The Lesson of Easter Island inspires an Artisan Necklace

 

Congratulations to my friend Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers!!  She's celebrating her 2 year blogging anniversary.  I actually can't believe it's been only 2 years, because I feel like I've known her much longer than that.  She's one of those people for me that has felt comfortable from the start.  It doesn't hurt that we have a ton of stuff in common and we've likely only touched the surface.  In fact the whole group participating in her celebration are women with strong stories and hearts.  That says a lot to me about who she is.

 

To celebrate, Cynthia sent a select group of blogging friends a packet of bead goodies.  We were told we could use as much of the packet or as little of it that we wanted.  The photo above is  what she sent (except I forgot to photograph the beautiful white silk sari ribbon she included from Darn Good Yarn):

 

When I first excitedly pulled the beads out of their package I couldn't figure out what I was looking at with the polymer pendant.  I turned it right, left, back, front - held it close, far.  I instantly loved the colors, as I love moonstone and teals, but what was it supposed to be?  Finally I saw the face and have wondered ever since why it was invisible before!  It made me think of those big stone sculptures on Easter Island.  So off I went to do some research since all I knew was that there were some big stone heads found there.  This is something I love to do:  armchair traveling.  I didn't know their age, reason for being there, nor who built them.  I read through numerous sites, but I found Wikipedia's information perhaps the best researched.

 

 

There are 887 of these moai created by the Rapa Nui people who lived there in the first millenium CE.  They are made from volcanic rock and the area they came from is in some cases some distance from where they were placed.  The Rapa Nui believed that their ancestors protected them and provided them with everything they needed on earth.  They basically were their Gods and they created these statues to represent them.  I actually find this honoring of those that came before us a beautiful thing.

 

The controversy over the demise of the Rapa Nui lies in whether Easter Island's vegetation, which included a lush landscape of palm trees, was denuded by the Rapa Nui in helping to move these great statues and to support their lodging and food needs or if it was due to the mini Ice Age that changed the island's ability to sustain them.  I am inclined to believe the former since the remote island would only be able to sustain a certain population for a particular length of time.  They thrived and then fell much like some native populations in the Americas did due to the inability to sustain a growing population in a limited land area.  The Rapi Nui's story ended in starvation, cannibalism and slavery, but they left scuptures that continue to inspire today.

 

 

 

 

 

We have no idea what our future holds really.  Even tomorrow is a mystery.  I think all we can do is try to learn from our past and live today with all our passion and care to leave our home a clean and healthy place.

 

 

 

 

This is a blog hop so hop over to a few more of her friends to see what components they received and what their hearts and hands created for Cynthia's celebration.