In general we can draw the conclusion
from the Makoi cycle of place
names that the intention was to bring
down to earth the sky structure up above
in order to facilitate remembering for
the people by
connecting the present which was close by
with the far away ancient cosmos up
above - which contained all worth
remembering because time itself would
have eliminated all non-essentials. This
method had always been used:
... Most ingenious
Thoth, said the god and king Thamus, one
man has the ability to beget arts, but
the ability to judge of their usefulness
or harmfulness to their users belongs to
another; and now you, who are the father
of letters, have been led by your
affection to ascribe to them a power the
opposite of that which they really
possess. For this invention will produce
forgetfulness in the minds of those who
learn to use it, because they will not
practise their memory. Their trust in
writing, produced by external characters
which are no part of themselves, will
discourage the use of their own memory
within them. You have invented an elixir
not of memory, but of reminding; and you
offer your pupils the appearance of
wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will
read many things without instruction and
will therefore seem to know many things,
when they are for the most part ignorant
and hard to get along with, since they
are not wise, but only appear wise
...
Memory is vitalized by smells, sounds,
etc but also by the recognition of ideas
(pictures) and by the proper names which
had
incorporated such ideas.
One of the names of Easter Island was
Mata-ki-te-rangi:
(Eyes-towards-the-sky).
...
On the late
afternoon of the June solstice,
towards sunset, we reached Ahu
Akivi near the centre of the
western side of Easter Island. This
is an inland site, 3 kilometers from
the coast. Like Ahu Nau Nau
at Anakena, it has seven
Moai, but in this case none of
them have topknots and, uniquely,
all face west towards the sea -
which is clearly visible from the
high point on which they stand.
There is a
curious tradition concerning these
grizzled, otherworldly statues,
solemn and powerful, with their
blank, aloof eye-sockets gazing out
over the limitless ocean. Like most
of the other Moai of Easter
Island the local belief is that they
died, long ago, at the time when
mana - magic - supposedly fled
from the island never to return.
However, in common with only a very
few of the other Moai, it is
believed that these particular
statues still have the power, twice
a year, to transform themselves into
aringa ora - literally
'living faces' - a concept
startingly similar to the ancient
Egyptian notion that statues became
'living images' (sheshep ankh)
after undergoing the ceremony of the
'opening of the mouth and the eyes'.
Statues at Angkor were likewise
considered to be lifeless until
their eyes had been symbolically
'opened '.
The great stone
Moai of Easter Island were at
one time equipped with beautiful
inlaid eyes of white coral and red
scoria. In a number of cases -
though not at Ahu Akivi -
sufficient fragments have been found
to make restoration possible,
showing that the figures originally
gazed up at an angle towards the
sky. It is therefore easy to guess
why this island was once called
Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi, 'Eyes Looking
at Heaven'. On a moonlit night its
hundreds of 'living' statues
scanning the stars with glowing
coral eyes would have seemed like
mythic astronomers peering into the
cosmos. And in the heat of the day
those same eyes would have tracked
the path of the sun, which the
ancient Egyptians called the 'Path
of Horus' or the 'Path of Ra'. This
was also the 'path' pursued by the
Akhu Shemsu Hor, the
'Followers of Horus', for whom the
exclamation Ankh'Hor - 'the
god Horus Lives' - would have been
an everyday usage .
The principal
astronomical alignments of the great
temple of Angkor Wat in
Cambodia are towards sunrise on the
December solstice and sunrise on the
March equinox - respectively
midwinter and the beginning of
spring in the northern hemisphere.
The two moments in the year when
Easter Island traditions say that
the Moai of Ahu Akivi
come alive and are 'particularly
meaningful' are the June solstice
and the September equinox -
respectively midwinter and the
beginning of spring in these
southern latitudes. Rigorous
archaeoastronomical studies by
William Mulloy, William Liller,
Edmundo Edwards, Malcolm Clark and
others have confirmed that the east
façade of Ahu Akivi does have
a very definite equinoctial
orientation and, indeed, that 'the
complex was designed to mark the
time of the equinoxes'
...
