TRANSLATIONS
In another Egyptian representation of what happens at dawn we see a woman lifting up her baby, the sun, towards the sky:
Her breasts have the same form as the surrounding 'mountains' (which I suspect originally depicted her drawnup knees - as the fundamental idea seems to be birth and new life). The picture is similar to Aa1-16, Ha5-49, Pa5-32 respective Qa5-40:
At dawn we see the arms of the sun's mother. We cannot see her face. The face of the smith we cannot see either:
I do not think that the face has been obliterated, I think the missing face was intended. Because the silhouette of the head and shoulders evidently have been drawn to illustrate the mature (father) sun (behind the 'mountain' at left). The head presumably represents sun at the horizon in the west and the fire at bottom left represents the sun at the horizon in the east. From the head of the 'smith' an arrowlike implement points at the 'head' of the sun at birth in the east. The head of the old king is generating new life. East 'is' 2 (woman) + 1 (child) = 3, whereas west 'is' 1 (man, arrow). Aa5-6 - according to this idea - is 'male' (or 'death'), whereas Ab7-25 exhibits the signs of new life ('female' + 'child'):
Maybe the short straight 'forefinger' in Aa5-6 is the male member, received by the cupped hand with 2 fingers, 'resulting' in a 'fruit'? In the middle of side a of Tahua I expect to find 'noon' and if I am right, then Aa1-24--27 should exhibit a similar phase, which we also may find signs of - in Aa1-24 with a new sun (here stemming from the elbow) and a recipient Y-form in Aa1-26:
The curvature of hakaturu (right part of Aa1-26) may be similar to the curvature of viri (in Aa5-7). Yet another Egyptian picture of the sun in the west is aker:
The 'mountains' are here lions and the sun the negative image behind their backs. They are the lions of yesterday and tomorrow according to Wilkinson. I believe we have in rongorongo the corresponding symbol in the back-to-back figures at the end of the Mamari moon calendar (Ca8-28--29):
In Ca8-29 a new head clearly is being born from the elbow. The concept of back implies north in Chinese thought, i.e. the last phase of the year. We should here also recall the Mayan 'seating' and what Makemson thought about takurua: 'Meshing with the 260-day count is a 'Vague Year' or Haab of 365 days, so called because the actual length of the solar year is about a quarter-day more, a circumstance that leads us to intercalate one day every four years to keep our calendar in march with the sun. Although the Maya were perfectily aware that the Haab was shorter than the tropical year, they did not change the calendar accordingly. Within the Haab, there were 18 named 'months' of 20 days each, with a much-dreaded interval of 5 unlucky days added at the end. The Maya New Year started with 1 Pop, the next day being 2 Pop, etc. The final day of the month, however, carried not the coefficient 20, but a sign indicating the 'seating' of the month to follow, in line with the Maya philosophy that the influence of any particular span of time is felt before it actually begins and persists somewhat beyond its apparent termination.' (The Maya) ... The Mayan sign for 20 (similar to our 10 and the Sumerians 60) was not written as 'twenty' but as 'seating' ... '... At the risk of invoking the criticism, 'Astronomers rush in where philologists fear to tread', I should like to suggest that Taku-rua corresponds with the two-headed Roman god Janus who, on the first of January, looks back upon the old year with one head and forward to the new year with the other, and who is god of the threshold of the home as well as of the year... There is probably a play on words in takurua - it has been said that Polynesian phrases usually invoke a double meaning, a common and an esoteric one. Taku means 'slow', the 'back' of anything, 'rim' and 'command'. Rua is a 'pit', 'two' or 'double'. Hence takurua has been translated 'double command', 'double rim', and 'rim of the pit', by different authorities. Taku-pae is the Maori word for 'threshold'... Several Tuamotuan and Society Islands planet names begin with the word Takurua or Ta'urua which Henry translated Great Festivity and which is the name for the bright star Sirius in both New Zealand and Hawaii. The planet names, therefore, represent the final stage in