The hanau glyph type is used at times when 'birth' is taking place. The person depicted is sitting down with legs apart. What more specific the time is can often be seen by supplementary signs, e.g.:
Toes visible could mean that sun is shining, and the high neck in Ab4-29 suggests midsummer. A toa (Y) sign held high at right means the 'season of straw' is arriving. Ab1-37 has ordinal number 707 counted from Aa1-1, which can be interpreted as the first half of the 354th day (counting 2 glyphs per day), i.e. it probably stands at Hatinga Te Kohe (the breaking of the staff), last station of the sun (12 * 29.5 = 354). When a hanau glyph has no visible 'offspring' it may be because the glyph is in the vicinity of another hanau glyph with shows such a 'fruit', and the meaning then could be 'season of birth' rather than 'birth'. Or it may be because the hanau sign is used not 'literally' but as a method to draw attention to a new season which is on its way. |
