The link leads to the following two pages:
At the opposite
'corner' of the year a reversed change occurs - summer leaves and in
comes the dark sesaon:
 |
116 |
 |
 |
116 |
 |
|
Gb1-7 |
Gb4-33 |
Gb5-1 |
Gb8-30 |
|
1 |
118 |
1 |
118 |
|
236 = 4 * 59
= 8 * 29.5 |
The little 'eye'
in hau tea glyphs is normally located on the right side, as
in Gb4-33. But in Gb5-1 the 'eye' is shifted to the left (meaning
'in the past'). The 4th quarter of the year is characterized by
darkness and the change is illustrated by a reversed hau tea
glyph. Light has 'left'.
8 times 26 = 208
glyphs are used in G for the 1st half of the year and 8 * 29.5 = 236
glyphs for the 2nd half of the year. In Gb1-7 an upside down figure
(with 6 'feathers', 3 on each side) illustrates the reversal at high
summer from growing to 'falling' sun. The season of the moon (8 *
29.5 glyphs long) is beginning at Gb1-7. Yet, not until Gb5-1 will
darkness dominate.
The normal little
'eye' at right in
hau tea
glyphs is a sign which apparently has been borrowed to be used for instance in
Ga5-19 and in the 'rima
kava' glyphs
(Ca10-10 etc):
|
In Kb3-5 a little 'eye' at right ought also to represent a 'light in front'.
| 22 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Kb3-1 |
Kb3-2 |
Kb3-3 |
Kb3-4 |
Kb3-5 |
Kb3-6 |
In the glyph dictionary ua is summarized:
The ua glyph type seems to be associated with the arrival of the season when sun no longer is high in the sky. In the K calendar, for instance, the only ua glyph is the last glyph in what probably was regarded as the summer half of the year:
| Ka1-1--Ka1-24 |
24 |
| Ka2-1--Ka2-10 |
10 |
| Ka2-11--Kb3-5 (ua) |
108 |
| Kb3-6--*Kb5-20 |
50 |
| sum |
192 |
108 glyphs for summer was chosen because the winter half of the year then would have 24 + 10 + 50 = 84 glyphs. A balance between the two halves of the year can therefore be expressed by 6 * 18 (summer) and 6 * 14 (winter).
18 is a natural choice for summer, a short expression for 180 days, and 14 will be the corresponding expression for a fortnight when moon stands high in the sky.
The parallel ua glyph in E is located 3 * 18 = 54 glyphs from the middle of the calendar, but then follows only 21 glyphs up to the end. Instead of 192 this E calendar has a total of 150 glyphs. Instead of 108 + 84 the pattern is 108 + 42 (half 84). Instead of 18 and 14 there is 18 and 7. But also in E ua is positioned as the end of the 3rd quarter. |
If these comments are relevant and ua in Kb3-5 is located at the threshold to the 4th quarter, then it possibly refers to kava. The 4th quarter maybe should be thought of as the kava season, the time when man must light fires to help the sky.
In the evening man lights fires:
... 'When the stars fade away and disappear, it is ao, daylight; when the sun rises, day has come, la; when the sun becomes warm, morning is past; when the sun is directly overhead it is awahea, noon; when the sun inclines to the west in the afternoon, the expression is wa ani ka la. After that come evening, ahi-ahi (ahi, fire), and then sunset, napoo ka la, and then comes po, the night, and the stars shine out ...
... For the Marquesas are given: - daybreak, twilight, dawn, ('the day or the red sky, the fleeing night'), broad day - bright day from full morning to about ten o'clock -, noon ('belly of the sun'), afternoon ('back part of the sun'), evening ('fire-fire', the same expression as in Hawaii, i.e. the time to light the fires on the mountains or the kitchen fire for supper) ...
In the 4th quarter man lights fires too.
Yesterday evening I documented the ua glyphs carved on the Large Santiago Staff (I) in the glyph catalogue. I found 9 true ua glyphs (without obvious extra signs or combinations with other glyph types). All 9 had this little 'eye' at right, none was without the 'eye' sign.
I thought, then, that here is the original ua glyph type. The staff may be old and later ua has been modified: sometimes reversed, sometimes without the original 'man fire' sign.
Another explanation could be that the staff was exclusively used as a calendar for the year, and there is only one autumn equinox.