the evolution of takurua which was probably first applied to the winter solstice, then to Sirius which is the most conspicious object in the evening sky of December and January, and was then finally employed for the brilliant and conspicious planets which outshone even the brightest star Sirius. From its association with the ceremonies of the new year and the winter solstice, takurua also aquired the meaning 'holiday' or 'festivity' ...' Although I cannot find in the Tahua text any obvious glyphs corresponding to Ca8-28--29, we should think about the year and the day as having a structure similar to that seen in the Mamari moon calendar. We have identified similar signs of birth of new moon and birth of new day (Ca6-28 respective Ha5-53):
Ca7-14 corresponds to Ohua and I propose that in Aa4-63 we have a similar sign:
Ohua occurs (according to my interpretation) 5 nights before full moon:
Ca7-21 has two back-to-back moon sickles, perhaps signifying that waxing moon (right?) is leaving and waning moon is arriving. Ca7-16 is, maybe, exhibiting the old waxing moon 'fruit', while Ca7-23 could be the new waning moon 'canoe'. The bulge is round in Ca7-16, but has an apex in Ca7-23, certainly signs. In Ca7-24 the little sitting figure has his back towards left and therefore we may guess (in congruence with Ca7-21) that he is the leaving 'person', i.e. the waxing moon. His hand gesture towards the mouth (normal for GD52) also identifies him as a growing person. In Ca7-15 we cannot see the 'feet' and maybe that is because gods (atua) cannot be seen - like the missing face of the Egyptian smith. If there - on side a of Tahua - is a structure similar to that in the Mamari moon calendar, then we ought to find glyphs 'parallel' to Ca7-14 etc in the interval between Aa4-63--72 and Aa5-4--7:
Is the elbow ornament in Aa5-6 a picture of the canoe in which the 2nd half year will arrive? In the sequence Aa4-73--78 we find hua in Aa4-73, -77 and -78:
In the unusual glyph type seen in Aa4-76 (GD39) we can imagine a picture of two plants growing together, the one at left having 5 and the one at right 4 'leaves'. In Aa4-78 the top of henua is sloping down, probably a sign that light is fading, i.e. waning year. From the old 'sun head' (i.e. of the waxing year), the germ of the waning year is growing. If this interpretation is correct, then we should remember this form as indicating growing new life - to be observed later in such glyphs as for example Qb2-22 (GD17):
In the sequence Aa4-79--Aa5-3 we suddenly find signs of approaching 'full moon' (Aa4-79 and Aa4-81):
Obviously - if we are on the right track - the 'full moon' signs are here used symbolically, as a way to 'translate' the structure of the moon cycle onto the yearly cycle of the sun. Perhaps in order to eliminate misunderstandings Aa4-79 has an apex and Aa4-81 a rounded 'bulge' - i.e. in the reversed order compared to Ca7-16 and Ca7-23. In Aa4-80 and Aa4-82 we can see two identical glyphs where ihe tau is curved at left (in contrast to the shape of Aa4-75). To remind ourselves:
Aa4-80 and Aa4-82 are somewhat similar to type 5, presumably indicating 'waning', whereas Aa4-75 belongs to type 3, presumably indicating the time of 'hua'. The 'feet' of ihe tau in Aa4-80 and Aa4-82 are similar to what we can see in type 2 and probably this sign too indicates 'waning', as the 6 (including the aberrant Aa5-83) type 2 glyphs arrive immediately after summer solstice (as far as we have been able to ascertain earlier). We should also note that Aa4-80 and Aa4-82 are the 2nd and 3rd members in a triplet which looks like this:
The 1st member (Aa4-62), therefore, presumably belongs to the group with hua:
The ihe tau in Aa4-57 and Aa4-59 do not belong to anyone of the 5 types listed above and they seem to be uniquely designed. Aa4-58 and Aa4-60 are very strange glyphs without - as far as I have been able to ascertain - parallels anywhere among the rongorongo texts. But we can observe the 'knee' at left in Aa4-58 and at right in Aa4-60 - probably indicating the shift from waxing to waning phase. One (black?) 'eye' in the 'head' of Aa4-58 is changed into two (one black and one white?) in the (double?) head of Aa4-60, as if the 'fire' of the old half-year has gone and a new 'fire' been alighted from the old. Aa4-58 has 'spooky arms' presumably indicating 'ghost' status. |