Below is a structure which can be read as the nights of spring:
The beginning comes with the 1st glyph on the snuff box, Ya1-1 (as once was determined by Barthel). Its 'day number' is 70 because we should add 6 glyphs covering the time from winter solstice:
Presumably the 3 'balls' in Ya1-1 alludes to several interconnected ideas. One obvious such is Nga Kope Ririva, the 3 youths standing out there in the water (i.e. the three rocks standing outside the southwest corner of Easter Island and which serve as a landmark of the island when arriving over the sea). When manu tara birds returned in spring and the time had come to search for their first eggs it was the major event of the year. It defined the arrival of the new year and should be the obvious choice for creating the glyph image at Ya1-1. Furthermore, manu tara is a sea swallow and swallows were used symbolically as announcers of spring. Such a bird is on the lookout for dawn in front of the ship of pharaoh sailing in the Underworld (picture from Wilkinson):
The word swallow can be understood to refer to how the soul (in form of a bird) travels after having been swallowed at the horizon in the west. Of course it will then be on the lookout for the other hole at the horizon in the east, the 'reversed vaha kai'. Swallows are insectivores and insects embody the souls waiting to be reborn. ... The dream soul passes the 'white sand' (one tea) without paying attention to the crater and quarry of Rano Raraku, of outstanding importance in the history of Easter Island. Then the dream soul passes the 'bay of flies' (hanga takaura), east of Hanga Nui, and climbs up to the barren height of Poike (compare MAO. poike 'place aloft') with the summits Pua Katiki and the 'white mountain' (maunga teatea). The latter is a side crater in the northern flank of Poike ... ... From a religious point of view, the high regard for flies, whose increase or reduction causes a similar increase or reduction in the size of the human population, is interesting, even more so because swarms of flies are often a real nuisance on Easter Island, something most visitors have commented on in vivid language. The explanation seems to be that there is a parallel relationship between flies and human souls, in this case, the souls of the unborn. There is a widespread belief throughout Polynesia that insects are the embodiment of numinous beings, such as gods or the spirits of the dead, and this concept extends into Southeast Asia, where insects are seen as the embodiment of the soul ...
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