Religion / idea · religion

Tangata manu

Also known as Birdman cult

The Tangata manu ('bird man') was the winner of a yearly competition on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), centred on the ceremonial village of Orongo. Each spring men representing rival chiefs swam to the islet of Motu Nui to wait for the first sooty tern egg; the chief whose man brought it back became bird man for a year, with sacred status. The cult flourished after the age of the moai and ended in the 1860s.

Tangata manu
Image: kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Rapa Nui

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tangata manu. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tangata-manu
MLA
“Tangata manu.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tangata-manu. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Tangata manu.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tangata-manu.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tangata manu’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tangata-manu (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