Ritual of Stone

By Jeff Barbour
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Paperback, 220 pages
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Ritual of Stone
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Easter Island - Te Pito O Te Henua - "Navel of the World": For seven centuries, they worked the compressed volcanic ash of Rano Raraku crater. Seven centuries of shaping stone in their father's images. Seven centuries of separating tuff from caldera, tree from root, present from past. Seven centuries of muscling moai from stoney wombs to earthen altars among the high cliffs and low island coastlines. Seven centuries of ever larger and more massive tributes to a pattern laid down by long-dead ancestors. Seven centuries of the Ritual of Stone... How did it end? Why did it ever begin? What can it teach us today?
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Feb. 2, 2010 By Bonnie Blessing
Ritual of stone has delicious language offered by Jeff Barbour for bookworms like me. Light easy reading that opens discussions about how societies are influenced by their choices about environmental protection and interaction with other societies. This book should be required reading for social or environmental studies in High School or entry level college courses. I read the book in two sittings and would recommend it to friends interested in social and environmental issues.
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Sep. 27, 2006 By Golden Phoenix Publishing
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Part II: Easter Island, Long Ago & Far Away



They saw the People quarry, shape, and move ever more statues like themselves. These too were placed with their backs to the sea alongside the Old Ones on sacred sites. Together Old Statues and New watched as the islanders increased their number and prospered as a People. Together, they watched as tree after tree fell to the woodsman's axe and as the wind carried the fertile soil of the island far out to sea. Together, they saw the islanders destroy the very island that nurtured and prospered them as a Great People.



What the Stone Statues did not see was a new Great... More > Leader stand up and speak saying: "Enough of statues. Let us take heart of our island even as we revere the Statues overseeing us. Let us work to make our island young once again. Let us grow back the trees. Let us carve new canoes that this newfound wisdom may travel with us to new lands. Let us prosper not only ourselves, but all the world!"



Because such a Leader's Voice went unheard, the island died and with that death came that of a once Great People.



The few islanders that remained were later found by an even Greater People-of-the-Seas. This People had traveled across two Great Oceans in Tall Ships filled with Incomprehensible Things. These ships were constructed of fine and highly crafted wood, admirably graced with brass and iron trimming. Their numerous sails billowed white and proud in the gleaming sun. This New People wore fine clothes and carried knowledge of a much greater world. They looked upon the Stone Statues in wonder. "How could such a poor people create such Great Things?” Puzzled, but pressed to find other lands without thought of dwelling thereon, the New People boarded their Tall Ships and took their leave.



After watching the fine sails of the Tall Ships sink below a distant horizon, the islanders looked upon the Stone Statues who had watched without comment as the ancestors killed the island, and as an even Greater People moved among them and looked upon the island's desolation.



Then the islanders did what had been done after the last Great Statue was placed on the high cliffs. They made war. And with war they threw down the many statues wrought by the ancestors. The island, weary and beaten, could no longer even make claim to any virtue whatsoever for all its suffering...



Today, the People from across the Two Great Seas prosper - even as the world grows old. The Tall Buildings they came to erect listen mutely for a Great Leader to say, "Enough of Tall Buildings. Let us take heart of our Earth even as we revere our many Great Accomplishments. Let us work to make our Earth young once again. Let us grow trees. Let us carve out of this world New Canoes that we may carry our Newfound Wisdom to new island-Earths awaiting us in the Great Ocean of Space."



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Product Details

ISBN 978-1-84728-183-8
Copyright Jeffrey T. Barbour (Standard Copyright License)
Edition Second Edition
Publisher barbour
Published March 2, 2007
Language English
Pages 220
 
Binding Perfect-bound Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Dimensions (inches) 6.0 wide × 9.0 tall

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