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TRANSLATIONS
The Spirit of drought (if she existed on Easter Island)
should appear in the summer. We have Barthel's table of
seasonal activities:
|
2nd quarter |
3rd quarter |
4th quarter |
1st quarter |
|
Tangaroa Uri
(October) |
Tuaharo (January) |
Vaitu Nui
(April) |
Anakena
(July) |
|
Cleaning up of the
fields.
Fishing is no longer taboo. Festival of
thanksgiving (hakakio) and presents
of fowl. |
Fishing.
Because of the strong
sun very little planting is done. |
Planting of
sweet potatoes |
Same as the previous month. |
|
Ruti
(November) |
Tehetu'upu
(February) |
Vaitu Potu
(May) |
Hora Iti
(August) |
|
Cleaning of the banana
plantations, but only in the morning since
the sun becomes too hot later in the day.
Problems with drought.
Good month for fishing and the construction
of houses (because of the long days). |
Like the previous
month.
Some sweet potatoes are planted where there
are a lot of stones (pu). |
Beginning of the cold season. No more
planting. Fishing is taboo, except for some
fishing along the beach. Harvesting of paper
mulberry trees (mahute). Making of
tapa capes (nua). |
Planting of plants growing above the
ground (i.e., bananas, sugarcane, and all
types of trees).
Good time to
fish for eel along the shore. |
|
Koro
(December) |
Tarahau
(March) |
Maro
(June) |
Hora Nui
(September) |
|
Because of the increasing heat, work ceases
in the fields. Time for fishing, recreation,
and festivities. The new houses are occupied
(reason for the festivities). Like the
previous month, a good time for surfing (ngaru)
on the beach of
Hangaroa
O Tai. |
Sweet potatoes are planted in the morning;
fishing is done in the afternoon. |
Because of the cold weather, nothing grows (tupu
meme), and there is hardly any work done
in the fields. Hens grow an abundance of
feathers, which are used for the
festivities. The time of the great
festivities begins, also for the
father-in-law (te ngongoro mo te hungavai).
There
is much singing (riu). |
Planting of plants growing below the
ground (i.e., sweet potatoes, yams, and
taro).
A fine spring
month. |
Because of the increasing heat in December work in the
fields ceases. New houses are occupied together with
festivities. Surfing, here called ngaru (waves),
was called 'to act like a turtle' in Manuscript E:
| Hônu 1. Turtle. 2. Spider (the species found in houses). Vanaga.
Turtle. P Mgv.: honu, onu, id. Mq.,Ta.:
honu, id. To.: fonu, id. Ha.: honu, id. Churchill.
To.: fonu, turtle, tortoise, Fu., Niuē,
Uvea, Fotuna: fonu, turtle
... Sa.: volu, tortoise.
Nukuoro: holu, turtle. Viti:
vonu, turtle. Churchill 2.
... It grew light, and again Ira spoke. This is
what he said: 'Turn around, all of you, and go down to ride the waves
(literally, 'to the turtle, to act like a turtle') ... Barthel 2. |
Summer
solstice marks the end of the 1st half of the
year. New houses should be built at the
beginning of a new cycle. Sun is acting like a
turtle in moving so extremely slow. To plant in
the middle of the heat season is rather useless
- especially if the sky refuses to deliver rain
on the head of the Spirit of drought.
Before
it becomes too hot there is cleaning up of the
fields (in Tagaroa Uri) and of the banana
plantations (in Ruti). Just as in South
America the dry season is characterized by good
fishing:
"... fish and water-melons are
not only symmetrical because they belong
respectively to the animal and vegetable
kingdoms: considered as dry-season foods, fish
is food enclosed in water, and the water-melon
(especially in the dry season) is water enclosed
in a food.
Both are in contrast to acquatic
plants, which are on the water and, by
maintaining a relationship of contiguity between
the dry element and the wet element, define them
by mutual exclusion rather than by mutual
inclusion." (From Honey to Ashes)
We
should therefore not be surprised if we find
signs of fishes during the season around summer
solstice. That signs of fishes occur also
around winter solstice may be because they refer
to celestial events, when sun is together with
his fishy smelling winter maid Hine-Takurua:
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... Hamiora Pio once spoke as
follows to the writer: 'Friend! Let
me tell of the offspring of
Tangaroa-akiukiu, whose two
daughters were Hine-raumati
(the Summer Maid - personified form
of summer) and Hine-takurua
(the Winter Maid - personification
of winter), both of whom where taken
to wife by the sun ...
