The season of rising sun presumably is defined by the 1st and 10th of the 'staffs for pushing sky up', Ga4-3 and Ga6-13, together measuring out a span of 68 days (one glyph for each day). The following 26 days (up to the last one of the 31 kiore - henua glyphs) apparently must have another meaning:
When Ure Honu lifted up the house (hare paega) of Tuu Ko Ihu searching for the stolen skull of king Hotu Matua, it probably illustrates how in spring the 'sky roof' is raised up and light comes in from the outside. A hare paega is formed like an overturned boat, similar to the hemisphere of the sky. Ure Honu certainly did not raise the canoe-formed house higher than necessary, and certainly not by 90º, because that would have made the house roll over. 68º could have been his choice. The number of days for a regular sun year was anciently often chosen as 360 and the measure of degrees chosen so as to agree, i.e. with 360º for a complete circle. Though I think the ancient Chinese used 365¼º for a full circle. |
|||||||||||||||||
