TRANSLATIONS

next page previous page up home

Let us leave our modern sun-oriented calendar for the moment, and instead focus on correlating the text on side b (of G) with kuhane stations:

Te Pei Te Pou
Gb1-7 (236) Gb2-10 (265) Gb2-11 (266)
Hua Reva Akahanga
Gb3-5 (295) Gb4-4 (324) Gb4-5 (325)
Hatinga Te Kohe Roto Iri Are
Gb5-1 (354) Gb6-1 (383) Gb6-2 (384)
Tama One Tea
Gb7-3 (413) Gb8-1 (442) Gb8-2 (443)
Hanga Takaure
Ga1-1 (472)

I have redmarked glyphs which I have tried to explain, where I have imagined I understood the reasons behind the choice of signs.

In Hua Reva - to take an example which I have felt uncertain about - the glyph could with its egg-formed oval give the message hua, but the takaure sign inside does not obviously and immediately refer to reva. 10 * 29.5 says the sun season is over (with moon counting). If a new star stands at the horizon (reva) it must therefore be the sun who just has left. It is not yet time for a new baby (tama). And then we have now learnt about the following Akahanga where the physical remains of old sun (Hotu Matua) lie buried. A takaure also at Akahanga could explain why there is one onboard the sun canoe of Hua Reva - at the rim of Orongo the old sun fell on his face, Orongo was a Reiga (spirit leaping place). The spirit left him before they buried his body.

Taking a broader view makes sense here. Hatinga Te Kohe follows the burial at Akahanga, i.e. the kuhane breaks the old year one (lunar) month after the king has been buried. Going backward in time we can suspect Te Pou to be the new star on the horizon which represents the spirit of the sun, and  the events may have started already at Te Pei (when old sun shines no more).

The flow of time apparently takes lunar months, but these glyphs on side b may refer to how one year ends and a new one begins. When trying to explain Roto Iri Are and One Tea we should keep this in mind. Furthermore, all the kuhane stations took just one night to dream about - it is only the text of G which could make us believe time runs slower. The time of the gods is very much longer than our own time.

My logic for explaining the Hua Reva glyph above lacks full convincing power. There must be more to it. Hua Reva sounds suspiciously similar to Hau Epa, with hua changed into hau, and the vocals are the same (e-a). Maunga Hau Epa is the last of the non-political stations, and from there sun (we are on the north coast) must go south to the dark side of the island. But the kuhane did not follow that path, she had already been on the south side.

... The dream soul came to Rangi Meamea and looked around searchingly. The dream soul spoke: 'Here at last is level land where the king can live.' She named the place 'Rangi Meamea A Hau Maka O Hiva'. The mountain she named 'Peke Tau O Hiti A Hau Maka O Hiva'. The dream soul moved along a curve from Peke Tau O Hiti to the mountain Hau Epa, which she named 'Maunga Hau Epa A Hau Maka O Hiva'. The dream soul went to the other side of the mountain Hau Epa. As soon as the dream soul looked around, she saw the sand (beach), which was very white and light ...

The very white and light sand presumably refers to the moon, i.e. indirectly to the south side of the island.

Old darkened sun leaves his white sandy beach on the north coast and traverses across the island towards Orongo. He travels in the sky in his canoe and seems to have gone to Hua Reva first, at least Hotua Matua did so:

"Among Hotu Matua's last accomplishments were his attempts to dig wells (anga i te vai, TP:53) along the shore of Akahanga. My informants did not mention these endeavors, but since Easter Island has neither stream nor wells, the supply of fresh water, aside from the three crater lakes, presents a real problem (HM:281-292).

Recent trial excavations in the area of Akahanga have shown that this area was ideal for the establishment of wells. The dying king has his foster child bring him his last drink of water (vai maunga mo unu) from neighboring Hua Reva, a sure indication of the success of his last efforts to better the lot of the settlers (TP:55). After leaving the residence at Akahanga, Hotu Matua goes to the northern rim of the volcano Rano Kau." (Barthel 2)

At vai in the glyph dictionary I wrote:

 

Summary: The sun is symbolized by GD16 glyphs.

