The words of Metoro have influenced me:
| April 17 (107) |
18 |
19 |
| October 17 (290) |
18 |
19 |
 |
 |
 |
| Cb1-1 (393) |
Cb1-2 |
Cb1-3 |
| E tupu - ki roto |
o te hau tea |
| Al Sharatain-1 / Ashvini-1 / Bond-16 |
ι Arietis (28.0), λ Arietis (28.2) |
Alrisha, χ Phoenicis (29.2), Alamak (29.7) |
| Segin, Mesarthim, ψ Phoenicis (27.2), SHERATAN, φ Phoenicis (27.4) |
| Muphrid (210.1), ζ Centauri (210.3) |
φ Centauri (211.0), υ¹ Centauri (211.1), υ² Centauri (211.8), τ Virginis (211.9) |
Agena (212.1), θ Apodis (212.5), Thuban (212.8) |
| April 20 (110) |
| October 20 (293) |
 |
| Cb1-4 (396) |
| ki te henua - te maro |
| 2h (30.4) |
| κ Arietis (30.3), Hamal (30.5)
Alkes
|
| 14h (213.1) |
| χ Centauri (213.0), Menkent (213.1) |
| April 21 (111) |
22 |
23 |
rutua - te pahu - rutua te maeva - atua rerorero - atua hiko ura - hiko o tea - ka higa te ao ko te henua ra ma te hoi atua |
| October 21 |
22 (295) |
23 |
 |
 |
 |
| Cb1-5 |
Cb1-6 |
Cb1-7 (399) |
| η Arietis (31.9) |
no star listed (32) |
θ Arietis (33.3), Mira (33.7) |
| Neck-2 |
Al Ghafr-13 / Svāti-15 |
ι Lupi, 18 Bootis (216.3), Khambalia (216.4), υ Virginis (216.5), ψ Centauri (216.6), ε Apodis (216.8) |
| Asellus Tertius, κ VIRGINIS, 14 Bootis (214.8) |
15 Bootis (215.2), ARCTURUS (215.4), Asellus Secundus (215.5), SYRMA, λ Bootis (215.6), η Apodis (215.8) |
| April 24 |
25 |
26 (116) |
27 |
| October 24 |
25 |
26 |
27 (300) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Cb1-8 |
Cb1-9 |
Cb1-10 |
Cb1-11 (403) |
| no star listed (34) |
ξ Arietis (35.0) |
no star listed (36) |
no star listed (37) |
| Asellus Primus (217.8) |
τ Lupi (218.1), φ Virginis (218.7)
Fomalhaut
|
σ Lupi (219.1), ρ Bootis (219.5), Haris (219.7) |
σ Bootis (220.2), η Centauri (220.4) |
I have here not been able to distribute his words according to glyphs in my normal manner. Instead Metoro may have perceived this week as a unit.
It was a week when the drums were sounding (rutua - te pahu) in harmony with the solemn sound of the 'moving sky' (rutua - te maeva).
| Rutu 1. To read, to recite, to pronounce words solemnly; he-rutu i te kohau motu, to read the rongorongo tablets; hare rutu rogorogo mo hakama'a ki te ga poki ite kai, i te rogorogo, rongorongo school, house in which children were taught reading and writing the rongorongo signs. 2. To pelt with stones. 3. To gather in great numbers (of people). Vanaga.
Sound. Rutu-rongorongo = the sound of recitation. Barthel. T. Beat. Henry.
To recite; tae rutu, irreverence. Churchill.
Pau.: rutu, a drum. Mgv.: rutu, to beat, to cause to resound. Ta.: rutu, a drum, to drum. Mq.: utu, to drum. Sa.: lutu, to shake a rattle. Churchill. |
| Pahu Drum. Pahu-rutu-roa = Long-beating-drum. Barthel.
M. Pahū. Tree gong. Starzecka.
Pahu uma, coffin; in modern usage, any sort of jar. Pahupahu = To dig a hole. Vanaga.
A trough, barrel, cask, cradle, drum, chest, box; pahu nui, a kettle; pahu oka, a drawer; pahu papaku, coffin; pahu rikiriki, sheath; pahu viriviri, hogshead. Pahupahu, box. Churchill.
A trough, barrel, cask, cradle, drum, chest, box; pahu nui, a kettle; pahu oka, a drawer; pahu papaku, coffin; pahu rikiriki, sheath; pahu viriviri, hogshead; pahupahu, box. P Mgv., Ta.: pahu, a drum. Mq.: pahu, a drum, a large cylindrical container. (To.: bahu, a hollow tree set in water as a filter.) Sa.: pusa, a box. To.: buha, id. Fu.: pusa, id. Niue: puha, id. Pau.: puha, id. Pahuahi, lantern, beacon. Paukumi, closet, cupboard. Pahupopo, a mould; pahupopokai, cupboard for food. Pahure: 1. To sweep everything away. 2. To wound, to lacerate, scar, bruise, lesion, sore; pahurehure, to wound, to scratch; hakapahure, to wound. T Pau.: pahure, to be skinned; pahore, to peel off, to scale. Mgv.: pahore, to cut off, to chop, to slice. Ta.: pahore, to flay, to skin. Churchill 2. |
| Maeva T. 1. Move. Rangi-maeva = Moving Sky (name of a marae). 2. Greet, greeting. Henry. |
Little birds are chirping in spring but when a Hairy Old Man is 'pelted away' (rutu) the sound is the opposite, like that of a hollow tree drum.
