I was asked by a renderosity coordinator to remove my upload 'Gauguin's Tahitian Women' from this site for possible copyright violations. I thought I had stated that this upload was a photo of a reproduction, since there are no original works of Gauguin exhibited in the Tahiti Museum and therefore be save. But rather than looking into the legality of the copyright infringement of the upload I chose to remove it voluntarily since uploading photos on this site is, or at least was until today, a recreational and fun activity for me.
Thanks for viewing and commenting,
Sig...
Comments (33)
bebert
great capture
myrrhluz
Good to see this up-close. Beautiful image and great info! Christians did a lot of damage to Christian religious artifacts in the Reformation in the name of cleansing churches of what they perceived as popery. It doesn't take much for man to dictate to and turn against each other. White man is the most egregious offender because he has had the greatest power.
dbrv6
Cool restoration - glad to see your capture of this.