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After following the hyperlink to the pages with an introduction to the Mamari moon calendar another hyperlink 'return' enables the reader to come back to the point of departure:

The Mamari moon calendar offers a natural point of departure for investigating what use the rongorongo writers had for GD19 type of glyphs:
3
Ca7-8 Ca7-9 Ca7-10 Ca7-11 Ca7-12
Ca7-13 Ca7-14 Ca7-15 Ca7-16

Only one haś glyph is found in the calendar, viz. Ca7-15. The number of feather marks are also 15, a number which indicates that the 'season' of full moon has arrived. In Ca7-16 the bulging shape at right depicts the form of the sun (though yet only partly visible), because it is the sun which makes the full moon beautiful.

The name of the night is Otua (= Atua, God) and the idea presumably is that the gods are assembling, like birds coming down from the sky.

I have written that at Ca7-15 the season of full moon has arrived. Although the 'mirror' (between period 3 and 4) has not yet been reached, I think the expression can stand as it is. The reader - if he has follows the hyperlinks - will know what I mean. The second hyperlink, from Otua, leads to a page in which I try to 'prove' how the name refers to 'o tu'a, the back (side):

Atua, atu'a

1. Lord, God: te Atua ko Makemake, lord Makemake. Ki a au te Atua o agapó, I had a dream of good omen last night (lit. to me the Lord last night). 2. Gentleman, respectable person; atua Hiva, foreigner. 3. Atua hiko-rega, (old) go-between, person who asks for a girl on another's behalf. 4. Atua hiko-kura, (old) person who chooses the best when entrusted with finding or fetching something. 5. Atua tapa, orientation point for fishermen, which is not in front of the boat, but on the side. Atu'a, behind. Vanaga.

God, devil. T (etua). P Pau., Ta.: atua, god. Mgv.: etua, god, deity, divinity; to be wicked, to be full of wickedness. Mq.: etua, god, divinity. The comprehensiveness of the definition, and the same is found in the Maori, is a question of orthodoxy, merely a matter of the point of view. Of far more moment in our studies is the vowel variety of the initial syllable. Atua: Maori, Mangaia, Tahiti, Hawaii, Tongareva, Rapanui, Paumotu, Samoa, Futuna, Uvea, Niuē, Aniwa. Etua: Marquesas, Mangareva, Rapanui. Otua: Tonga. The Rotumā oiitu is probably referable to aitu. Churchill.

Mq.: atua, the fourteenth day of the moon. Ma.: atua, id. Churchill.

I suggest Otua is a wordplay involving 'o tu'a (the back side). Beyond full moon the waning moon will arrive and the 'season' can be referred to as the 'back side'. The end of waning moon is depicted as a turned around 'person' with the 'back side' forward:

8
Ca8-22 Ca8-23 Ca8-24 Ca8-25 Ca8-26
Ca8-27 Ca8-28 Ca8-29
Tu'a

1. Back, shoulder, tu'a ivi, shoulder blade; tu'a ivi more, lumbago; moa tu'a ivi raį, 'sun-back chicken': chicken with a yellow back which shines in the sun. 2. Behind (a locative adverb, used with i, ki, a, o, etc). Tu'a-papa, pelvis, hips. Vanaga.

1. Behind, back, rear; ki tua, after; o tua, younger; taki tua, perineum. 2. Sea urchin, echinus. The word must have a germ sense indicating something spinous which will be satisfactorily descriptive of the sea urchin all spines, the prawn with antennae and thin long legs, and in the Maori the shell of Mesodesma spissa. Tuaapapa, haunch, hip, spine. Tuahaigoigo, tattooing on the back. Tuahuri, abortion; poki tuahuri, abortive child. Tuaivi, spine, vertebrę, back, loins; mate mai te tuaivi, ill at ease. Tuakana, elder, elder brother; tuakana tamaahina, elder sister. Tuamouga, mountain summit. Tuatua, to glean. Mgv. tua: To fell, to cut down. Ta.: tua, to cut. Mq.: tua, to fell, to cut down. Ma.: tua, id. Tuaki, to disembowel. Ma.: tuaki, to clean fish. Tuavera, the last breadfruit spoiled by the wind. Ta.: tuavera, burnt by the sun. Churchill.