The
cycle of Makoi ended at
Apina Nui, which I have
connected to DAY 60 = right
ascension day 60 at the time of
rongorongo:
1 Ko Apina Iti |
27 |
29 Ko Te Rano A Raraku |
(30) |
29 |
30 |
31 Oparingi |
11 |
(43) |
1 |
45 Vai ngaere |
8 |
54 Vai Rapa |
(55) |
4 |
60 Apina Nui |
12 |
11 |
5 |
24 |
Niu |
moe te goe |
Niu. Palm
tree, coconut tree;
hua niu,
coconut. Vanaga.
Coconut, palm,
spinning top. P
Pau., Ta.:
niu,
coconut. Mgv.:
niu, a
top;
niu mea,
coconut. Mq.:
niu,
coconut, a top.
Churchill. The fruit
of
miro.
Buck. T. 1. Coconut
palm. 2. Sign for
peace. Henry. The
sense of top lies in
the fact that the
bud end of a coconut
shell is used for
spinning, both in
the sport of
children and as a
means of applying to
island life the
practical side of
the doctrine of
chances. Thus it may
be that in New
Zealand, in
latitudes higher
than are grateful to
the coconut, the
divination sense has
persisted even to
different implements
whereby the
arbitrament of fate
may be declared.
Churchill 2.
Goe. Milky Way.
Vanaga. |
|
|
|
Cb2-8 (424 = 392 +
32) |
Cb2-9 |
Cb2-10 |
CLOSE TO THE FULL
MOON: |
May 18
ZAURAK (The Boat) =
γ Eridani
(58.9) |
19
λ Tauri (59.3), ν
Tauri (59.9) |
20 (140)
4h (60.9)
JĪSHUĬ (Piled-up
Waters) = λ Persei
(60.7)
COR CAROLI (α Canum
Ven.)
|
... Väinämöinen set
about building a
boat, but when it
came to the prow and
the stern, he found
he needed three
words in his rune
that he did not
know, however he
sought for them. In
vain he looked on
the heads of the
swallows, on the
necks of the swans,
on the backs of the
geese, under the
tongues of the
reindeer. He found a
number of words, but
not those he needed.
Then he thought of
seeking them in the
realm of Death,
Tuonela, but in
vain. He escaped
back to the world of
the living only
thanks to his potent
magic. He was still
missing his three
runes. He was then
told by a shepherd
to search in the
mouth of Antero
Vipunen, the giant
ogre. The road, he
was told, went over
swords and sharpened
axes. Ilmarinen made
shoes, shirt and
gloves of iron for
him, but warned him
that he would find
the great Vipunen
dead. Nevertheless,
the hero went. The
giant lay
underground, and
trees grew over his
head. Väinämöinen
found his way to the
giant's mouth, and
planted his iron
staff in it. The
giant awoke and
suddenly opened his
huge mouth.
Väinämöinen slipped
into it and was
swallowed. As soon
as he reached the
enormous stomach, he
thought of getting
out. He built
himself a raft [cfr
The Heavenly Raft, θ
Aquilae, *305], and
floated on it up and
down inside the
giant. The giant
felt tickled and
told him in many and
no uncertain words
where he might go,
but he did not yield
any runes. Then
Väinämöinen built a
smithy and began to
hammer his iron on
an anvil, torturing
the entrails of
Vipunen, who howled
out magic songs to
curse him away. But
Väinämöinen said,
thank you, he was
very comfortable and
would not go unless
he got the secret
words. Then Vipunen
at last unlocked the
treasure of his
powerful runes. Many
days and nights he
sang, and the sun
and the moon and the
waves of the sea and
the waterfalls stood
still to hear him.