Now, these women had different
homes. Hine-takurua lived
with her elder Tangaroa (a
sea being - origin and personified
form of fish). Her labours were
connected with Tangaroa -
that is, with fish. Hine-raumati
dwelt on land, where she cultivated
food products, and attended to the
taking of game and forest products,
all such things connected with
Tane ...
The Sun spends part of the year with
the Winter Maid in the south, afar
out on the ocean. In the month of
June occurs the changing of the Sun
and he slowly returns to his other
wife, to the Summer Maid who dwells
on land and whose other name is
Aroaro-a-manu. This period we
call summer. And so acts the Sun in
all the years.
The child of the Summer Maid was
Hikohiko. The old folk have told
me [Hamiora Pio, a learned
Maori] that at the time of the
winter solstice the wise men of yore
would say 'The Sun is returning to
land to dwell with the Summer Maid.'
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To
distinguish between the solstices in the
rongorongo texts therefore should be rather
difficult. Houses are built, fishes are referred
to, sun moves slowly like a turtle. There should
be festivities and there should be signs of two
rulers back to back or meeting face to face.
The
discovery that face to face implies summer
solstice and back to back means winter solstice,
may therefore be important.
Noon was called the belly of the
sun. Therefore the sun must be showing his face
towards us at noon. Midsummer is equal to noon
and therefore the heat is due to sun showing his
face towards us at that time.
During winter, on the other hand,
sun is turning his back towards us.
Not
even the dark instruments of chaos making a
lottery of the future events is unique for
winter solstice. The element of chance seems to
be present at summer solstice too and we
remember the Babylonian ideas:
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 .
... Als solch ein Ort (resp. ein
Gemach) im Osten des apsū
[water below the earth] und im Osten
der Erde an der Grenze zwischen dem
sichtbaren und unsichtbaren Reiche
hat der
Duazag
eine
ganz besondere Bedeutung im Glauben
der Babylonier.
Er
ist ... 'der Ort der Geschicke', der
ki
nam-tar-tar-ini =
ašar šimātum. Ein Solcher
konnte nur im Osten liegen.
Denn
die Sonne geht
im Osten auf. Die Ostsonne ist
Marduk. Darum bringt auch
Marduk die Geschicke aus der
Behausung seines Vaters
Ía, dem Urwasser, hervor ...
Von diesem [Nebukadnezar's II
grosser Inschrift] heisst es ...
'Duazag,
der Ort der Geschicke im Ubšugina
[Versammlungsraum], das (dem?)
Gemach der Geschicke, in dem im
Zakmuku
[= F(e)ast for Marduk at the
beginning of the year to determine
(make fast) the future (of the
year/halfyear?) for which the gods
went to Marduk's tempel
Ĭsagila in Babylon: '... zu dem
sich die übrigen Götter und vor
Allem Barsip(pa)'s Hauptgott
Nabū in feierlichem Zuge zu
Schiff ... begaben ...']
zu
Jahresanfang am 8ten (und?) am 11ten
Tage der (Gott-)König .... sich
niederlässt und die Götter über
Himmel und Erde .... das Schicksal
der Zukunft .... bestimmen ....'
...
Ganz ähnlich
is der Name 'Gott von
Duazag' des Gottes
Nabū ... zu erklären.
Er bezeichnet ihn als den Gott des
Wachtstums, welches als aus dem
Osten stammend betrachtet wird, weil
die Sonne, die das Wachstum bringt,
im Osten aufgeht.
Dass
aber
Nabū als Ost-Gott aufgefasst
wurde, hängt damit zusammen, dass
sein Stern, der Mercur, nur im Osten
oder Westen sichtbar ist ...
...
Wir begreifen, warum der Tišrītu
durch 'Monat (des) Duazaga'
bezeichnet wird. Denn in diesem
findet die Aussaat des Korns
(insbesondere ... des Weizens und
der Gerste) statt, der Duazag
aber hat zu diesen ... als Ort des
Gottes, der das Wachstum des Weizens
befördert, eine ganz bestimmte
Beziehung1).
1)
Beachte aber,
dass der erste Monat des Jahres nach
dem Schicksalsgemach (=
Ubšugina) bezeichnet wird
... , der siebente aber d.i. der
erste der zweiten Jahreshälfte nach
dem im Ubšugina befindlichen
Duazaga. Sollte darum die
Deutung des Namens Tišrītu
als 'Anfang' doch vorzuziehen sein? |
My
difficulty with trying to harmonize the
beginning of the year (at Anakena the 1st
month) with the end of the year at the island
Marotiri (on the other side of the island)
maybe here are at last have found its
solution:
Anakena (at winter solstice) marks the
beginning of the 1st half of the year (and of
the year), while the 2nd half of the year is
beginning at summer solstice on the other side
of the island.
