TRANSLATIONS

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Before the agricultural revolution culture was based on the tidal zone, I think. I remember from somewhere that the early Jomon culture in Japan seems to have been sedentary, although not based on agriculture. The resources from nature were so rich that there was no need to move from place to place.

Likewise, the Northwest Coast was so rich in fish (e.g. salmon) and other food products from the sea that it became a sedentary cultural center for early man in America. I recall this from The Naked Man.

In Sharp as a Knife the same information is delivered:

"People dependant on hunting and foraging are almost always mobile, while gardeners and farmers stay put and build towns. In Haida Gwaii, as elsewhere on the Northwest Coast of North America after the last glaciation, this rule ceased to hold.

Shellfish are there for the taking twice each day when the tide recedes - and salmon, halibut, cod, herring, eulachon, sealion, seal and other species pass like an edible calendar along the open coast and through the maze of inshore waters.

In precolonial times the Haida planted no crops, and yet they lived, like wealthy farmers, in substantial towns.

The rich tradition of Haida art and oral literature is simulataneously rooted in the powerful social forces of the village and in the hunter's acutely personal relations with the wild. It is also rooted in the constant presence of the sea. Manna falls only rarely from the heavens; it emerges daily from the waves. And the primary realm of the gods, in Haida cosmology, is not celestial; it is submarine."

"The eulachon, also hooligan, ooligan, or candlefish, is a small anadromous ocean fish, Thaleichthys pacificus, a smelt found along the Pacific coast of North America from northern California to Alaska. It feeds primarily on plankton as well as fish eggs, insect larvae, and small crustaceans. It forms an important part of the diet of many ocean and shore predators, and serves as a prominent food source for people living near its spawning streams.

The common names of this fish have a somewhat confusing relationship. The name 'candlefish' derives from the fact that it is so fat during spawning, with up to 15% of total body weight in fat, that if caught, dried, and strung on a wick, it can be burned as a candle. This is the name most often used by early explorers. The name 'eulachon' ... is from the Chinookan language and the Chinook jargon based on that language. The name 'hooligan' appears to have been derived from 'eulachon' by similarity with the English slang term for a ruffian or scoundrel which gained currency in the late 19th century.

Eulachon, as anadromous fish, spend most of their adult lives in the ocean but return to their natal freshwater streams and rivers to spawn and die. As such, one stream may see regular large runs of eulachon while a neighboring stream sees few or none at all. Regular annual runs are common but not entirely predictable, and occasionally a river which has large runs sees a year with no returns; the reasons for such variability are not known. The eulachon run is characteristic for the early portion being almost entirely male, with females following about midway through the run to its conclusion. Males are easily distinguished from females during spawning by fleshy ridges which form along the length of their bodies.

Indigenous communities of the Pacific Coast from California to Alaska made eulachon an important part of their diet, as well as a valuable trade item with peoples whose territories did not include spawning rivers. The species was caught using traps, rakes, and nets. The harvest continues today, with other residents taking part in the exploitation of the large runs. Today harvested eulachon are typically stored frozen and thawed as needed. They may also be dried, smoked, or canned. Eulachon were also processed for their rich oil. The usual process was to allow the fish to decompose for a week or more and then boil the carcasses in large cauldrons. The rendered oil would rise to the surface where it could be skimmed off. Eulachon oil (also known as 'grease') formed a valuable trade commodity for coastal people, and the numerous passes through the coastal mountains used for this trade were called 'grease trails' ..." (Wikipedia)

Now, at last, I can see the light: Moon, not the sun, determines the seasons. Therefore - later on and in other places - the cycle of the solar calendar became structured after the tidal pattern. High tide comes twice a day, likewise solstice twice a year. Low tide comes twice a day too, just as equinox twice a year. A 'year' ought to be a cycle involving one solstice (high tide) and one equinox (ebb). Therefore the rongorongo calendars have two 'years' in a year'

Before the agricultural revolution - far earlier - 'civilized' man must have lived a happy and good life in those places on Earth where the sea was rich, for instance the coasts of Norway and Chile, where the currents of the ocean brought plenty of fish.

