8. When Sun (Helius or his alter ego Phaeton) comes to a full stop and falls down into the dark river Po (certainly the same word, I think, as the Polynesian po), it should be an occasion dependent upon the location of The Milky Way, because if the spirits of dead people must move along this road then surely also that of dead Sun should do so. And it would not do to let the spirit of Sun move around restlessly waiting, he must get on his way at once.

Ga Vake lie south of Ana-mua (Antares) which announces the beginning of summer south of the equator, i.e. the Galaxy is not at midsummer but at spring equinox. At viri was mentioned the Mayan idea of The Black Transformer, another version of the story, where it is said that 'the Milky Way is lying down flat' - as if in harmony with the flat path of Sun at midsummer - i.e., it should be easily accessible in all directions:

... When the Milky Way is lying down flat, rimming the horizon, the area overhead is completely dark. This is the portal into which Pakal falls on his sarcophagus lid and out of which beings of the Otherworld emerge.

The Maya called this dark place the White-Bone-Snake, but it was also called the Ek'-Way, 'The Black-Transformer' or 'Black-Dreamplace' ...

Once upon a time, though, the Milky Way was standing like a great tree at midsummer - a quarter of the precessional cycle ago. Centaurus was close to the root of this galactic tree and those who went there had to plunge dive.

"Plunge ... thrust or cast (oneself) into liquid ... f. L. plumbum lead ..." (English Etymology)

Lead is the metal of Saturn.

Maybe Hotu Matua, the Sun King, had to leave at spring equinox because at that time the Galaxy was available and within his reach:

... The king arose from his sleeping mat and said to all the people: 'Let us go to Orongo so that I can announce my death!' The king climbed on the rock and gazed in the direction of Hiva, the direction in which he had travelled (across the ocean). The king said: 'Here I am and I am speaking for the last time.' The people (mahingo) listened as he spoke. The king called out to his guardian spirits (akuaku), Kuihi and Kuaha, in a loud voice: 'Let the voice of the rooster of Ariana crow softly. The stem with many roots (i.e., the king) is entering!' The king fell down, and Hotu A Matua died ...

Kuihi sounds a bit like Ga Kuhi (the Tuamotuan name for α Centauri), but that may be a pure coincidence. The 'stem with many roots' is, I guess, alluding to the galactic tree, the tree of life (by way of reincarnation). The king enters into himself and disappears for a while.

The form of a hare paega with its entrance 'midships' suggests that the short ends (where only the gods can enter or leave) are at the equinoxes, where the path of sun is very bent.