| This website is a work of fiction, part of the collaborative constructed world of Ill Bethisad. It is not intended to reflect reality or the creator's opinions on current issues. |
| Spnsored by the Tourism Advisorate, Council of Te Pito O Te Henua, in cooperation with the Commission for Offshore Preservation, Ecotopic Republic of Oregon. |
| Henua's National Symbols |
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| Last updated 5 January 2008 by Ben Karnell |
| Henua used its royal flag to represent itself until 1959, when it created a separate national flag. The honu, or turtle, had already been used as a symbol for the island for many years because of its longevity, intelligence, and steadfastness. It is also a sacred animal throughout Polynesia and a very old motif in Henua art. The flag depicts a yellow honu on a green disc representing the island. The blue field represents the Pacific Ocean. Around the edge of the disc is a yellow rising sun representing hope for the future and Henua's location at the eastern end of Oceania. The rays projecting out from the center reflect Henua's position at the "navel of the world". Turned on its side, the sun and its rays resemble a canoe with oars pointed downward. Image by Marc Pasquin, based on my design |
| The royal flag dates from the late eighteenth century when Henua were first exposed to European vexilology and flagsmanship. Made of traditional fabrics, it depicts an ancient glyph in orange representing a sooty tern, symbol of the Tangata Manu or Birdman, on a white or off-white field. Image by Marc Pasquin |
| Henua's air force dates to 1983 when it acquired two airships as part of a larger project to expand its aerodrome to accomodate more tourists. Its first two patrol airships were marked with a green circle inset with a simplified outline of the national honu in yellow. Image by me, based on Marc's flag |
| Cars are very rare on Henua, and rarer still is the need or opportunity to take one's car off the island. Why would anyone bother to take a car all the way to Henua only to take it somewhere else, you might ask. Still, those Henua who are blessed with automobiles like putting this sticker on their cars just for driving around the island, and tourists enjoy buying unauthorized versions of it. It features Henua's country code, he, as a syllabic abbreviation in Rongorongo and Japanese, as well as the Latin letters HE. Image by me, using oval design by Ronald Kyrmse |
| Moai |
| Henua's most recognizable national symbol is undoubtedly its landscape covered with enormous stone moai statues. The moai have stood for different things at different times, but have always been an important part of Henua religion and culture. Before the sixteenth century, clans and influential men competed to build moai; the scale of building nearly destroyed the island's ecology. Today, they may only be built on orders of the king. Each king erects a moai upon his elevation to the throne and occasionally to comemorate events that are particularly momentous. It is similar to the way Chinese emperors chose their Era Names. Moai depict the kings themselves, ancestors, and deities. Two foreigners, Japanese Emperor Meidji and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, have moai in their honor. Their shrines are called Ahu Me'i and Ahu Haile. Ahu Me'i also includes a torii, a traditional Japanese Shinto temple gate. Only two moai have ever been built off of Henua. One is on Henua's "colony" of Motu Motiro Hiva, built in 1878 after a treaty secured Henua control of the islet forever. The other was built in Toquio, Japan, for Emperor Meidjin in 1884. Foreign styles began to influence the moai beginning in the nineteenth century. For a period they became more representational and less idealized. Ahu Me'i, for example, is immediately recognizable as the Japanese Emperor. Since the 1950s there has been a return to traditional abstractness, but artists have sought more distinctive individual styles. On at least three occasions, kings have invited foreign artists to design moai. Since the rise of the tourist trade in the 1970s-80s, some Henua artists have made miniature moai in styles ranging from the traditional to the avant-garde to the frivolous: a controversial field of moai depicting Western film stars was installed in the 1990s, much to the chagrin of the Ariki, who universlly condemned it as a "crass misuse of our sacred symbols to separate buffoonish tourists from their money." And indeed, "Ahu Muvi" has proven one of the most popular stops for foreign visitors eager to fork over a few peto in exchange for a souvenier. |
| henua.tk |