'Flood Tide Woman' appears twice a day. In Hawaii new year was correlated with full moon, and when sun and moon are in line high tide is higher than at other times:

... The correspondence between the winter solstice and the kali'i rite of the Makahiki is arrived at as follows: ideally, the second ceremony of 'breaking the coconut', when the priests assemble at the temple to spot the rising of the Pleiades, coincides with the full moon (Hua tapu) of the twelfth lunar month (Welehu) ...

Given a structure for the year patterned after the tides - with the year as a greater cycle of the same sort - it becomes reasonable to equalize solstice with the points where the tide turns, i.e. where for a moment all becomes calm. At equinox, on the other hand, the speeds are at their maximum.

Haga Takaśre and Haga Hōnu should, for example, refer to low respectively high tide, because at these two places the explorers took a rest. Insects are dry (ebb), while turtles prefer the sea (high tide). I have to reinvestigate, because earlier I suggested spring respectively autumn equinox for these places.

If full moon coincides with low sun (winter solstice) to create high tide, then we should expect a mirror image at new moon coinciding with high sun (summer solstice) - once again creating high tide, yet different in quality.

The sea swallowing all land at winter solstice gives Raven a hard time finding a foothold. Likewise, Noah must wait until the water subsides.

At summer solstice another type of high tide appears, because sun is drying everything up. The sweet water in the pools on the slopes of the hills invite both to drink and to swim.

"Beside the second root [of the world tree], which penetrated the land of giants, covered with frost and ice, flowed the fountain of Mimir, in which all wisdom dwelt and from which Odin himself desired to drink even though the price demanded for a few draughts was the loss of an eye." (Larousse)

"Tuna, the eel lover of Sina, was killed by jealous suitors, but at his last meeting he had told Sina of his impending fate. He commanded her to cut off his head after he was slain and to plant it. From his head would grow a tree with a fruit that would furnish her with both meat and drink. On the fruit itself she would see the two eyes that had adored her and the mouth that had spoken tender words of love. So it came to pass that Sina planted the head of Tuna and from it grew the coconut palm." (Buck)

At the equinoxes summer battles with winter and the forces involved when water quickly rushes in or out are at their maximum. Life is the opposite of non-movement, and life is therefore located at the equinoxes ('babies' respectively 'fruits'). At solstices everything becomes calm ('dies').

Maybe the reason the explorers took a rest at Haga Takaśre (spring equinox) and Haga Hōnu (autumn equinox) is that life cannot 'live' at the solstices? Sun and moon can join forces there, but not man.

Inundation below the sea (winter solstice) or below the surface of the sweet water pools (summer solstice) - where Tuna hides - implies that the head is no longer visible. A water surface is level, therefore the truncated pyramids.

Death (or rather rejuvenation) occurs at solstice high tide, while life (the battle for the survival of the fittest) occurs at equinox medium tide.

Once I thought the Gateway of the Sun representation of the path of the sun over the year was strange - why no difference in the months signs for spring on one hand and for autumn on the other? Why a perfect left-right symmetry in the design?

Now I think I can understand. In order to depict the fundamental structure of life (equinoxes) and death (solstices) a head must be cut off at both solstices and the life between the solstices cannot be depicted differently depending on whether it is spring or autumn - the rate of movement must be illustrated as the same.

The Gizeh pyramids have their heads intact, but it has been convincingly demonstrated that the Cheops pyramid is a kind of map of the northern hemisphere of the Earth. The inundation of the Nile was a local phenomenon of such great importance as to force another kind of mythic structure, which focused on the rise and fall of the river rather than on the tides. Yet, somehow the pharaohs must have escaped death. Maybe agriculture and sun together overpowered tides and moon.

The reason for only 3 hua poporo at winter solstice seems to be the low force of the sun, the reason for only 3 moon signs in vai at both equinoxes seems to be the low force of the moon (not in pace with the solar cycle).