5. My glyph type tao looks like the hull of a canoe (cfr at The Two Wives of Sun) and in the first glyph line there is a pair of them:
Another pair (with a slightly different design) comes early on side b, at the close of summer:
It should be necessary to go by boat in order to reach a 'new land' and then to use a boat also when leaving it. In G there evidently are 'double-canoe hulls' both around autumn equinox (b2) and after winter solstice (a1):
... The divine names Bran, Saturn, Cronos ... are applied to the ghost of Hercules that floats off in the alder-wood boat after his midsummer sacrifice ... (cfr at Kai Viri). South of the equator (in the land of Moon) this should happen after winter solstice. Moon has 2 faces and it could mean there are 2 tere-vaka stations south of the equator. ... Miro-oone, model boat made of earth in which the 'boat festivals' used to be celebrated ... on the first day of the year the natives dress in navy uniforms and perform exercises which imitate the maneuvers of ships' crews ... To complicate matters, however, there are also two separate tao 'hulls' in the Takaure season:
Possibly day number 292 is to be understood as 192 (the end of the front side of the year) + 100. 130 + 50 = 180, and perhaps 50 is alluding to 24º + 26º:
It is evident from the Babylonian zodiac that the ecliptic path of Sun goes high above the Milky Way from Gemini to Scorpio. This is the 'land' which Leo (Sun) rules, and evidently he is depicted with wings to show how high he is: The back side of the year, from Cargo Boat to Crook, has another character - the Milky Way rises high above the ecliptic. Instead of a Lion with wings there is a Panther (presumably black) with wings. I guess Ninmah has a boat as her headgear because it means 'land' has been reached - from Eridu 'the path of milk' goes upwards again and next station is Harrow (followed by Abyss described similar to Field). Fire feathers on top of the head of the Eridu figure is equally strange as a boat on top of the head of Ninmah - how can there be fire down in the 'deep water' and how can there be a boat up on 'land'? The mountain Terevaka ought to be the point of Sun's departure from 'land'. But south of the equator the seasons are 'upside down'. Antares in Scorpio indicates when summer is arriving, not when summer is leaving. A boat for leaving summer should be at the opposite end of the sky roof, viz. around Aldebaran (Ana-muri), and day number 290 would not be a bad choice:
The above is pure guesswork of course, without any 'proof'. But there are 230 glyphs on the front side of the G text and tagata in Gb2-30 could allude to the end of the front side. If so, then there should be a point of turning around also at the threshold to the Takaure season (because such is the case between glyph number 236 and 237 - and Gb3-1--2 can be counted as 2-36 respectively 2-37):
Ure in Gb1-7 looks like the sting of Scorpio, i.e. it could mean the season of Ana-mua is over. Or it could mean it lies in front. South of the equator, where everything is upside down, the canoe maybe should leave land instead of arriving to it (as when the ark of Noah landed on Mount Ararat). The 2 faces of Moon could make it necessary to have tere-vaka double-canoe stations both at autumn equinox and at winter solstice:
But to the north, where Sun rules, it should not be necessary to have a pair of hulls, one would be sufficient:
"…Mâ-û-i was also a prophet; he told the people that there would come a vaa ama ore [= va'a ama 'ore = vaka ama kore] (canoe without an outrigger) after which would also come a vaa taura ore (canoe without cordage), which predictions from prehistoric times the priests and bards faithfully handed to their people, always puzzled to understand how such things could be, until the arrival of Captain Wallis, whose ship had also later been described before it appeared as the vaa ama ore by more modern prophets. Those went still further and also described the foreigners who would bring it, and in due time came before the astonished people the steamship propelled without rigging, and the steam tug, literally, without cordage..." (Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti.) "At Opoa, at one of the last great gatherings of the Hau-pahu-nui, for idolatrous worship, before the arrival of European ships, a strange thing happened during our [the two priests of Porapora, Auna-iti and Vai-au] solemn festivity. Just at the close of the pa'i-atua ceremony, there came a whirlwind which plucked off the head of a tall spreading tamanu tree, named Paruru-mata'i-i-'a'ana (Screen-from-wind-of-aggravating-crime), leaving the bare trunk standing. This was very remarkable, as tamanu wood is very hard and close-grained. Awe struck the hearts of all present. The representatives of each people looked at those of the other in silence for some time, until at last a priest of Opoa named Vaità (Smitten-water) exclaimed, - E homa, eaha ta 'outou e feruri nei? (Friends, upon what are you meditating?) - Te feruri nei i te tapa'o o teie ra'au i motu nei; a'ita te ra'au nei i motu mai te po au'iu'i mai. (We are wondering what the breaking of this tree may be ominous of; such a thing has not happened to our trees from the remotest age), the people replied. Then Vaità feeling inspired proceeded to tell the meaning of this strange event… I see before me the meaning of this strange event! There are coming the glorious children of the Trunk (God), who will see these trees here, in Taputapuatea. In person, they differ from us, yet they are the same as we, from the Trunk, and they will possess this land. There will be an end to our present customs, and the sacred birds of sea and land will come to mourn over what this tree that is severed teaches. This unexpected speech amazed the people and sages, and we enquired where such people were to be found. Te haere mai nei na ni'a i te ho'e pahi ama 'ore. (They are coming on a ship without an outrigger), was Vaitàs reply. Then in order to illustrate the subject, Vaità, seeing a large umete (wooden trough) at hand, asked the king to send some men with it and place it balanced with stones in the sea, which was quickly done, and there the umete sat upon the waves with no signs of upsetting amid the applauding shouts of the people." (Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti.) |
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