Väinämöinen
treasured them all
and finally agreed
to come out. Vipunen
opened his great
jaws, and the hero
issued forth to go
and build his boat
[cfr Zaurak, the
Boat,
γ Eridani, *305 +
*118 = *58 + *365]
at last
... |
ºMay 14 |
15 |
16 (136) |
'April 21 (111) |
22 |
23 |
"April 7 |
8 (98) |
9 (365 + 99 = 464) |
MARCH 15 |
16 (75 = 98 - 23) |
17 (464 - 23 = 441) |
DAY 58 |
59 = 75 - 16) |
60 |
58 Ata Popohanga |
59 Ata Ahiahi |
60 Apina Nui |
58
ata Popohanga
toou e to ata
hero e |
59
ata
ahiahi toou e
honu e |
60 apina nui a Papa
nihoniho a vere nua-
nua a Papa o rae i
te ngao o te moai o
hina-
riru. |
Barthel: 'Yours is
the morning shadow'
refers to an area in
Ata Hero where the
house of Ricardo
Hero is now located.
'Yours is the
evening shadow'
belongs to a
'turtle'. I could
not obtain any
information about
the location, but I
suspect that the
'turtle' refers to a
motif in the
narration of Tuki
Hakahevari (the
turtle is carved in
stone in a cave
along the bay of
Apina) ...
Ata 1. Dawn,
first light before
sunrise;
ku-hamu-á te ata
, dawn has broken;
ku-tehe-á te ata,
it's already
dawn (lit.: the
lights have flown).
2. Particle inserted
between the
imperative prefix
ka and the verb
to signify 'well,
carefully,
intelligently':
ka-ata-hakarivariva,
prepare it well.
Between the prefix
e and
kahara it
expresses 'to make
sure that, to take
good care that...' :
e-ata-kahara koe
o oona, be
careful not to get
dirty;
e-ata-kahara koe o
kori te moa o te
tahi pa, be sure
not to steal
chickens of another
property. 3. More:
iti, small;
ata iti,
smaller;
he-ata-ata iti-iti
ró, the smallest
of all. Vanaga.
Âta 1. Shadow:
he-veveri te
poki, ana tikea
toona âta, the
child is frightened
at seeing his
shadow; person's
reflection (in
mirror, in water):
he âta oou-á,
it's your own
reflection. 2. To be
frightened by a
shadow: he-âta te
îka, the fish
are frightened (and
they flee) by
people's shadows.
Vanaga. 1. Image,
picture, portrait,
design; to draw, to
paint (shadow
sense). P Mgv:
ata, image,
likeness, portrait,
shadow of a human
being, form, shape,
appearance, imprint,
impression. Mq.:
ata, image,
statue, portrait,
shadow, surface; to
design, to mark.
Ta.: ata,
shade, shadow
appearance, form,
representation of an
object, cloud,
cloudy. 2.
Transparency, end of
day, sunset (bright
sense); e ata,
red clouds; ku
ata,
transparent; ata
mea, ata tea,
ata tehe,
dawn, daybreak,
sunrise; ataata,
end of day, sunset.
P Mgv.: ata,
morning or evening
twilight, daybreak,
dawn; ata haihai,
evening twilight, a
beautiful sunset;
ataiai,
twilight, clouds red
with the sunset;
atakurakura, a
beautiful sunrise or
sunset; atareureu,
dawn, the first peep
of day, morning
twilight. Mq.:
ata, to appear,
to rise, to shine
(of stars); ata
uá, morning
twilight; ataata,
diaphanous,
transparent. Ta.:
ata, twilight.
3. A designation of
space; ata
hakahohonu,
abyss; ata
hakaneke mai,
nearby, close at
hand; ata tapa,
lateral, marginal. 4
? Ata kimikimi,
to inquire; ata
puo, to hill a
plant; ata ui,
to examine, to
taste. Churchill.
Atahenua (ata
3 - henua 1),
landscape,
countryside.
Atakai: 1.
