Flag of Easter Island

The flag of Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Te Reva Reimiro)[1] is the flag of Easter Island, a special territory of Chile. It was first flown in public alongside the national flag on 9 May 2006.[2]

Easter Island

Use	Civil and state flag
Proportion	5:8
Adopted	9 May 2006
Design	A white flag with a red reimiro in the centre
Variant flag of Easter Island
Use	Former flag
Proportion	3:4
Adopted	13th century
Relinquished	1899
Design	A white flag with a red reimiro in the centre and four black Tangata manu (bird-man) figures in each corner

Easter Island flag at the Hanga Roa cemetery.

Depiction

It is a white flag featuring in center a reimiro (a wooden pectoral ornament once worn by the people of Rapa Nui) painted in red (mana), a symbol of power, with two anthropomorphic figures at its edges, representing the Ariki ('chiefs, nobles').[1]

A variant distinctively features four black Tangata manu ('bird-man') at each corner of the flag.

History

The Te Reva Reimiro was created by the local population in 1880 for the island to adopt the apparatus of a modern state and hold a state-to-state dialogue with Chile, which eventually annexed the island in 1888.[1]

For many years, the flag was unofficially used by the island's Polynesian population to represent their island, however the official flag was the white and gold flag of the "Municipality of Easter Island". In 2006, it was upgraded to a "Special Territory" and optional use of the Rapa Nui name was allowed in government documents for the first time, with the Reimiro flag adopted as the entity's flag.

References

1. Cornejo, Cristobal; Salinas, Julio Hotu (6 September 2011). "Campaña promueve uso de banderas de pueblos originarios: Sepa qué significan". El Ciudadano (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-06-20.
2. Crouch, Alex (2015-04-06). "Easter Island's Flag". The Flag Institute. Retrieved 2020-06-20.