Maunga Pu'i Rapa Nui

by Heidi Fickinger

Title

Maunga Pu'i Rapa Nui

Artist

Heidi Fickinger

Medium

Photograph - Photographic Print

Description

This grassy hill is Mauna Pu'i on Rapa Nui. This hill is the location of a sporting contest that is part of the annual Taptai Festival, the Haka Pei. Haka Pei is a competition in the festival where two banana tree stumps are tied together and used as a sled. Contestants climb to the top of the 1,000-foot (300-meter) volcanic cone before mounting the banana tree sled and hurtling themselves feet first down the hill, wearing little more than a loincloth for protection. Participants fly dangerously fast down the grassy slope (that has numerous lava rocks reaching up through the grass), reaching speeds of up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) before skidding to a stop at the bottom. The competitors are judged by speed and by their ability to stay on the sled throughout the duration of the slide.

Featured in the following FAA Group Galleries:
* Your Story of Art
* World Landscape Lovers of Art
* This is Life
* Contemporary
* Strictly Neon
* Travel Art
* SkyTwitter Art Gallery

Uploaded

March 18th, 2019

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