Rei glyphs depict a canoe. At a cardinal point the journey of the (moon) canoe of the sun takes on a new course - the steering must always be done in a straight direction, otherwise you are quickly lost. In a way it is as if the new season (direction of the 'canoe') is 'born' at the time when the course is changed. The sense of 'birth' therefore adheres to Rei glyphs. At the beginning of the day, for example, the sun is 'born' to travel in a straight line upwards to noon:
The arm upheld toward the mouth in Aa1-18 is designed to allude to a rei miro canoe (we can see the moon crescent signs). In the first period of the day sun is like a newborn baby. A baby is in charge of the first phase of the day. This idea - of different 'persons' being in charge of the periods which follow upon each other in a cyclical pattern - is very ancient. It was for example used to determine the order of the days in the week. |
