5. The opposition - each on one side of the equator of the sky - between Tane (land) and Tagaroa (sea) was described in the elementary first lesson of astronomy given by Kaneakahowaha on Hawaii: ... Take the lower part of a gourd or hula drum, rounded as a wheel (globe), on which several lines are to be marked and burned in, as described hereafter. These lines are called na alanui o na hoku hookele, the highways of the navigation stars, which stars are also called na hoku ai-aina, the stars which rule the land. Stars lying outside these three lines are called na hoku a ka lewa, foreign, strange, or outside stars. The first line is drawn from Hoku-paa, the fixed or North Star, to the most southerly star of Newe, the Southern Cross. (This hour circle coincides with the meridian on an evening in June, when it would divide the visible sky into halves.) The portion (of the sky) to the right or east of this line (the observer is evidently assumed to be facing north) is called ke ala ula a Kane, the dawning or bright road of Kane, and that to the left or west is called ke alanui maawe ula a Kanaloa, the much-traveled highway of Kanaloa. (Kane and Kanaloa were important gods in the Polynesian pantheon, Kane being associated with light, Kanaloa with darkness.) Then three lines are drawn east and west, one across the northern section indicates the northern limit of the Sun (corresponding with the Tropic of Cancer) about the 15th and 16th days of the month Kaulua (i.e., the 21st or 22nd of June) and is called ke alanui polohiwa a Kane, the black-shining road of Kane. The line across the southern section indicates the southern limit of the Sun about the 15th or 16th days of the month Hilinama (December 22) and is called ke alanui polohiwa a Kanaloa, the black-shining road of Kanaloa. The line exactly around the middle of the sphere is called ke alanui a ke ku'uku'u, the road of the spider, and also ke alanui i ka Piko a Wakea, the way to the navel of Wakea (the Sky-father) ... The perspective is that of a position north of the equator, where it is high summer when Sun has reached the tropic of Cancer:
The Road of the Spider (Sun) - the equator - is in the central (important) position, and during the course of a year he is passing overhead twice, viz. at the equinoxes when he has a fairly good speed. The solstices are at the 'black-shining roads' (polohiwa) and there Sun slows down to a full stop. The name of the firstborn son of Hua Tava was probably chosen by the creators of Manuscript E in an effort to indicate spring equinox, where summer can be said to begin:
Ku'uku'u is equivalent with tukutuku, and while tuku indicates a standstill position (as at a solstice) the double form should mean its opposite, i.e. an equinox:
A spider caught in golden amber ought to indicate summer solstice, I thought, when I copied this picture from Wikipedia:
The 4 + 4 = 8 legs can be used to let the spider (or the crab of Cancer) indicate a full cycle, with 8 as the perfect number (1 more than those 7 in a 'week'). We can, e.g., count 364 / 7 * 8 = 416:
The fish tails in Gb7-5 and Gb7-10 are presumably indicating 'sky dome closed in front', and also the bird wing in front in Gb7-7 can be understood in this way. The time is evidently winter solstice, cfr for instance the 'midnight henua' in Gb7-6.
'Midnight' (417) comes 400 days later than Ga1-16, but from Ga1-15 to tamaiti in Gb7-3 there are 399 days, which presumably is more important:
The outline of an egg-shell probably is intended to be noticed in Ga1-16, and eggs should be counted by scores. 20 * 20 = 400. 7 * 59 = 413, and this day is a Thursday. Here ends an old cycle. A new cycle begins with Friday and the following 8 glyphs:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
