The tapu nights were on Hawaii defined by the phases of Moon and I have earlier tried to put in parallel 6 kokore nights in the Easter Island calendar - nights 'without' (kokore) i.e. without tapu - with 6 days in early September:
Then I arranged what could be tapu nights close to the September equinox:
The Easter Island Ohua lunar night could thus - given that I have managed to put in parallel the calendar nights with the glyphs - in some way correspond to RA night 182. On Hawaii one of their 4 tapu gods was Hua, possibly because the face of Moon had grown enough to resemble a rounded fruit (in which the seeds of a future generation, hua, were assembled). In the old days on Hawaii the nights Mohalu, Hua, and Akua, were tapu (dangerously sacred). On Easter Island there could possibly have been another set of tapu nights ending with Omotohi, the apex of the growth of Moon. Here the seed of next month could be imagined inside her rounded - like a sea-shell (hare pure) - body:
Ohua could refer to Sun and Omotohi to Moon, with first Sun (the male) and then Moon (his female), in the order stipulated by the cultures of East Asia. 182 ought to refer to 364 / 2 and 192 to 364 - 172 (the number of days up to the June solstice). 172 + 192 = 364 = 182 + 182. Hawaii had 8 months with tapu nights and then 4 months for the extended winter solstice season:
In my arrangement there are indeed kokore nights, 5 of them, in early October:
But on Easter Island there could have been more tapu nights than those 7 which I have guessed for Waxing Moon. Beyond Omotohi there could have been another 3 + 5 = 8 such nights:
These 3 nights had Sheratan visible close to the full Moon and Rogo (Orongo) might have been present. At left in Ca8-10 there is a maro string with 5 (rima) feathers hanging down at left. Possibly it means the time of growth is in the past. This is 209 - 182 = 27 nights from hua with 6 (ono) 'feathers' at left (in Ca7-14). Then, with the heliacal rising of Arcturus, a new set of tapu nights might have arrived. This was 295 nights counted from January 1:
But I may have been mistaken, because these 5 marama glyphs (erima marama) are such which could correspond to kokore nights, because they look quite ordinary. And the same goes for the 3 preceding marama glyphs. 3 + 5 = 8 such marama glyphs could allude to 8 months ruled by the Moon or maybe there were nights with special names without being tapu. Possibly the design of the Arcturus glyph was meant to tell the reader that the 5 following nights were neither ordinary kokore nights nor the tapu nights in the 8-month season. They could instead be connected with the arrival of Sun (south of the equator) and the beginning of a 4-month summer solstice season. I have repeated the above in order to reach an important point, viz. that the Hawaiians used the Pleiades for definining where their solar year began, whereas on Easter Island - at the other side of the equator - the solar year instead could have been defined by Rigel. "In view of the almost universal prevalence of the Pleiades year throughout the Polynesian area it is surprising to find that in the South Island and certain parts of the North Island of New Zealand and in the neighboring Chatham Islands, the year began with the new Moon after the early morning rising, not of the Pleiades, but of the star Rigel in Orion." (Makemson) The extended solstice season of Hawaii possibly was due to how precession had moved the Pleiades ahead in the year: "A connection between the new year and the harvesting of crops reminiscent of an earlier period when the evening appearance of the Pleiades in the east more nearly coincided with the arrival of the Sun at the autumnal equinox is seen in the prolonged Hawaiian ceremonies ushering in the new year. But in the month September-October, while the old year still had two months to run, announcement was made to the people by placing a certain signal outside the temple walls that the new year had begun." (Makemson) The Moon calendar in the C text is located in September-October. In the table below I have repeated the Hawaiian lunar calendar.
With red I have marked days which were characterized as 'ebb' and with black I have marked nights with 'high tide'. Night 26 is missing (cfr similarly no name at Ca8-16) and I guess this is a Sign which means the 4 last nights should be regarded as the first 4 nights in the next month. Night 25 should correspond to a night of Saturn who will create a new 'fire' - and thus a new month beginning with 'ebb' once more. In general blue above corresponds to waning ('flood') and red to waxing ('ebb'). The 3 tapu nights Mohalu, Hua, and Akua, would then be nights number 16, 17, respectively 18 in the new month. The night Huna (Hu-ga) would be number 15. "On that night [Mohalu] begins the tapu of the gods in the heiau (temple) and everyone goes to pray inside the heiau ... ... In old days it [Hua] was a day of prayer ... ... The name [Akua] indicates a great Moon, beautiful and well-rounded, because on this night it is separated from the great earth made by Kane [Tane], hence it is that the Moon appears so clear on this night, say the Hawaiian stories. That night and that day are tapu." (Makemson) Also Hoaka, night 4 + 2 = 6, and Ku-kahi (7) were nights of tapu, sacred to the god Ku (Tu). "In old times that [Ku-kahi] was the second day of the tapu of the god. Like Hilo, therefore, it was a day of death to man as a sacrifice for others. On one of those days the wrongdoer would be put to death. Such faults were punishable by death as breaking the chief's tapu, or a temple tapu, putting on himself the malo [maro = girdle] of the chief, or the skirt of a chiefess, murmuring against a chief, and so forth. The offender must surely die. Also if he was a traitor he died. In the old days if no offender could be found as offering to the images, they took one born a slave and sacrificed him to the images." (Makemson) Thus also Hilo may have been a tapu night. But in Ku-ruha (8) this tapu period ended. Possibly there was a correspondence with the triplet of tapu nights with my adjusted numbers 16, 17, and 18. The pattern could have required 3 tapu nights both at the beinning of Waxing Moon and at the beginning of Waning Moon - similar to holding your breath at the crucial beginning of something important. But with number 8 (= 18 - 10) 'ignition' was reached and your breath could be released: "On that day [Ku-ruha] in old times the tapu was freed, the commoners could relax from the dread of the tapu and think of life, for they were now shielded. The kahuna [tahuga = priest] prayed with a loud voice, saying, 'You are spared! You live!' and the people shouted all together from one place to another, 'Live!'" (Makemson) 13 nights after 10 Ole Pau (my night number 4 + 10 = 14) comes 23 Ole Pau (27) where a new tapu period was beginning. The words ole (kore) pau should mean that the group of nights 'without' (= freed from tapu) was empty, i.e. the tapu nights would now return. "Its [23 Ole Pau] characteristics are like those of [22] Ole-ku-lua. On that day begins the tapu ... --- It [24 Kaloa-ku-kahi] is a tapu day of the god. ... On that day [25 Kaloa-ku-lua, my number 4 + 25 = 29] the tapu of the gods was freed in ancient days." (Makemson) But possibly also a night of prayer was a kind of tapu night: "Kane [Tane] is the twenty-seventh night of the Moon. It was a day of prayer and on the day following, that of Lono [Rogo], the prayer was freed." (Makemson) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