Generous,
hospitable,
beneficent,
indulgent, liberal,
obliging;
prodigality,
indulgence; rima
atakai,
benevolent,
generous,
open-handed; gift,
liberality. 2. Calm,
unperturbed,
grateful. Churchill.
Ata-ta T,
evening (? ataata).
Atatehe (ata
2 - tehe 1),
dawn; popohaga
atatehe,
morning, early in
the morning.
Churchill.
Hero. Herohero.
1. Crimson,
bright
red; he varu i te ki'ea ka herohero ró te hakari, to paint one's
body red with
ki'ea; ku hú
á te huka-huka, ku
herohero á i roto i
te ahi, burning
wood shows red in
the fire. 2. The
colour of
ripe fruit, the
yellow of ripe
bananas. 3.
Figuratively:
angry: ku
herohero á te manava
= ku ká te manava.
Vanaga. Herohero.
Scarlet,
suffocating T.
Ura herohero,
brilliance of
flames. Churchill.
Ahi. Fire;
he-tutu i te ahi
to light a fire.
Ahiahi =
evening;
ahiahi-ata, the
last moments of
light before
nightfall. I te
ahiahi-ata he garo
te raá ki raro ki te
vai kava. In the
evening the sun
disappears under the
sea. Ku-tea-á te
hetu'u ahiahi,
the evening star has
risen. Vanaga. 1.
Candle, stove, fire
(vahi);
ahi hakapura,
match; ahi
hakagaiei,
firebrand waved as a
night signal. P
Mgv.: ahi,
fire, flame. Mq.:
ahi, fire,
match, percussion
cap. Ta.: ahi,
fire, percussion
cap, wick, stove. 2.
To be night;
agatahi ahi atu,
day before
yesterday. 3. Pau.:
ahi,
sandalwood. Ta.:
ahi, id. Mq.:
auahi, a variety
of breadfruit. Sa.:
asi,
sandalwood. Ha.:
ili-ahi, id.
Ahiahi,
afternoon, night;
kai ahiahi,
supper. P Pau.,
Mgv., Mq., Ta.:
ahiahi,
afternoon, evening.
Ahipipi (ahi
1 - pipi 2) a
spark, to flash.
Churchill. |
The beginning of this cycle
was at
Apina Iti,
which therefore ought to
have been at right ascension
DAY 1, where Metoro stated
the landscape (te
ata i te henua)
was growing (kua
tupu). It was the
beginning of spring and the
statues at
Ahu
Akivi would once
again come alive
(open their eyes).
Kua
tupu te ata i te henua |
|
|
|
|
|
*Ca14-1 |
*Ca14-2 |
*Ca14-3 (366) |
*Ca14-4 |
*Ca14-5 |
CLOSE TO THE FULL
MOON: |
March 19
η Tucanae (363.0), ψ
Pegasi (363.1), 32 Piscium (363.2), π Phoenicis (363.4), ε Tucanae
(363.6), τ Phoenicis (363.9) |
20 (365 + 79 = 444)
θ Oct. (364.4) |
21 (80)
Al Fargh al Thāni-25 (Rear Spout)
0h (365.25)
CAPH (Hand) = β Cassiopeiae,
SIRRAH
(Navel of the Horse) =
α
Andromedae
(0.5),
ε
Phoenicis,
γ³
Oct.
(0.8) |
22
Uttara Bhādrapadā-27 (2nd of the Blessed Feet) /
Wall-14 (Porcupine)
ο
Oct. (1.3),
ALGENIB PEGASI
= γ Pegasi (1.8) |
23
χ
Pegasi (2.1), θ Andromedae (2.7) |
... Maui was the fifth and youngest of his
parents' sons, yet when he was born his brothers knew nothing of it.
They first learned that they had a brother when he was discovered
one night standing behind them in the great meeting house. Everyone
was present, the four brothers, their mother Taranga, and all
the relations, and there was dancing going on, when little Maui
crept into the house unseen, and went and sat behind his brothers.
