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TRANSLATIONS
Fornander came to my aid just in time. Consider Hua Reva, where sweet drinking water from a well quenched the thirst of the old king (and he may have died on the spot because there is no definite article for Hua Reva, and he may have been depicted as a horse-fly, takaure, caught in the pool, and 10 * 29.5 is the limit):
In contrast Nga Kope Ririva are standing (with their feet instead of head) in salt (undrinkable) water (and they have a definite article, and their journey has just begun):
Aquarius is not referring to sweet water but to sea-water: "... The origin and explanation of the custom [of sacred water] is thus given in the Hawaiian 'Kumuhonua' legend: The Ocean, ka moana nui a Kane, which surrounds the earth, was made salt by Kane, so that its waters should not stink, and to keep it thus in a healthy and uninfected state is the special occupation of Kane. In imitation of Kane, therefore, the priests prepared waters of purification, prayer, and sanctification, Wai-hui-kala, Wai-lupa-lupa, and ke kai-olena, for the public ceremonials, for private consolation, and to drive away demons and diseases. Such holy waters were called by the general name of ka wai kapu a Kane. From the sprinkling of a new-born child to the washing of the dying, its application was constant and multifarious. The baptismal ceremony - E Riri - of the New Zealanders, related by Dieffenbach, with the accompanying prayers invoking the gods Tu and Rongo (the Hawaiian Ku and Lono), is a valuable and remarkable remnant of the ancient culte. It was a necessary adjunct in private and public worship, a vade mecum in life, a viaticum in death; and even now, fifty years after the introduction of Christianity in these Hawaiian islands, there are few of the older people who would forego its use to alleviate pain and remove disease." (Fornander) Instead of Re-va, the sweet water of death, Riri-va must be the opposite, the sacred life-giving salt water of Tane. Tane was a name for the sun god, I am sure of, and when his rays reached down to the water of the sea the result was that it became salt. Everyone can observe the process in the small water pools at the edge of the sea - evaporation makes it salty. And then we have the god with angry eyes, Atua Mata Riri. Were his eyes sacred? The body fluids are like the sea-water, not sweet but salty. The tears from the eyes could be referred to in mata riri. Or is Atua Mata Riri another name for Tane, the sun-god? With Nga Kope Ririva at the beginning of the journey, and located in Aquarius, the year should have begun in 'February'. And Hanga Te Pau (notice the definite article for the sun) lies only 365 - 177 = 188 days beyond, ca 6 months beyond. In other words should Hanga Te Pau be located in 'August', and the takaure (winter) season follow. Translating 'August' with February (Tehetu'upú) we find that Barthel has located Hanga Hoonu there, which seems to be entirely reasonable:
But he has located Hua Reva 6 months away, where we would wish Nga Kope Ririva to be, at the beginning of the summer season. It is an impossible task, to press the kuhane stations into a solar map. Possibly only the 8 stations with definite article (excepting Hatinga Te Kohe) can be used in a solar calendar. Each of them will have 45 days. I searched if Metoro had said riri anywhere, and found only one such place (but an interesting one):
The symmetric structure (two low at the beginning and end, two high in the center) suggests riri is associated with the 3rd quarter. Hau tea at right in Aa8-20 seems to have been expressed as atea by Metoro. Nowhere else among his readings did he mention atea. The top of hau tea is strangely drawn, what may have prompted the words riri and atea. Maybe there is a suggestion of matagi in the slightly non-vertical lines of the hau tea sign. A spectral 'head' and wind (matagi) could refer to the season beyond midsummer. |
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