The back side (tu'a) is the temporal opposite (autumn, waning) of the front side (ra'e). It is the opposition between 'evening shadow' (ata ahiahi) and 'morning shadow' (ata popohaga).

As to Churchills remark oiitu = aitu, I cannot resist the temptation to quote:

"According to Alfred Patterson, the hare tongi were built on [the island of] Hare as places for people to hide from spirits (aitu) which came in from the sea. 

E hakamuni ni aitu takapo tai means 'to hide from spirit groups from the sea'. The idea evidently was that people could be seen in normal houses with open sides, whereas they could not be seen by the spirits when the roof came down to the ground. 

At [the island of] Touhou, according to Patterson, the people could be protected from the spirits by the ariki priest who resided there but at Hare they had no such protection. 

He also stated that the aitu came in from the sea during the middle part of the day, about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hence, women working in the puraka cultivations in the outer islands took care to return to Touhou before the dangerous period started." (Kapingamarangi)

Spirits or gods or devils - same thing: 'full of wickedness'. The full moon 'season' is equal, structurally regarded, to 'full sun' - the 'season' around midday (when aitu come in from the sea).

The people at the back (tu'a) surely must refer to the ancestors, and the lineage of kings reaches back to the gods. The sun child is born in the east and at the end, in the west, he must 'die'. Beyond that we find the dead people, the ancestors.

After returning to the previous page, next page is (as we have already seen):

In Keiti, in the 24th and last period of the calendar for the year, there is a haś glyph (Eb6-12):
Eb5-29 Eb5-30 Eb5-31 Eb5-32 Eb5-33 Eb5-34 Eb5-35
Eb6-1 Eb6-2 Eb6-3 Eb6-4 Eb6-5 Eb6-6
Eb6-7 Eb6-8 Eb6-9 Eb6-10 Eb6-11 Eb6-12 Eb6-13
Eb6-14 Eb6-15 Eb6-16 Eb6-17 Eb6-18 Eb6-19

There are 5 feather marks on the inside of the 'bough' and 12 on the outside. The feathers on the outside presumably refer to the months.

The feathers on the inside (hidden from sun light) presumably stand for 5 extracalendrical days, after the regular 12 * 30 = 360 days in a solar calendar.  At one time during the year we can be certain the gods will assemble, during those 5 nights when gods are born.

The observant reader will discover a 13th outside little feather at bottom left. At the 'root' there is a little remnant. Perhaps it is a recognition of the fact that 12 * 30 + 5 days is not enough - every 4th year an extra day must be added.

I have now added a link from 'solar calendar' to:

A calendar based on the yearly movement of the sun (Ra) was once used in Egypt:

"Nut, whom the Greeks sometimes identified with Rhea, was goddess of the sky, but it was debatable if in historical times she was the object of a genuine cult. She was Geb's twin sister and, it was said, married him secretly and against the will of Ra.

Angered, Ra had the couple brutally separated by Shu and afterwards decreed that Nut could not bear a child in any given month of any year. Thoth, Plutarch tells us, happily had pity on her. Playing draughts with the Moon, he won in the course of several games a seventy-second part of the Moon's light with which he composed five new days.

As these five intercalated days did not belong to the official Egyptian calendar of three hundred and sixty days, Nut was thus able to give birth successively to five children: Osiris, Haroeris (Horus), Set, Isis and Nepthys." (Larousse)

I try to assign seasons to the 5 names: Horus must be the sun child, i.e. the sun up to his initiation at noon. Set must be next stage in the sun's development, i.e. when he declines towards his 'death' at the horizon in the west (when he 'sets'). Isis, Nephtys, and Osiris have to be the persons of the 'night'. I think we can rely on the order, in which case Isis is the opposite to Horus, i.e. 'a.m.' night. Nepthys is midnight and Osiris 'p.m.' night.