But it is not possible to know exactly what Metoro meant. We can guess he referred to how the new year ('sky') pushed the old one away. Notably the great hau tea in Cb1-3 has 'Janus faces', a sign of where one cycle (mata) is ending and another beginning.
... It looks as if Hevelius has put κ Virginis at her left heel. Counting from [heliacal] Alamak (at the heel of Andromeda) to [nakshatra] κ Virginis the distance is 214.8 - 29.7 = 185 days. This distance could therefore express the [length of the] front side of the year ...
April 19 (109) + (365 - 185) = 289 (October 16) could point at the end of side a:
The idea of 'pelting' a star ('stone') away - in this instance perhaps represented by Alamak (the 'tail' of Andromeda) - is in harmony with atua rerorero ('bruising god'):
| Rerorero 1. To write, to draw; rerorero i te igoa, to sign. 2. To rape. Vanaga.
To crush, to bruise. Churchill. |
Metoro explained the glyphs at the beginning of the Tahua text with similar words, otherwise he never mentioned atua rerorero (nor pahu, nor maeva):
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Ab1-1 |
Ab1-2 |
Ab1-3 |
Ab1-4 |
| Te hoea - rutua te pahu - rutua te maeva - atua rerorero - atua ata tuu |
 |
 |
 |
| Ab1-5 |
Ab1-6 |
Ab1-7 |
| atua ata Rei - tuu te Rei hemoa |
i ako te vai |
Metoro saw he should begin reading the Tahua text at Ab1-1 (not at Aa1-1) and I could eventually conclude he probably was right by observing the little size of viri in Ab1-1 compared to the other few such glyphs in the text:
| 59 |
|
520 |
 |
752 |
 |
| Ab1-1 |
Ab7-26 |
Aa8-26 |
| 20 * 29 |
26 * 29 |
| 1334 = 29 * 46 |
The 'old one' (Aa8-26) may have 'expired' 60 glyphs earlier.
Probably the time at Ab1-1 is later than the time at Cb1-1. In Ab1-2 we can imagine the Janus type of hau tea has sailed away.
... the first month of the Moriori year, was named Rongo (Lono). On the first of the new year the Moriori launched a small canoe to Rongo, although they built and used only rude craft for their fishing excursions. The canoe was manned by twelve figures symbolizing the personifications of the twelve months. Sometimes twenty-four figures were placed in the canoe, and Skinner interprets the additional twelve as representing the female counterparts of the months. As an old Maori once remarked. 'Everything has its female counterpart.'
... A curious diversion appears in the month list of the people of Porapora and Moorea in the Society Islands, which sheds light on the custom of the Moriori who sometimes placed 24 figures in the canoe which they dispatched seaward to the god Rongo on new years day. The names of the wives of the months are included, indicating that other Polynesians besides the Chatham Islanders personified the months ...
A Rogo type of glyph was placed at Ab1-6, where Metoro explained: i ako te vai ('sweet water song'):
| Ako
To sing, to recite: he-ako i te kaikai, to recite the [text accompanying a] string figure kaikai; he-ako i te rîu, to sing rîu. Vanaga.
Song. Ako hakaha'uru poki = 'song to make children sleep'. Barthel.
Ákoáko, to recite hymns in honour of a deity. Vanaga. |
Viri in Ab1-1 was te hoea. The instrument for tattooing (te hoea) probably indicated a dark place. Aldebaran (Ana-muri) stood at the place for tattooing and Metoro mentioned te hoea also at the beginning of line Ca1:
| March 21 |
22 (81) |
23 |
| September 20 |
21 |
equinox (265) |
| no glyph |
 |
 |
| Ca1-1 |
Ca1-2 |
| koia |
ki te hoea |
| Al Fargh al Thāni-25 |
Uttara Bhādrapadā-27 / Wall-14 |
χ Pegasi (2.1), θ Andromedae (2.7) |
| 0h (365.25) |
| Caph, SIRRAH (0.5), ε Phoenicis (0.8) |
ALGENIB PEGASI (1.8) |
| Alchita, Ma Wei (183.1), Minkar (183.7), ρ Centauri (183.9) |
Pálida (184.6), Megrez (184.9) |
Hasta-13 / Chariot-28 |
| GIENAH (185.1), ε Muscae (185.2), ζ Crucis (185.4), Zaniah (185.9) |
On Easter Island late March was a time when winter was approaching.
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