Marama glyphs and marama signs incorprated in other glyph types basically depict the moon. Interpreting their meanings revolves around several factors. First of all and most important are the specific characteristics of the moon shape, for example:
When the moon is reversed, oriented with concave side to the right, it means 'night', the time when moon is at her best. Polynesians count nights, not days. The 'night' sign is used also for the dark time of the year (the 'night' of the year). The moon was the obvious time piece for keeping track of the month, but it was also used for measuring the progress of the year. The lunar month with 29.5 days was applied for this purpose, e.g. in G where each glyph means 1 day and where the total text covers 16 * 29.5 = 472 days. Moon was the 'Year-builder': ... Then all the guardians procured baskets in which to transport the family. There was the basket of the Sun, Chief of the sky; the basket of the Moon, the Year-builder; the basket of Autahi, Canopus, and the younger stars, and the basket of Wide Space for the multitude of small star children. The tiny stars were placed in the canoe Uruao, Cloud-piercer, which can be seen in the sky (Tail of the Scorpion), and the canoe was given into the charge of Tama-rereti, Swift-flying Son, as its navigator. He was enjoined to tend carefully the little star children lest they be jostled about by their elder brothers and some of them fall to earth ... |
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Excursion:
Some notes regarding the structure of London Tablet (K). |
