5. The summer wife of Rehua was the star Ruhi-te-rangi, but it is also said that he mated with Rigel: ... 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. Clematis is a climbing plant, and surely it must allude to how Sun (and the sky) is climbing higher and higher in spring:
Clematis (from Ancient Greek klematis, a climbing plant ... is a genus of mostly vigorous climbing lianas, with attractive flowers ... Most species are known as Clematis in English, while some are also known as traveller's joy, leather flower, vase vine and virgin's bower, the last three being names used for North American species ... The entire genus contains essential oils and compounds which are extremely irritating to the skin and mucous membrames. Unlike Black Pepper or Capsicum, however, the compounds in clematis cause internal bleeding of the digestive tract if ingested internally in large amounts. The plants are essentially toxic. Despite its toxicity, Native Americans used very small amounts of clematis as an effective treatment for migraine headaches and nervous disorders. It was also used as an effective treatment of skin infections ... (Wikipedia) It may be a coincidence (or it may be the result of an actively searching eye), but 8 purple (a colour for kings) petals in the crown is appropriate for a climbing flower personifying Spring Sun. Rigel (Puanga) is a star far away from Antares (Rehua), at the other end of the sky. Antares is in Scorpion and Rigel in Orion. Astronomers define the 'longitude' of stars by counting in hours. A fairly recent book I have in my library locates Antares (α Scorpii) at rectascension ('longitude') 16h 26m (16 hours and 26 minutes), while Rigel (β Orionis) is at 05h 12m:
24 hours = 360°. We can count the distance between the stars as (16 - 5 = 11 hours) + (26 - 12 = 14 minutes), or about half 360°. To be more exact: 11 + 14 / 60 = 11.23 hours = 11.23 / 24 * 360 = 168°. Possibly number 168, which tends to appear in the rongorongo texts, was the accepted distance from Rigel to Antares.
From the appearance of Puanga to the appearance of Rehua there are ca 170 days (= 365.25 / 360 * 168). Rehua stands in zenith at the beginning of summer (16.43 / 24 * 12 = ca 8 months beyond equinox in March = November). Puanga stands at zenith late in autumn around half a year later (5.2 / 24 * 12 = ca 3 months beyond equinox in March = May). 'Clematis', the firstborn son in their marriage, is born in spring (south of the equator) and if it was in August, then the rectascension of this star would be around (8 - 3) / 12 * 24 = 10 h. My description assumes a star was watched for in the early morning and not at zenith, but that does not change the distance in time between the stars. What counted was the time when a star rose above the horizon in the east and not when it was passing straight above. In other words, it was the time when Sun and the star rose together, when the star rose 'heliacally', and this happens ca 6 hours earlier than its zenith passage (across the meridian). |