I guess the 5 extracalendrical nights correspond to the 5 seasons. If so, then there ought to be some reflection in the moon calendar. Although there are 8 periods in the Mamari moon calendar, we can - for example - eliminate the 8th and last period because it has no marama glyph:

8
Ca8-22 Ca8-23 Ca8-24 Ca8-25 Ca8-26
 65 66 67 68 69
Ca8-27 Ca8-28 Ca8-29
70 71 72

Eliminating these 8 glyphs, we have 72 - 8 = 64 (= 8 * 8) left.

There are 3 periods with 8 glyphs, and possibly it means we should eliminate also the other two, viz. period 1 and 4:

1
Ca6-17 Ca6-18 Ca6-19 Ca6-20 Ca6-21
 1 2 3 4 5
Ca6-22 Ca6-23 Ca6-24
Ohiro Oata

Ca6-22--23 are not drawn as the other marama nights, i.e. period 1 in this respect resembles period 8.

4
Ca7-17 Ca7-18 Ca7-19 Ca7-20
 29 30 31 32
Ca7-21 Ca7-22 Ca7-23 Ca7-24
Maśre Ina-ira Rakau Omotohi

Ca7-22, on the other hand, is drawn as the other night glyphs. If we count only this kind of marama glyph, we get 20 such:

period 1 - period 4 1 period 6 2
period 2 6 full moon period 7 5
period 3 1 period 5 5 period 8 -
sum 7 sun 6 sum 7

Sun (6) is flanked by twice moon (7). There are 2 + 2 + 2 = 6 periods with marama 'night' glyphs.

"The Egyptian year was divided into three seasons of four months each: the time of waters, the season of vegetation, and the period of harvest. The months were numbered according to their positions in the seasons as First of Waters and so on. They also had popular names, being called after the particular god who governed them. Each month was divided into three decades presided over by a star of small group of stars known as decani.

Among the Polynesians a single conspicious star reigned supreme for an entire month, except in the Gilbert group and the Marquesas where systems resembling the Egyptian decanates prevailed." (Makemson)

'... The Gilbert Islanders are Polynesians, having emigrated, according to their traditions, from Upolu, Samoa, which they look upon as te buto (Maori pito), the Navel of the World. They never counted the nights of the Moon beyond the twentieth, so far as Grimble was able to ascertain, and in the vagueness of their lunar calendar bore no resemblance to their Micronesian neighbors of the Carolines ...'

Although we thus have indications of 20 as the natural number of nights for a month (Gilbert Islands and Marquesas and the Mamari moon calendar), the central full moon season (with - according to Mamari - only 6 night glyphs) is worthy of a special study.

The lists of moon nights (which I have assembled from Text Centre) indicates how the central nights either were 10 or 12 (redmarked below according to my guesses), which leaves either 10 or 8 to the two moon 'seasons':

 

MAORI

MORIORI

HAWAIIAN

TAHITIAN

MARQUESAN

RAROTONGAN

1

Whiro

O Mutu

Hilo

Hiro hiti

Tu nui

Iro

2

Tirea

O Whiro

Hoaka

Hoata

Tu hawa

Oata

3

Hoata

Otere

Ku kahi

Hami ami mua

Hoata

Amiama

4

One

Ohewata

Ku lua

Hami ami roto

Mahea ma tahi

Amiama aka oti

5

Okou

Oua

Ku kolu

Hami ami muri

Mahea ma waena

Tamatea

6

Tamatea kai ariki

Okoro

Ku pau

Oreore mua

Koekoe tahi

Tamatea aka oti

7

Tamatea ananga

Tamate tutahi

Ole ku kahi

Oreore muri

Koekoe waena

Korekore

8

Tamatea aio

Tamate turna

Ole ku lua

Tamatea

Poipoi haa pao

Korekore aka oti

9

Tamatea whakapau

Tamate nui

Ole ku kolu

Huna

Huna

O Vari

10

Huna

Tamate hokopą

Ole ku pau

Ari

Ai

Una

11

Ari roa

Ohua

Huna

Maharu

Huka

Maaru

12

Mawharu

Owaru

Mohalu

Hua

Mehau

Ua

13

Maurea

Hua

Hua

Maitu

Hua

E atua (or Maitu)