When it came to their turn to dance, and their mother stood them up
and counted them so as to be ready, he stood up with them. 'One,
that's Maui mua; two, that's Maui roto; three, that's
Maui taha; four, that's Maui pae', she said; these
names mean Maui the first, Maui the middle, Maui
the side, and Maui the edge. Then she saw this other child
standing with them, and cried out, 'Hullo, where did this one come
from?' 'I'm your child too', Maui replied. So she counted
them again and said, 'Oh no, there ought to be only four of you.
This is the first I've seen of you.' And so there was a
scene, with little Maui and the old woman arguing about it in
the middle of the rows of dancers. In the end she became annoyed
with him. 'Now, come on, out of the house!' she said. 'You are no
child of mine, you belong to someone else. Go home!' But little
Maui stood up for himself. 'Well then, I'd better go, I
suppose', he said. 'Since you say so, I must be someone else's
child. But I did think I was yours, because I know I was born at the
edge of the sea, and you cut off a tuft of your hair and wrapped me
in it and threw me in the waves. After that the seaweed took care of
me and I drifted about in the sea, wrapped in long tangles of kelp,
until a breeze blew me on shore again, and some jelly-fish rolled
themself around me to protect me on the sandy beach. Clouds of flies
settled on me and I might have been eaten up by the maggots; flocks
of seabirds came, and I might have been pecked to pieces. But then
my great-ancestor Tama nui ki te rangi arrived. He saw the
clouds of flies and all the birds, and he came and pulled away the
jelly-fish, and there was I, a human being! Well, he picked me up
and washed me and took me home, and hung me in the rafters in the
warmth of the fire, and he saved my life. And I grew, and
eventually I heard about the dancing you have here in this house,
and that is what brought me here tonight.' Now Taranga
listened to all this in amazement. For in the custom of our people,
if a child was born before it finished growing in its mother's womb
and died without knowing any of the pleasures of life, it was
supposed to be buried with special prayers and ceremonies, otherwise
it became a kind of evil spirit, always doing mischief to the human
race and hurting them out of spite, because of having missed the
happiness that they enjoy. All the evil spirits had a beginning of
this sort. So Maui was a little demi-god of mischief. The
story he had told was true, and as his mother listened she
remembered it all. 'From the time I was in your womb,' Maui
went on, 'I have known the names of these children of yours.
Listen,' he said as he pointed to his brothers in turn. 'You are
Maui mua, you are Maui roto, you are Maui taha,
and you are Maui pae. And as for me, I am Maui potiki,
Maui-the-last-born. And here I am.' When he had finished,
Taranga had to wipe her eyes because there were tears in them,
and she said: 'You are indeed my lastborn son. You are the child of
my old age. When I had you, no one knew, and what you have been
saying is the truth. Well, as you were formed out of my topknot you
can be Maui tikitiki a Taranga.' So that became his name,
meaning Maui-formed-in-the-topknot-of-Taranga. And
this is very strange, because women in those days did not have
topknots. The topknot was the most sacred part of a person, and only
men had them ...
