A ''reimiro'' is a crescent-shaped pectoral ornament once worn by the people of

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

. The name comes from the Rapanui ('

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

' or '

prow The bow () is the forward part of the hull (watercraft), hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern. Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the f ...

') and ('boat'). Thus the crescent represents a Polynesian canoe. Each side of the ''reimiro'' ended in a human face. The outer, display side had two small pierced bumps through which a cord was strung for hanging it. The inner side contained a cavity that was filled with chalk made from powdered seashells. A ''reimiro'' provides the image of the Flag of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). It also appears to feature in the rongorongo script of Easter Island (as glyph 07: ), and one ''reimiro'' is preserved with a long rongorongo text. Although the human faces on the ''reimiro'' are unique to Easter Island, the pectoral itself is part of a wider tradition. In the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, for example, women wear shell pectorals which resemble ''reimiro.''

Gallery

Image:Flag of Rapa Nui, Chile.svg, A ''reimiro'' is the emblem of the Flag of Rapa Nui. Image:Reimiro without faces.jpg, A large (61 cm) ''reimiro'' with very stylized faces. It may be that pectorals of this size were worn by men. Image:Rongorongo L rei miro 2.jpg, A ''reimiro'' inscribed with rongorongo glyphs Image:Woman with rei-miro.jpg, A Solomon Islands woman wearing a shell pectoral resembling a ''reimiro''

References

* Stéphen-Charles Chauvet. 1935. ''L'île de Pâques et ses mystères'' ("Easter Island and its Mysteries"). Paris: Éditions Tel. (An online English version is availabl
www.chauvet-translation.com here
)

External links

Splendid Isolation: Art of Easter Island
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Reimiro

{{Culture of Oceania Fashion accessories Easter Island