14

Atua whakahaehae

Mawharu

Akua

Hotu

Atua

O Tu

15

Turu

Outua

Hoko

Mara`i

Hutu nui

Marangi

16

Rakau nui

Ohotu

Mahealani

Turutea

Hutu manae

Oturu

17

Rakau matohi

Maure

Kulu

Raau mua

Tuu

Rakau

18

Takirau

Oturu

Laau ku kahi

Raau roto

Aniwa

Rakau roto

19

Oika

Rakau nui

Laau ku lua

Raau muri

Ms tahi

Rakau aka oti

20

Korekore

Rakau motohe

Laau pau

Oreore mua

Kaau

Korekore

21

Korekore turua

Takirau

Ole ku kahi

Oreore roto

Kaekae tahi

Korekore roto

22

Korekore piri ki Tangaroa

Oika

Ole ku lua

Oreore muri

Waena

Korekore aka oti

23

Tangaroa a mua

Korekore tutahi

Ole pau

Taaroa mua

Haa pao

Tangaroa

24

Tangaroa a roto

Korekore turua

Kaloa ku kahi

Taaroa roto

Hanao tahi

Tangaroa roto

25

Tangaroa kiokio

Korekore whakapau

Kaloa ku lua

Taaroa muri

Wawena

Tangaroa aka oti

26

O Tane

Tangarņ a mua

Kaloa pau

Tane

Haa paa

O Tane

27

O Rongo nui

Tangarņ a roto

Kane

Roo nui

Puhiwa

Rongo nui

28

Mauri

Tangarņ kikio

Lono

Roo maori

Tane

Mauri

29

O Mutu

O Tane

Mauli

Mutu

Ona nui

O Mutu

30

Mutuwhenua

O Rongo nui

Muku

Teriere

Ona mate

Otire o Avaiki (or Otireo)

31

 

O Rongo mori

 

 

 

 

The Marquesan 19th night has a name which must be some kind of mistake: Ms tahi. There cannot be two consonant following each other without a vocal in between.

Now let us focus on the red-marked nights:

MAORI

MORIORI

HAWAIIAN

TAHITIAN

MARQUESAN

RAROTONGAN

Huna

Ohua

Huna

Tamatea

Huna

Una

Ari roa

Owaru

Mohalu

Huna

Ai

Maaru

Mawharu

Hua

Hua

Ari

Huka

Ua

Maurea

Mawharu

Akua

Maharu

Mehau

E atua (or Maitu)

Atua whakahaehae

Outua

Hoko

Hua

Hua

O Tu

Turu

Ohotu

Mahealani

Maitu

Atua

Marangi

Rakau nui

Maure

Kulu

Hotu

Hutu nui

Oturu

Rakau matohi

Oturu

Laau ku kahi

Mara`i

Hutu manae

Rakau

Takirau

Rakau nui

Laau ku lua

Turutea

Tuu

Rakau roto

Oika

Rakau motohe

Laau pau

Raau mua

Aniwa

Rakau aka oti

10

Takirau

10

Raau roto

Ms tahi

10

Oika

Raau muri

Kaau

There are three calendars with 10 central glyphs and three with 12. Tamatea in the first place in the Tahitian calendar is included by me to avoid the 'impossible' number 11, although there are similar names in the non-central glyphs in other calendars:

 

