The fixed stars chosen for star pillars had to be bright and they had to be possible to integrate into a whole structure where the distances measured out were relevant in terms of the basic time cycles of the Moon, the Sun, and the other moving ('living') planets. They could not be 'alive', not change their positions but stand firm. From there it is only a short step to regard them as statues or other artificial images - which of course would be unable to move without help. ... in the ceremonial course of the coming year, the king is symbolically transposed toward the Lono pole of Hawaiian divinity ... It need only be noticed that the renewal of kingship at the climax of the Makahiki coincides with the rebirth of nature. For in the ideal ritual calendar, the kali'i battle follows the autumnal appearance of the Pleiades, by thirty-three days - thus precisely, in the late eighteenth century, 21 December, the winter solstice. The king returns to power with the sun. Whereas, over the next two days, Lono plays the part of the sacrifice. The Makahiki effigy is dismantled and hidden away in a rite watched over by the king's 'living god', Kahoali'i or 'The-Companion-of-the-King', the one who is also known as 'Death-is-Near' (Koke-na-make). Close kinsman of the king as his ceremonial double, Kahoali'i swallows the eye of the victim in ceremonies of human sacrifice ... The 'living god', moreover, passes the night prior to the dismemberment of Lono in a temporary house called 'the net house of Kahoali'i', set up before the temple structure where the image sleeps. In the myth pertinent to these rites, the trickster hero - whose father has the same name (Kuuka'ohi'alaki) as the Kuu-image of the temple - uses a certain 'net of Maoloha' to encircle a house, entrapping the goddess Haumea; whereas, Haumea (or Papa) is also a version of La'ila'i, the archetypal fertile woman, and the net used to entangle her had belonged to one Makali'i, 'Pleiades'. Just so, the succeeding Makahiki ceremony, following upon the putting away of the god, is called 'the net of Maoloha', and represents the gains in fertility accruing to the people from the victory over Lono. A large, loose-mesh net, filled with all kinds of food, is shaken at a priest's command. Fallen to earth, and to man's lot, the food is the augury of the coming year. The fertility of nature thus taken by humanity, a tribute-canoe of offerings to Lono is set adrift for Kahiki, homeland of the gods. The New Year draws to a close. At the next full moon, a man (a tabu transgressor) will be caught by Kahoali'i and sacrificed. Soon after the houses and standing images of the temple will be rebuilt: consecrated - with more human sacrifices - to the rites of Kuu and the projects of the king ... The Hawaiian new year ceremonies were using several images (effigies) and I suspect that at least some of them corresponded to 'star pillars', the important Lono (Rogo) for instance. Metoro said tagata rogo at Ca3-25 (where March 25 could be alluded to):
A Rogo figure should not have any legs and in Ca3-25 his midsection looks insect-like. There are 72 (= 360 / 5) days from March 25 (84) to June 5 (156). The front 'wing' of the Rogo in Ca3-25 resembles the manu type of wing and from Aldebaran the distance is 8 nights.
Could there be some important heliacal star rising 8 nights after Aldebaran? In rogo-rogo times its RA day number would have been 68 + 8 = 76. We can see a few possibilities:
I guess the Haedus 'gate' could have been established to coincide with the time of Rogo. Not only does the name refer to the Old Winter Goat
but Haedus II could correspond to the front (manu) wing of Rogo and Haedus I to his past wing. However, Cursa (β Eridani) is a more likely alternative. It is brighter (2.78) than the other stars I have listed around 5h. And its position adjacent to Rigel (β Orionis) should have been irresistible when searching for a good star pillar:
"Puanga or Puanga-rua, Blossom-cluster; the Maori name for Rigel, which was considered the most beautiful star in the sky. The constellation Orion, seen inverted as compared with its position viewed from the northern hemisphere, was visualized as a bird-snare, with Puanga as the lure. Rigel was one of the most important of the Maori food-bestowing stars. Stowell declared that Puanga-rua and Whaka-ahu, Castor, were styled Nga Tokorua-oTaingarue, the Twins of Taingarue, but the mythological significance of the phrase has been forgotten." (Makemson, The Morning Star Rises.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
