How the Rapa Nui pulled off one of the funniest/saddest historical jokes.

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• cannedtuna@lemmy.world@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Hoa Hakananai’a is a moai, a statue from Easter Island. It was taken from Orongo, Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in 1868 by the crew of a British ship and is now in the British Museum in London.[1]

  It has been described as a “masterpiece"[2] and among the finest examples of Easter Island sculpture.[3] Though relatively small, it is considered to be typical of the island’s statue form,[4][5] but distinguished by carvings added to the back, associated with the island’s birdman cult.[6]

  The statue was identified as Hoa Hakananai’a by islanders at the time it was removed; the British crew first recorded the name in the form ‘Hoa-haka-nana-ia’ or ‘Hoa-haka-nama-ia’.[7] It has been variously translated from the Rapa Nui language to mean ‘breaking wave’,[8] ‘surfriding’,[7] ‘surfing fellow’,[9][10] ‘master wave-breaker’,[11] ‘lost or stolen friend’,[12] ‘stolen friend’, ‘hidden friend’[13] or ‘doing robberies/mockeries friend’.[9]

  Wikipedia

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  • myotheraccount@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    The wikipedia link does not work for me

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    • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      try this link (actual link, not a Rick Roll)

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    • Successful_Try543@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoa_Hakananai%27a

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