Ideas:

1. Here in Large St Petersburg it seems that the two glyphs representing Mars are exactly alike. But one of the marks towards the right is shorter than the others, an irregularity probably signifying something.

I guess the significance intended is to reflect the words used to indicate Mars.

2. If this sign indicates that Mars sometimes is far away, then imagination might turn this fact into a similarity with the Polynesians themselves: Sometimes they are far away on long seagoing trips with their double-canoes. Possibly the Polynesians therefore would appreciate Mars more than the other planets, a more 'Polynesian' planet than the others.

Double canoes were the property of chiefs. And red was the colour of nobility.