next page

table of contents home

2. Our problem (how to accommodate in 'close embrace' both the idea of a solstice and the idea of a quarter beyond solstice) gives me the opportunity to - for the first time here in Dream Voyager -  try to integrate more fully the recent findings with that which I once wrote regarding the glyph types (e.g. hau tea). The following are pages copied from the glyph type dictionary:

A few preliminary remarks and imaginations:

1. The beams of the sun which enlighten our world:

presumably form the bottom part of the hau tea glyph type. This way of illustrating - with the rays depicted as straight lines - is the same as in the petroglyphs below (ref. Heyerdahl 3):

The vertical sun rays are also seen on the upper part of an example of ao:

:

'A large portion of the upper blade, corresponding to the broad and tall forehead, is covered by dense rows of vertically painted stripes that may indicate hair although in some specimens they definitely assume the aspects of a feather-crown of the type common in aboriginal Easter Island.' (Heyerdahl 3)

Ao, aô

Large dance paddle.

1. Command, power, mandate, reign: tagata ao, person in power, in command, ruler. 2. Dusk, nightfall. 3. Ao nui, midnight. 4. Ao popohaga, the hours between midnight and dawn. , to serve (food); ku-âo-á te kai i ruga i te kokohu, the food is served on a platter. Vanaga.

1. Authority, kingdom, dignity, government, reign (aho); topa kia ia te ao, reign; hakatopa ki te ao, to confer rank; ao ariki, royalty; ka tu tokoe aho, thy kingdom come. PS Mgv.: ao, government, reign. Mq.: ao, government, reign, command. Sa.: ao, a title of chiefly dignity; aoao, excellent, surpassing, supreme. 2. Spoon; ao oone, shovel. 3. Dancing club T. 3. Aonui (ao-nui 2), midnight. 4. Pau.: ao, the world. Mgv.: ao, id. Ta.: ao, id. Mq.: aomaama, id. Ma.: ao, id. 5. Pau.: ao, happy, prosperity. Mgv.: ao, tranquil conscience. Ta.: ao, happiness. 6. Mgv.: ao, cloud, mist. Ta.: ao, id. Mq.: ao, id. Sa.: ao, cloud. Ma.: ao, id. 7. Mgv.: ao, hibiscus. 8. Ta.: ao, day. Mq.: ao, day from dawn to dark. Sa.: ao, id. Ma.: ao, id. 9. Ta.: ao, a bird. Ha.: ao, id. 10. Mq.: ao, respiration, breath. Ha.: aho, breath. 11. Mq.: ao, to collect with hand or net. Sa.: ao, to gather. Ma.: ao, to collect. Ta.: aoaia, to collect food and other things with care. Churchill.

'The ao and rapa differ from each other mainly in size and in decoration, but are otherwise closely related. Both were double-bladed paddles twirled and shaken in the hand during ceremonial dances. The ao was the larger of the two types, with a total length that could exceed 6 ft. (2 m.).

One blade of the paddle, usually pointing up during dances, has a conventionalized human face carved and painted on each of its sides. The blade itself is carved flat as on a functional paddle, with almost parallel edges and a rounded distal end.

The nose is very long and extremely narrow, and forks into two prominent eyebrows. This curved, Y-shaped combination of nose and eyebrows is slightly raised in relief. The eyes are carved and painted much larger than the mouth, which is either reduced to a minimum or lacking. The ears, however, are invariably present and carved in a conventionalized manner as two downward projecting lobes with circular earplugs.

One very old and worm-eaten sample (Boston 64845) has fish vertebrae inserted as earplugs. The specimen, collected by Agassiz' Albatross Expedition as late as 1904-5, has doubtless been kept hidden in a cave. A large portion of the upper blade, corresponding to the broad and tall forehead, is covered by dense rows of vertically painted stripes that may indicate hair although in some specimens they definitely assume the aspects of a feather-crown of the type common in aboriginal Easter Island.

Some specimens have vertical tear marks painted as parallel stripes running from the bases of the large eyes down across the chin. This 'weeping-eye' motif is particularly pronounced on the ancient ao symbols preserved as mural paintings on the slabs in the ceremonial houses of Orongo (Ferdon, 1961, Figs. 65 b, f and Pl. 29 c; this vol., 183 a). Some faces on ao paddles are painted with geometric fields suggesting tattoo.

Only one twin-faced blade of the ao is painted; the rest of the paddle is left polished and plain. A slim handle with an oval cross-section that becomes almost circular at mid-length connects the painted blade with the other one which is undecorated. It has the same outline except for the lack of indentations carved below the earlobes of the decorated blade.

In some specimens the second blade is slightly narrower and has a rounded rectanguloid outline. A fingerlike projection with a ring-shaped band in relief around its midsection is sometimes, but not always, carved at the center of the distal end of this second blade. In some specimens the ring is replaced by a steplike transition from a wider upper part to a narrower lower part. This extension corresponds to the knob carved elsewhere on some functional paddles and serves for pushing off or staking operations.' (Heyerdahl 3)

It should be added that the beams announcing the arrival of the rising Sun presumably were depicted in Ha5-50. A comparison with the parallel text sequence in Tahua is useful:

- -
Aa1-16 Aa1-17 Aa1-18 Aa1-19
ka ero ka tapamea ma te tagata e hetu noho i te here i uhi tapamea
Ha5-49 Ha5-50 (325) Ha5-51 Ha5-52 Ha5-53 Ha5-54 Ha5-55

In Ha5-50 we can count 5 * 5(0) = 25(0) as a sign of Saturn (who ignites the Fire). And this is glyph 325, a number equal to 13 * 25. It seems to denote the beginning, for instance in the tamaiti glyph Ga7-11:

Ga7-11 (181) Ga7-12 Ga7-13 Ga7-14

Day 144 in the Gregorian calendar is May 24 and 144 + 181 = day 325 or November 21.

The expression ka ero used by Metoro at Aa1-16 can possibly be explained as a word play involving (among other things) the negative of the double eo-eo:

Eoeo

Ashes. Eoeo reherehe 'weak ashes': a coward. Ure eoeo reherehe te Mokomae, he poko'o i te piko. The Mokomae were a cowardly clan, they used to hand over those hiding (from their enemies after a defeat, i.e. war refugees). Vanaga.

"In Greek mythology, Ēōs ..  Ancient Greek: Ήώς, or Έως, Éōs, 'dawn' ... is a Titaness and the goddess of the dawn, who rose each morning from her home at the edge of the Oceanus.

Eos is cognate to Vedic Sanskrit Ushas and Latin Aurora, both goddesses of dawn, and all three considered derivatives of a PIE stem *Hzewsοs (→ *Ausοs), 'dawn', a stem that also gave rise to Proto-Germanic *Austrō, Old Germanic Ôstara and Old English Ēostre/Ēastre." (Wikipedia)