7. The synodic lunar year defined as 12 * 29.5 = 354 days can be divided in 2 halves with each containing 177 days. Number 177 does appear in the rongorongo texts. If we count the number of glyphs from Ha1-1 and up to 'noon', we will find number 277 at tagata:
This 'calendar of daytime' is located halfway through the front side of the tablet, which has 12 glyph lines. 'Noon' can here be interpreted as summer solstice. The glyph type in Ha6-4 is tapa mea and it has 5 'feathers' in front, probably indicating the new fire created by Saturn. I guess number 277 could be 100 + 177. And by moving a further 177 glyphs ahead (beyond Ha6-2) we could arrive at the end of a 354 day long year. It is time to begin to make 'predictions' like this and to see whether the results will agree with the predictions. First we should look for glyph number 100 counted from Ha1-1:
At toa in Ha2-50 we can count 2 * 50 = 100, and it is the only one of these glyphs for which the ordinal number agrees with the product of line number and number in the line. Such a trick was sometimes used by the rongorongo creators in order to eliminate uncertainty. What was the prediction? It was that we should find some indication of a change from one season to another. If such a glyph as tagata in Ha2-51 had been number 100 the prediction would have come true. But we are instead left with a question mark. From tagata in Ha2-51 to tagata in Ha6-2 there are 176 glyphs. This number happens to be equal to twice 88 and we should remember that 188 + 166 = 354. Maybe we should count with 2 glyphs per day? This would result in 88 days from tagata in Ha2-51 to tagata in Ha6-2. And toa in Ha2-50 would then represent the 2nd half of day number 50 counted from Ha1-1 (a fact which could be hinted at by 2-50). But by now we are manipulating the results in order to make them fit. The prediction did not come true. |