The
sacred geography of the island (according to Barthel 2) has all the time told exactly that.
The obstacle is
just my own stupid way of thinking, which
demands a cycle
for the whole year.
It is
time to carefully investigate if the just
proposed solution to the dilemma agrees with
what is written:
"... The route taken by the
explorer canoe follows the instructions that
Hau Maka gave based on his dream vision. The
goal lies in the east, in the direction of the
rising sun, that is, 'on high' between east and
southeast, in the direction from which the trade
winds blow. It is an 'eighth land', that is, the
most distant and most remote island ...
Of special interest is the exact
dating of the voyage: the explorers leave the
land of origin on April 25, and they reach the
new land on June 1. According to the account in
Ms. E, the sea voyage lasted roughly five weeks
...
... Five weeks would seem to be a
sufficient amount of time to reach Easter Island
from the eastern Polynesian islands in an
outrigger canoe. In the RAP. inventory of terms
for cardinal points, there are at least seven
distinct names for winds from north to
north/northwest to southwest (HM:313). These may
be of particular importance in navigating from
the west.
The canoe of the explorers lands
on the shore below Vinapu at Hanga Te
Pau. With prevailing winds from west or
northwest, this is indeed the most protected landing site, as I was able to observe in August
1957. The 'extended list of place names'
specifically mentions Hanga Te Pau A Ira
(named by) Makoi as the 'landing site' (te
tomonga) of Ira.
Hanga Te Pau is described
as the 'middle (literally, 'zenith') of the
land' (he tini o te kainga). On a map of
Easter Island, a line from Hanga Te Pau
(on the southern shore) would divide the island
into two halves.
We should remember:
'... He went out, and the third, Tuu Rano Kao,
entered and kissed (his father). A Matua
spoke: 'I wish you luck for your pebbles of
Hanga Te Pau, for your (crater) Rano Kau!'
That was all, and he went out ...
The pebbles of
Hanga Te Pau
are contrasted with the sands of
Anakena.
By
substituting Hanga Te Pau
for the great astronomical complex at
Vinapu, one can relate
(NA I:94) its possible astronomical function
(with regard to the solstice and the equinox) to
the term he tini
(HM:310).
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Te Pou is
Sirius, which announces the
beginning of the year (at winter
solstice), therefore Te
Pau as a name
for the beginning of the 2nd half of
the year (at summer solstice) would
be nice. |
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One of the
meanings of pau
is to come to and end, which is
quite fitting too for a location
marking the end of the 1st half year
and the beginning of the next: |
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Pau
1. To run out (food, water):
ekó pau te kai, te
vai, is said when there is an abundance of food or water, and there
is no fear of running out. Puna pau, a small natural well near
the quarry where the 'hats' (pukao) were made; it was so called
because only a little water could be drawn from it every day and it ran
dry very soon. 2. Va'e pau, clubfoot. Paupau: Curved.
Vanaga.
1. Hakapau, to pierce
(cf. takapau, to thrust
into). Pau.: pöau, a cut, a
wound, bruised, black and blue. 2. Resin.
Mq.: epau, resin. Ta.:
tepau, gum, pitch, resin.
(Paupau) Hakapaupau, grimace, ironry, to grin.
3. Paura (powder), gunpowder.
4. Pau.: paupau, breathless.
Ta.: paupau, id. 5. Ta.:
pau, consumed, expended. Sa.:
pau, to come to and end. Ma.:
pau, finished. 6. Ta.: pau,
to wet one another. Mq.: pau,
to moisten. Churchill. |
The landing
site of the explorer canoe near Vinapu
is obviously identical with Geiseler's
information (1883:43), according to which 'they
are supposed to have come long ago in a great
canoe from Rapa,
which is also called Oparo
... and landed near Winapu'.
The distance
of 1,900 nautical miles would require an average
of 54 nautical miles (i.e., roughly 100 km) per
day for a voyage of 35 days, which is well
within the distance a Polynesian canoe can cover
in a day's time.
Information
from the year 1882 mentions the landing of only
a single canoe, which must be a reference to the
arrival of the explorers and not to that of
Hotu Matua, who
came in a double canoe. Without trying to revive
the old Rapa Iti
theory, the region of the Austral Islands should
not be dismissed as a possible starting point of
the emigration. In this case Raivavae
would suggest itself as the most likely place."
(Barthel 2)
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