MAORI

MORIORI

HAWAIIAN

TAHITIAN

MARQUESAN

RAROTONGAN

1

Whiro

O Mutu

Hilo

Hiro hiti

Tu nui

Iro

2

Tirea

O Whiro

Hoaka

Hoata

Tu hawa

Oata

3

Hoata

Otere

Ku kahi

Hami ami mua

Hoata

Amiama

4

One

Ohewata

Ku lua

Hami ami roto

Mahea ma tahi

Amiama aka oti

5

Okou

Oua

Ku kolu

Hami ami muri

Mahea ma waena

Tamatea

6

Tamatea kai ariki

Okoro

Ku pau

   

Tamatea aka oti

7

Tamatea ananga

Tamate tutahi

       

8

Tamatea aio

Tamate turna

 

Tamatea

Poipoi haa pao

 

9

Tamatea whakapau

Tamate nui

 

Huna

Huna

O Vari

10

Huna

Tamate hokopą

 

Ari

Ai

Una

11

Ari roa

Ohua

Huna

Maharu

Huka

Maaru

12

Mawharu

Owaru

Mohalu

Hua

Mehau

Ua

13

Maurea

Hua

Hua

Maitu

Hua

E atua (or Maitu)

14

Atua whakahaehae

Mawharu

Akua

Hotu

Atua

O Tu

15

Turu

Outua

Hoko

Mara`i

Hutu nui

Marangi

16

Rakau nui

Ohotu

Mahealani

Turutea

Hutu manae

Oturu

17

Rakau matohi

Maure

Kulu

Raau mua

Tuu

Rakau

18

Takirau

Oturu

Laau ku kahi

Raau roto

Aniwa

Rakau roto

19

Oika

Rakau nui

Laau ku lua

Raau muri

Ms tahi

Rakau aka oti

20

 

Rakau motohe

Laau pau

 

Kaau

 

21

 

Takirau

   

Kaekae tahi

 

22

 

Oika

   

Waena

 

23

Tangaroa a mua

   

Taaroa mua

Haa pao

Tangaroa

24

Tangaroa a roto

 

Kaloa ku kahi

Taaroa roto

Hanao tahi

Tangaroa roto

25

Tangaroa kiokio

 

Kaloa ku lua

Taaroa muri

Wawena

Tangaroa aka oti

26

O Tane

Tangarņ a mua

Kaloa pau

Tane

Haa paa

O Tane

27

O Rongo nui

Tangarņ a roto

Kane

Roo nui

Puhiwa

Rongo nui

28

Mauri

Tangarņ kikio

Lono

Roo maori

Tane

Mauri

29

O Mutu

O Tane

Mauli

Mutu

Ona nui

O Mutu

30

Mutuwhenua

O Rongo nui

Muku

Teriere

Ona mate

Otire o Avaiki (or Otireo)

 

 31

O Rongo mori

I have here red-marked both Tamate(a) glyphs and Tane glyphs in order to make the comparison between the calendars more easy, and I therefore also eliminated kokore nights (where the empty cells are).

The empty cells are parallel with Tamatea nights in other calendars. Either the kokore nights once were Tamatea nights or the other way around, I think.

It is quite clear that Tamate(a) glyphs arrive before the full moon season and Tane glyphs afterwards. Tangaroa glyphs (black-marked) always are located after the full moon season.

During the full moon season we find the rakau glyphs (green-marked). Rongo glyphs (also green above) follows after Tane glyphs, though here the Easter Islanders seem to have made a mistake:

6
Ca8-8 Ca8-9 Ca8-10
Tapume Matua Orongo
7
Ca8-16 Ca8-17 Ca8-18 Ca8-19 Ca8-20 Ca8-21
Orongo Tane Maśri-nui Maśri-kero Omutu Tireo

Tapume and Matua we do not recognize from the other calendars, while Maśri and Omutu are recognizably at their correct places (following each other after Tane and Rongo).

