3. At other times of the year the 'arms' are bent as this sequence of glyphs illustrates:
The 4 'moa' in Aa1-5--8 do not primarily refer to the 'arms' at the equinoxes and solstices (although they probably allude to them). Instead, they indicate how four strong 'spring arms' quickly are hoisting the sky roof up. At summer solstice the 'house' must stand ready. The 'elbow' is at left in these four 'moa', but in the following two glyphs the 'joint' is shifted to the right, as seen in Aa1-9--10. Presumably the other 'arm' comes in as a support beyond midsummer. In ancient Egypt the sun was sometimes illustrated as a circle being uplifted by the goddess of the horizon in the east:
(Ref.: Wilkinson) The 'moa' are not really fowl but promising young lads according to Barthel 2. A serpent can easily bend anywhere, an arm or leg only at the joints. But with joints and stiff bones work can be done, something Ogotemmêli has explained "... During his descent the ancestor still possessed the quality of a water spirit, and his body, though preserving its human appearance, owing to its being that of a regenerated man, was equipped with four flexible limbs like serpents after the pattern of the arms of the Great Nummo. The ground was rapidly approaching. The ancestor was still standing, his arms in front of him and the hammer and anvil hanging across his limbs. The shock of his final impact on the earth when he came to the end of the rainbow, scattered in a cloud of dust the animals, vegetables and men disposed on the steps. When calm was restored, the smith was still on the roof, standing erect facing towards the north, his tools still in the same position. But in the shock of landing the hammer and the anvil had broken his arms and legs at the level of elbows and knees, which he did not have before. He thus acquired the joints proper to the new human form, which was to spread over the earth and to devote itself to toil." (Ogotemmêli) |
