Today is September 30, when I am writing this, 6 days after the news about the stampede of thousands of pilgrims in Mina. It is day 273 because A.D. 2015 is not a leap year. The first 3 quarters of the Gregorian year are ending. 3 * 91 = 273 and 4 * 91 = 364. I could say autumn will begin tomorrow.
South of the equator, for instance on Easter Island, it is also the last day in the 3rd Gregorian quarter. But it is spring which is beginning, not autumn. In rongorong times it would have been the same and spring could have been regarded as beginning tomorrow. Our Gregorian calendar, I think, was probably known on Easter Island in rongorongo times. In the C text, which - I have suggested - was beginning at the March equinox, the distance to the September equinox could have been counted either as 273 - 80 = 193 days or as 193 + 365 = 558 days. But side b of the tablet was beginning 393 glyphs after the beginning of the text, 200 more than 193. If there was order, then the beginning of side b could not be at the September equinox. 80 (March 21) + 393 = 473 (i.e., 1 more than the number of days covered by the G text). The beginning of side b on the C tablet ought then to be at day 473 - 365 = 108 counted from the March equinox. However, the rongorongo writers evidently could have used a solar year measuring 266 + 100 = 366 days:
Therefore should 393 - 366 = 27 be the distance at Cb1-1 from the March equinox and the day number should be 80 + 27 = 107 (April 17 in a non-leap year). Although according to our ºGregorian calendar, which no longer was joined to the correct star time, the day number was only 107 - 4 (the precessional depth from A.D. 1842 to A.D. 1582) = 103 and not indicated otherwise than implicity in my description of the C text. In rongorongo times °April 17 was only at RA day 23 (= 103 - 80) = April 13, when Achernar (α Eridani) rose with the Sun:
From consulting the stars in the night of Vaitu nui 17 (April 17 = RA day 27) - those stars which could be observed close to the Full Moon - for instance Muphrid (η Bootis) and ζ Centauri, the northern spring month April could be 'translated' as the southern spring month October. Vaitu nui 17 (107) + 183 = 290 (Tagaroa uri 17).
If people on Easter Island used a star calendar from the time of Al Sharatain (keeping to the idea of the northern spring equinox being defined by the First Point of Aries), then we should reduce the day number 107 (for Vaitu nui 17) with the precessional depth from rongorongo times back to the time of Al Sharatain: 107 - 27 (the RA day in rongorongo times for The First Point of Aries) = 80 (Tarahao 21). In my presentations of the C text such dates as April 17 (107) and October 17 (107 + 183 = 290) refer not to my assumed star calendar from the time of Al Sharatain but to rongorongo times. However, in the Gregorian calendar the dates ºApril 17 and ºOctober would arrive 4 days later, viz. at Cb1-5:
The very special week beginning with Cb1-5 suggests an effort to indicate where the First Point of Aries was according to our Gregorian calendar. In other words, the text evidently has documented both the true position of Al Sharatain (27 days after equinox = April 107) and its corresponding position in the Gregorian calendar. |
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