The central full moon glyphs again:

MAORI

MORIORI

HAWAIIAN

TAHITIAN

MARQUESAN

RAROTONGAN

Huna

Ohua

Huna

Tamatea

Huna

Una

Ari roa

Owaru

Mohalu

Huna

Ai

Maaru

Mawharu

Hua

Hua

Ari

Huka

Ua

Maurea

Mawharu

Akua

Maharu

Mehau

E atua (or Maitu)

Atua whakahaehae

Outua

Hoko

Hua

Hua

O Tu

Turu

Ohotu

Mahealani

Maitu

Atua

Marangi

Rakau nui

Maure

Kulu

Hotu

Hutu nui

Oturu

Rakau matohi

Oturu

Laau ku kahi

Mara`i

Hutu manae

Rakau

Takirau

Rakau nui

Laau ku lua

Turutea

Tuu

Rakau roto

Oika

Rakau motohe

Laau pau

Raau mua

Aniwa

Rakau aka oti

10

Takirau

10

Raau roto

Ms tahi

10

Oika

Raau muri

Kaau

Maharu arrives before Hua not only according to the Easter Islanders, but also according to the Rarotongans (Maaru and Ua) and Tahitians. Probably the Hawaiian Mohalu equals Maharu and then also the Hawaiians agree with this order.

3
Ca7-13 Ca7-14 Ca7-15 Ca7-16
Maharu Ohua Otua 28
4
Ca7-21 Ca7-22 Ca7-23 Ca7-24
Maśre Ina-ira Rakau Omotohi

I have black-marked also the Marquesan Mehau because it comes immediately before Hua and sound relatively similar to Maharu. It may be a word-play involving haś.

The Moriori Hua comes before their Mawharu, which is strange. On the other hand they have Owaru immediately before Hua. It seems to be a duplication: Ohua - Owaru followed by Hua and Mawharu. Maybe the Moriori have converted Huna in the other calendars to Ohua?

The Marquesan order is interesting: Huna, Ai, Huka, Mehau, Hua, Atua ... Their Ai is probably corresponding to the Maori Ari roa, and thus we have agreement in the first two positions (also with the Tahitians):

MAORI MARQ. TAHITI

Huna

Huna

Huna

Ari roa

Ai

Ari

The other calendars have Huna too, but not Ari. (Moriori Ohua I guess is a reflection of Huna).

The Easter Islanders did not have Ari, nor Huna. The beginning was Ohiro and Oata, followed by kokore nights and then Maharu:

1
Ca6-22 Ca6-23 Ca6-24
Ohiro Oata

Both Ohiro and Oata (as well as the final Tireo) can be found in other Polynesian calendars.

There were 6 + 5 = 11 kokore nights on Easter Island, while the number of such nights in other Polyensian calendars were fewer:

Maori 0 + 3 3
Moriori 0 + 3 3
Hawaii 4 + 3 7
Tahiti 2 + 3 5
Marquesas 2 + 1 3
Rarotonga 2 + 3 5
Easter Island 6 + 5 11

Here I have manipulated in the Marquesan numbers: I could not accept an even number (2) in spite of earlier above having eliminated only 2 nights as kokore:

6

Koekoe tahi

7

Koekoe waena

21 Kaekae tahi

Beyond 20, the 21st night has a name similar to Koekoe tahi (the first tapu-free night). Presumably also Kaekae tahi was a tapu-free night. Though then another problem appears: tahi means 'first' which implies other kaekae nights coming after.

Like the Hawaiians (with 7 tapu-free nights) the Easter Islands seem to have lost several tapu-nights, or at least the special names of several nights.

On the other hand, the number pattern 4 + 3 = 7 in the Hawaiian calendar is rather suggestive. Number 4 during 'a.m.' and the young (Tamatea?) sun (alternatively kokore in other calendars) seems to be a basic pattern. During 'e.m.' 3 Tangaroa (old sun?) nights likewise was basic, and we can between Tamatea and Tangaroa add 3 Rakau and 3 kokore nights:

 

Tamatea 4

Rakau

3

Kokore

3

Tangaroa

3
sum 13