All these signs in Calendar I of 'the other side' taken together can be read not only as indicating how sun light is abating when Sun in the evening is being swallowed at the horizon in the west, but also as what happens when Sun 'dives down into the sea' beyond high summer, having spent all his 300 days. In both cases the quartet of waxing moon crescents and the sign of fatness will fit with the 'season' which is unfolding. In the evening a meal certainly has been prepared in the earth oven and after the extensive growth in spring nobody goes hungry. Even the idea of vaha kai being the mouth of an imagined head still remains viable, though possibly with a change of values:
3 (in Yc1-3) comes one week before 10 (in Gb5-10). Calendars are determined by the Moon (even if she wears the gown of Venus). Day 364 can be defined as when 26 fortnights are in the past and Gb5-10 has ordinal number 364 (counted from Gb8-30). This alternative is better than the alternative of interpreting the text as describing the nighttime journey of the Sun. The Underworld cannot be depicted, and neither should it be done if it was possible, because that would be like calling up the ghosts. Calendar I once again, now revised so that the first 180 days of the year (spring) lie in the past:
The Mercury moa crying out in Yb1-1 could be alluding to the kuhane station Tama (day number 14 * 29.5 = 413). And the fat fish manu kake (Ya3-5) marking the end of the 2nd half of 400 days could indicate how old sun (bird at left) is moving on in form of a new sun baby (tamaiti). In G the new sun (Rogo) comes 5 days before Tama:
Although the pattens are similar there are reversals: The crying out moa in Gb7-1 has the upper part of his beak (and also his 'legs') ending in nothing - it is the old year disappearing.
In Yb1-1 only the front of the head of the crying out moa is seen, it is a beginning from nothing. And the lower part of the beak is oriented downwards, not upwards as in Gb7-1. Glyph line b1 is in G at the beginning of the back side, glyph line b7 is at the beginning of the front side. And 4 Zotz is the beginning of spring sun. Time moves on and 40 dark days and nights will come. The glyphs also tell about a new beginning:
100 days beyond 365 the 4th 'thumb' of vai is growing up in front. Counting from day 230 henua at Yb2-6 will be number 240 = 8 * 30. Counting at henua in Yb2-1 (445) the beginning could be 185 days earlier, because 185 + 260 = 445. In G there are 471 glyphs, one less than 16 * 29.5 = 472. To reach that number it is necessary to move beyond Yb2-6, but evidently Yb2-8 is a 'zero' glyph. |
