When Sun is close to the winter solstice he behaves as if he was bound to the earth, not able to rise very high. He is together with Mother Earth. Judging from Metoro's words we could guess he may have meant this with his koia ra:
The pair of tagata - with positions possibly alluding to the Pleiades (rising heliacally in Gregorian days 135 and 136, i.e. 72 days later) - are opposites. The first one is running away while the second one is standing still. The first one could refer to the old year and the second one to the new year (beginning at the 'mouth' of Pisces). In Ca13-4 there is a person with a thumb in 'ashes' (kihikihi) while in Ca13-7 the living spirit (manu rere) has returned. But the heliacal beginning of Pisces is not at a solstice, rather the opposite. Metoro's koia ra at Ca13-5 can hardly mean Sun is at a solstice. |