|
'Febr 21 |
22 |
Terminalia |
24 |
25
(420 = 447 - 27) |
... The leap day was introduced as part of the Julian reform. The
day following the Terminalia (February 23) was doubled, forming the
'bis sextum - literally 'double sixth', since February 24 was
'the sixth day before the Kalends of March' using Roman inclusive
counting (March 1 was the 'first day'). Although exceptions exist,
the first day of the bis sextum (February 24) was usually
regarded as the intercalated or 'bissextile' day since the third
century. February 29 came to be regarded as the leap day when the
Roman system of numbering days was replaced by sequential numbering
in the late Middle Ages ... |
CLOSE TO THE SUN: |
Sept 18 |
19 |
20 (263 → Venus) |
21 |
22 (equinox) |
π
Virginis (181.0), θ Crucis (181.5) |
12h (182.6)
ο
Virginis (182.1),
η
Crucis (182.5) |
ALCHITA
=
α
Corvi,
MA
WEI (Tail of the Horse) = δ Centauri
(183.1),
MINKAR =
ε
Corvi
(183.7),
ρ
Centauri (183.9) |
PÁLIDA (Pale) =
δ
Crucis
(184.6),
MEGREZ (Root of the Tail) = δ Ursae Majoris
(184.9) |
Hasta-13 (Hand) /
Chariot-28 (Worm)
GIENAH (Wing) =
γ
Corvi
(185.1),
ε
Muscae (185.2),
ζ
Crucis (185.4),
ZANIAH (Corner) =
η
Virginis
(185.9)
*144.0 = *185.4 - *41.4 |
... the bird, being sent with a cup for water,
loitered at a fig-tree till the fruit became ripe, and then returned
to the god with a water-snake in his claws and a lie in his mouth,
alleging the snake to have been the cause of the delay. In
punishment he was forever fixed in the sky with the Cup and the
Snake; and, we may infer, doomed to everlasting thirst by the
guardianship of the Hydra over the Cup and its contents. From all
this came other poetical names for our Corvus - Avis
Ficarius, the Fig Bird; and Emansor, one who stays beyond
his time; and a belief, in early folk-lore, that this alone among
birds did not carry water to its young ... |
'Aug 22 |
23 |
24 (236 → Moon) |
25 |
26 |
...
Ohua. Night
in the Moon calendar:
|
|
|
Ohua |
Otua |
CLOSE TO
THE SUN: |
12h
(182.6) |
ALCHITA |
PÁLIDA |
DAY 182 |
183 |
184 |
CLOSE TO
THE FULL
MOON: |
March 20 |
SIRRAH |
ALGENIB
PEGASI |
DAY 364 |
0h
(365.25) |
1 |
|
Notably the Raven,
which was ascending in day 236 (=
8 * 29½) in Roman times
('August 24), had moved
ahead due to the
precession of the
equinoxes with 27 days to 'a
clean cup' in day 263 at
the time of rongorongo.
CIRCUIT OF VENUS |
Evening Star |
263 |
Black |
8 |
Morning Star |
263 |
Black |
50 |
Sum |
584 |
This explains why the
Mayas at their time had another layout
for this table:
...
The Maya and later the
Central Mexicans divided
the motion of Venus into
four intervals. They
assigned an 8-day period
to the disappearance at
inferior conjunction
[when Venus is between
sun and Earth], which is
close to that observed
today.
But,
peculiarly, Maya
manuscripts recorded a
disappearance interval
of 90 days at superior
conjunction [when Venus
is behind the sun],
nearly double the true
value. Furthermore, they
assigned unequal values
to the intervals as
morning and evening
star: 250 and 236 days,
respectively. [This must
be an error as 250 days
refers to evening star
and 236 refers to
morning star.] In fact,
the true intervals are
equivalent at
approximately 263 days.
These curious intervals
betray a lunar origin:
the latter three are
whole or half multiples
of the lunar synodic
month:
236 = 8.0
lunar
synodic
months -
0.24 |
90 = 3.0
lunar
synodic
months +
1.41 |
250 = 8.5
lunar
synodic
months -
1.25 |
In practice this means
that if, for example, a
first-quarter moon was
visible at a morning
heliacal [first
appearance after having
been invisible due to
being close to, behind
of or in front of the
sun] rise of Venus, then
the moon's phase, on
average, would be the
same on the last day
that morning star Venus
was seen in the east.
When Venus reappeared as
the evening star in the
west, the moon would
appear in the opposite
phase (last quarter)
...
CIRCUIT OF VENUS |
Morning Star |
236 |
Black |
90 |
Evening Star |
250 |
Black |
8 |
Sum |
584 |
|