8. The Moriori fishermen on Chatham Islands - now no longer existing - can give us a valuable hint as to what the manu rere glyph type means. They had a creation myth, in which first Rangitokona separated heaven and earth and then created the first man Tu. To make Tu alive Rangitokona had to add something: "... Then the spirit was gathered in. And this was the chant for that work: Let the spirit of the man be gathered to the world of being, the world of light. / Then see. Placed in the body is the flying bird, the spirit-breath. / Then breathe! / Sneeze, living spirit, to the world of being, the world of light. / Then see. Placed in the body is the flying bird, the breath. / Be breathing then, great Tu. Now live! Then man existed, and the progeny of Tu increased ..." (Antony Alpers, Legends of the South Seas) When the old year 'is falling on his face' (cfr 'Ulu fell on his face and died') it means we can no longer see his 'face' - it will be completely dark. But somehow a new baby Sun will come and once again give us light / life. I suggest this miracle involves Old Sun leaving his dead body behind and rising towards the sky in form of a 'flying bird', later to descend again into the body of his little baby son (sun). If I am right, then the glyph type manu rere could have been used to illustrate the spirit of a year. |