TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

'Fist' signs have a shape somewhat similar to what we can see in the hua ('fruit' etc) glyphs:


*hua*	Ca7-14	Gb8-3

The main difference is that the 'fruits' are hanging down heavily, they are ripe, while the 'fists' evidently represent a much earlier stage, they are like buds. Gb8-3 (the only hua sign in the neigbourhood) comes after the 3rd and last of the kava glyph:

	19			2
Gb5-1	19	Gb5-21	Gb5-22	2	Gb5-25
6		13
6	Gb6-3	13	Gb6-17	Gb6-18	Gb6-19
39		2		26
39	Gb7-31	2	Gb8-3	26	Gb8-30

5 + 5 'feathers' on hua in Gb8-3 suggest the 10 periods of the sun. Presumably the new year sun is ripe. The ordinal number of Gb8-3 counted from Gb5-1 is 91, as if to indicate that the 4th quarter is ending. 8 * 3 = 24.

In Gb8-30 the shape may be an even more ripe version of hua in Gb8-3. Without support from the numbers the idea could, though, be quickly discarded. 26 glyphs in between and 8-3 compared with 8-30 makes the idea worthy of following up, however.

There is no true year in the minds of ancient Easter Islanders, I think. Odd numbers are no good, not even 1. Instead there are twin - though connected - half-years, and Gb8-30 could depict this view. The little 'nipple' at bottom of hua in Gb8-3 has grown to a size on par with the upper part.

Gb8-30 has been catalogized by me as an example of the pu glyph type. There are two major variants of pu, with 'holes' and without, as illustrated by these parallel glyphs:


Hb5-28	Pb7-12	Qb8-111

Counting suggests the one with 'holes' is lunar (5 * 28 = 140), while the one without 'holes' is solar (7 * 12 = 60). Maybe it is moon bathing in vaiora a Tane instead of holes? Moon could be the lesser circular shapes between us and the sun. The same kind of interpretation can explain why at noon there is another symbol than during a.m. and p.m. in Ahau:

Several variants of 'hand' signs are used in the rongorongo texts. The 'eating gesture' is easy to recognize and understand: by nourishment growth results:


Ha5-52	Ha5-56	Ha6-1	Ha6-2

A closed 'fist' can be thought of as a 'full hand'. The Polynesians count by flexing the fingers, not by extending them. When the hand is open its meaning is the opposite - an empty ('zero') hand, as for instance when after noon sun is reaching his end:

Ha6-12

An empty hand is a receptacle. It therefore has female characteristics and by playing on this idea - and on the kava ceremony - empty hands can become fists, develop into 'buds' by becoming 'impregnated'. The female 'flower', pua (also the name for ginger), receives and will house the next generation.

Excursion:

Investigating how in the text of Small Santiago (G) the regenerative process is described.

In a predominant agricultural society, as on Easter Island, the mysteries of growth must have been important.

Outside the tropical region there presumably is a basic distinction between 'in leaf' (summer) and 'barren' (winter) - fertile respectively sterile. In order not to complicate matters more than necessary for the purpose of writing about the rima glyph type I have so far avoided the 'Y' sign which I guess represents the fork into which the skull of One Hunaphu was placed. There he couldn't multiply.

According to the rongorongo texts the fertile season appears to be the 1st half year and the sterile season the 2nd half. Beyond noon the top flame of the sun is replaced by a ghostly Y sign:


Aa1-26	Aa1-27
ko te ahi - hakaturou	ki te henua

Ordinal number -27 and Metoro's henua indicate how the old a.m. generative power has been stamped out. Tapa mea has turned into a black cloth.