moko	Ca4-5	Ca4-11
	264	270

... A une certaine saison, on amassait des vivres, on faissait fête. On emmaillottait un corail, pierre de defunt lézard, on l'enterrait, tanu. Cette cérémonie était un point de départ pour beaucoup d'affaires, notamment de vacances pour le chant des tablettes ou de la prière, tanu i te tau moko o tana pure, enterrer la pierre sépulcrale du lézard de sa prière ...

Tanu To cover something in the ground with stones or soil; to bury a corpse; tanu kopú, to bury completely; this expression is mostly used figuratively: ka-tanu kopú te vânaga tuai era, ina ekó mana'u hakaou, forget those old stories, don't think of them again. Vanaga. To bury, to plant, to sow seed, to inter, to implant, to conceal; tagata tanukai, farmer; tanuaga, burial; tanuaga papaku, funeral; tanuga, plantation; tanuhaga, funeral, tomb. P Pau.: tanu, to cultivate. Mgv.: tanu, to plant, to bury. Mq.: tanu, to plant, to sow. Ta.: tanu, to plant, to sow, to bury. Churchill.

At a certain time of the year they buried (tanu) a painted lizard stone (tau moko) and feasted. It could have been when winter was over, around the southern spring equinox (according to the time of Elnath).

The descendants of Tu included Moko - his 13th son:

... Then man existed, and the progeny of Tu increased: Rongo, Tane, Tangaroa, Rongomai, Kahukura, Tiki, Uru, Ngangana, Io, Iorangi, Waiorangi, Tahu, Moko, Maroro, Wakehau, Tiki, Toi, Rauru, Whatonga - these were the sons. Ruanuku, Motu ariki, Te Ao marama, Tu mare, Ranganuku, Matariki, Wari, and Ro Tauira the pattern-maid - these were the females. These were Rangitokona's descendants born of heaven and the earth. The last, Ro Tauira, being made, the children of Rangi and Papa went forth their ways, they went out to the world of being ...

The Moriori Tu could have been called Ku on Hawaii (like in ancient Babylonia) and he sacrificed himself to save his children. After lots of fallen tears he became the breadfruit tree:

... According to an etiological Hawaiian myth, the breadfruit originated from the sacrifice of the war god Ku. After deciding to live secretly among mortals as a farmer, Ku married and had children. He and his family lived happily until a famine seized their island. When he could no longer bear to watch his children suffer, Ku told his wife that he could deliver them from starvation, but to do so he would have to leave them. Reluctantly, she agreed, and at her word, Ku descended into the ground right where he had stood until only the top of his head was visible. His family waited around the spot he had last been, day and night watering it with their tears until suddenly a small green shoot appeared where Ku had stood. Quickly, the shoot grew into a tall and leafy tree that was laden with heavy breadfruits that Ku's family and neighbours gratefully ate, joyfully saved from starvation ...

His sacrifice was that he had to be buried. He went under ground and died - just as Kuukuu, the planter, on Easter Island.

Maui turned himself into a moko huruhuru before crawling inside:

... When they arrived at the place where Hine nui lay asleep with her legs apart and they could see those flints that were set between her thighs, Maui said to his companions: 'Now, my little friends, when you see me crawl into the body of this old chieftainess, whatever you do, do not laugh. When I have passed right through her and am coming out of her mouth, then you can laugh if you want to. But not until then, whatever you do.' His friends twittered and fluttered about him and flew in his way. 'O sir', they cried, 'you will be killed if you go in there.' 'No', said Maui, holding up his enchanted jawbone. 'I shall not - unless you spoil it. She is asleep now. If you start laughing as soon as I cross the threshold, you will wake her up, and she will certainly kill me at once. But if you can keep quiet until I am on the point of coming out, I shall live and Hine nui will die, and men will live thereafter for as long as they wish.' So his friends moved out of his way. 'Go on in then, brave Maui', they said, 'but do take care of yourself'.Maui at first assumed the form of a kiore, or rat, to enter the body of Hine. But tataeko, the little whitehead, said he would never succeed in that form. So he took the form of a toke, or earth-worm. But tiwaiwaka the fantail, who did not like worms, was against this. So Maui turned himself into a moko huruhuru, a kind of caterpillar that glistens. It was agreed that this looked best, and so Maui started forth, with comical movements. The little birds now did their best to comply with Maui's wish. They sat as still as they could, and held their beaks shut tight, and tried not to laugh. But it was impossible. It was the way Maui went in that gave them the giggles, and in a moment little tiwaiwaka the fantail could no longer contain himself. He laughed out loud, with his merry, cheeky note, and danced about with delight, his tail flickering and his beak snapping. Hine nui awoke with a start. She realised what was happening, and in a moment it was all over with Maui. By the way of rebirth he met his end. Thus died this Maui we have spoken of, who was formed in the topknot of Taranga and cast in the sea, but was saved and nurtured to lead a life of mischief. And thus did the laughter of his companions at the last and most scandalous of his exploits deprive mankind of immortality. For Hine nui always knew what Maui had it in mind to do to her. But she knew that it was best that man should die, and return to the darkness from which he comes, down that path which she made to Rarohenga. Wherefore our people have the saying: 'Death came to the mighty when Maui was strangled by Hine nui to Po, and so it has remained in the world' ...

I have suggested Vie Moko was connected with Raven:

... Therefore we maybe should equate vie kena with δ¹ Tauri (Hyadum II) and vie moko with Algorab (δ Corvi), where spring light emerged from the Rainy Hyades respectively where Black Raven announced the Sun was leaving - the door of entrance respectively the door of exit ...