3. Then there is the question about the 'roof' and the little 'eye':

The 'roof' probably illustrates how in the middle of the day (or other solar period, e.g. the year) the intensity of the sun is at its greatest, at maximum. The same sign is used for the top of the head in tagata:

We say sun 'beams' because once we had a world view similar to that of the Polynesians. With 'beams' are meant wooden posts, such as are used to build a house. In the warm climate of Polynesia the standing beams support the roof and often leaves the spaces between them open to let in the breeze.

The sun beams come down from above and the sky will naturally be imagined as a kind of high roof. In other words, hau tea may be a stylized picture of a house.

Sun (and the moon and other 'planets' too) move against the background of the stars which were fixed on the 'roof' of the sky (the firmanent). The locations changed over the cycle of movement and it was customary to name the locations and to call them 'houses' (or 'mansions'). For instance was Leo considered to be the House of the Sun:

"The Egyptian king Necepsos, and his philosopher Petosiris, taught that at the Creation the sun rose here [in Leo] near Denebola; and hence Leo was Domicilium Solis, the emblem of fire and heat, and, in astrology, the House of the Sun, governing the human heart ..." (Allen)

It is probable that the Easter Islanders shared the idea of 'residences' which sun, moon and stars frequented while they wandered across the sky. An example may be the month Ko Koró, at which time 'new houses are occupied':

... Because of the increasing heat, work ceases in the fields. Time for fishing, recreation, and festivities. The new houses are occupied (reason for the festivities). Like the previous month, a good time for surfing (ngaru) on the beach of Hangaroa O Tai ...