529. Rehua; an important Maori star and an influential god, elder brother of Tane dwelling in the tenth heaven. Rehua has been variously identified with Jupiter by Tregear, with Sirius by Stowell, and with Antares by Best, and there can be no doubt that the name was applied to different objects in various sections of New Zealand.

An old native declared: 'Rehua is a star, a bird with two wings; one wing is broken. Under the unbroken wing is Te Waa-o-Tamarereti (the Canoe of Tamarereti is the Tail of Scorpius in this instance). When Rehua mates with his wife Pekehawani (a star close to Antares) the ocean is windless and motionless.'

Antares, visible in the morning sky of December-January, came to stand for summer heat; hence the saying, 'Rehua cooks (ripens) all fruit'.

The generally accepted version of the Rehua myth, according to Best, is that Rehua had two wives, the stars on either side of Antares. One was Ruhi-te-rangi or Pekehawani, the personification of summer languor (ruhi), the other Whaka-onge-kai, She-who-makes-food-scarce before the new crops can be harvested.

In another old story Rehua mated with Puanga, Rigel, and their offspring were the clematis and another plant which were born in Mahuru, spring (August). They still suckle their mother during August and herald the coming of spring. Their birth was facilitated by Rua-moko, god of earthquakes, who marks the change of seasons.

According to Ellis, Castor and Pollux are known as Pipiri and Rehua in the Society Islands, but this identity is disputed by other authorities. Fariua the Tuamotuan declared Rehua to be a medium bright star in the northeast during August, which would apply to Deneb or Albireo in Cygnus.

S. P. Smith quotes a statement made to him many years ago by the Maori sage Tarakawa: 'Regarding nga turanga whatu o Rehua - the position of the eyes of Rehua - these whatu (eyes; literally 'stones') are in the sky looking down. The prayer of the navigator calls on them to maintain the canoe in its proper course. Rehua was the guiding star of the Aotea canoe', the craft in which Turi arrived on the west coast of New Zealand following Kupe's sailing directions. In this instance Rehua is undoubtedly Antares.

530. Rehua-paonga is the Moriori star ruling January, probably Antares.

534. Rerehu, Burning; a Maori name for Antares related to Rehua. Rerehu presided over the sixth month November-December in Stowell's enumeration, while Tregear associated Rerehu with the ninth month, February-March. Rehu is found in the Hawaiian star and month name Welehu, the Tuamotuan Herehu, and in the Rehu, Varehu, and Avarahu of the Society Islands.

92. Herehu is a Tuamotuan star whose name suggests the Maori Rerehu and Rehua and the Marquesan Ehua, all names for Antares. The Hawaiian equivalent lehu is found in the star name Lehuakona, Lehua-of-the-south. Rehu is seen in such month names a Serehu of Tongareva, Welehu of Hawaii, and Rehu and Varehu of the Society Islands.

733. Waerehu is listed as a Maori star and was a name for Antares among the Moriori as well as for the month of January.

46. Ehua is a Marquesan form of Rehua and stands for Antares as well as for August-September.

289. Lehua-kona, Lehua-of-the-south; a Hawaiian star in the Milky Way. It may stand for Antares, corresponding with the Maori Rehua and the Marquesan Ehua.

The 2 wives of Rehua probably represent his 2 'lands' (and Rehua himself should be a reflection of Sun):

Ruhi-te-rangi	the summer maid
Whaka-onge-kai	the winter maid

Ruhi-te-rangi can be translated as 'the languor of summer in the sky', while Whaka-onge-kai is 'she who makes food scarce'.

The latter idea - to connect winter with scarcity of food - is useful for us, because lean bodies can be contrasted with fat bodies in the 'persons' which are depicted in the glyphs:


Pb10-32	Pb10-33	Pb10-34	Pb10-35	Pb10-36	Pb10-37	Pb10-38

This 7-glyph long sequence respresents Monday, and the 2 sharks (mago) are oriented like Waxing respectively Waning Moon. In Pb10-35 the Waning Shark obviously carries 'fruit' (offspring) while the Waxing Shark (Pb10-33) has no such. But she looks quite well fed.

In the parallel H text Monday the design is different, with 8 glyphs instead of 7:


Hb9-22	Hb9-23	Hb9-24	Hb9-25	Hb9-26	Hb9-27	Hb9-28	Hb9-29

Furthermore, the creatures are not sharks but something else. None of them is reversed. Number 8 instead of number 7 together with no reversed 'waning face' ought to refer to Sun rather than Moon. I.e., the lean winter season should be represented by the figure in Hb9-23 and summer by the more corpulent creature in Hb9-25.

A black (uri) eye in Hb9-23 presumably indicates spring and east, while the white (tea) eye in Hb9-25 could refer to the time after midsummer, when only the white old bones of Sun remain. There is no sign of pregnancy.

It is not strange to describe the seasons of Sun in Monday, because Moon has power to end the periods of Sun:

... He was also a great kite-flier, and the story is told of a small boy of another name (but it could only have been Maui) who once came half out of the water and snatched the kite-string of a child on the land. He then slipped back into the sea and continued flying it from under the water until his mother was fetched, for she was the only one who could control him and make him behave at that time ...