Captain's log. On Rapa Nui, January 6, 2024.
Today, at 1230 it was held on the hill of Hanga Piko, a traditional ancestral blessing of Rapa Nui. This is basically an invocation to the ancestors, to attend the ceremony and agree to grant their blessing to whoever wants to be protected, in this case, the crew of the Beau Geste. The ceremony was conducted by Lynn Rapu and the ritual basically consisted of the preparation of a symbolic curanto (not about eating) that must be shared by all attendees. The ceremony was attended by the Maritime Governor, the Port Captain, the parish priest of Hanga Roa who blessed the crew on behalf of the Catholic Church, the Manager of ASIMAR S.A., sponsor of the project, representatives of the Ao Tupuna Foundation and Toki Rapa Nui, friends and dear relatives.
This fact is, without a doubt, of great importance and central to our project. Setting sail from the island with the blessing of the Rapa Nui ancestors, being bearers of a message of brotherhood of this sister people with their brothers of Polynesia, allows us to add great value to our journey and facilitates us to achieve some of our most valuable objectives, which have to do with our navigation along the route traveled by our Polynesian ancestors and with facilitating the reunion of our Rapa Nui brothers with their cultural origins.
Personally, I couldn't be more honored and encouraged to move forward. I believe that so far it has not been easy, however, with the valuable help and support of our sponsors, friends, enthusiastic followers and collaborators who, in one way or another, have embarked on our project, we have been able to overcome the obstacles in a good way. The blessing It's a kind of renewal of commitment for me and a great motivation to keep going.
It will never be enough, when it comes to highlighting the importance of Hoko's involvement in the project. He is an ambassador for his people and will be the main bearer of the messages we will be privileged to carry with us.
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