The label vai for GD16 has been chosen because Metoro pointed to the sun as the source of the important rain. Although also other glyph types was referred to as vai by Metoro, the more rounded versions of GD16, as for instance in the calendars for the year in E and G, definitely appears to be connected with water.

Other versions of GD16 are not so rounded, and the idea probably then is not water but the canoe of the sun. In rei miro (GD13) the sun canoe is seen as from afar (sideways), in GD16 it appears as seen close by.

We have now confirmed that the glyph type vai indeed probably means sweet water and at the same time the question mark at the glyph for Hua Reva has been removed. The journey of the sun towards Orongo goes via Hua Reva.

The connection between Hua Reva and Akahanga is obvious, and together this pair constitute the second double-moon period on side b:

 
Te Pei Te Pou
Gb1-7 (236) Gb2-10 (265) Gb2-11 (266)
Hua Reva Akahanga
Gb3-5 (295) Gb4-4 (324) Gb4-5 (325)

The takaure inside the vai sign refers to the sun (Hotua Matua), and he is still living we now can understand. I have earlier thought takaure is taka-ure (with taka equal to completing a cycle), but now I suspect it is a wordplay built on takau-re: and search in my wordlists for clues. Yes, I was right:

 
Takau

Mgv.: ten pairs. Ta.: toau, id. Mq.: tekau, id. To.: tekau, id. Ma.: tekau, ten. Churchill.

Ten pairs of half-months could once have been the measure for the sun.

Reaching to the end of his measure, the sun's cycle is completed (taka):

 
Taka

Taka, takataka. Circle; to form circles, to gather, to get together (of people). Vanaga.

1. A dredge. P Mgv.: akataka, to fish all day or all night with the line, to throw the fishing line here and there. This can only apply to some sort of net used in fishing. We find in Samoa ta'ā a small fishing line, Tonga taka the short line attached to fish hooks, Futuna taka-taka a fishing party of women in the reef pools (net), Maori takā the thread by which the fishhook is fastened to the line, Hawaii kaa in the same sense, Marquesas takako a badly spun thread, Mangareva takara a thread for fastening the bait on the hook. 2. Ruddy. 3. Wheel, arch; takataka, ball, spherical, round, circle, oval, to roll in a circle, wheel, circular piece of wood, around; miro takataka, bush; haga takataka, to disjoin; hakatakataka, to round, to concentrate. P Pau.: fakatakataka, to whirl around. Mq.: taka, to gird. Ta.: taa, circular piece which connects the frame of a house. Churchill.

Takai, a curl, to tie; takaikai, to lace up; takaitakai, to coil. P Pau.: takai, a ball, to tie. Mgv.: takai, a circle, ring, hoop, to go around a thing. Mq.: takai, to voyage around. Ta.: taai, to make into a ball, to attach. Churchill.

At the end of a cycle it curls (taka), which explains why the kuhane moved 'along a curve' from Peke Tau O Hiti to Hau Epa:

... The dream soul moved along a curve from Peke Tau O Hiti to the mountain Hau Epa, which she named 'Maunga Hau Epa A Hau Maka O Hiva' ...

Moving from Hau Epa to Hua Reva (two names ringing together) suggests hau in Hau Epa is referring to

 

haú

Another version of takau is tekau, which makes me think te-kau and then on to Rano Kau. The rim of Ranu Kau (at Orongo) was the spirit leaping place, we can assume. Time begins each year at Orongo with the Birdman competition, and the cycle must therefore be completed there. A Marquesan word confirms:

 
Takapu

Mq.: a girdle. Ma.: takapu, the belly. Churchill.

The hole (pu) is the inside of the crater rim, the female. Rano Kau was alternatively named Rano Kao:

 
Kao

1. Side, edge, rim; kao gutu (or just kao), labia minora. 2. Steep, almost perpendicular; thin, skinny. Motu Kaokao, name of one of the islets opposite Orongo, with a steep shape. Vanaga.

Cloth, clothing, garb. (Perhaps a variant of kahu.) Kaokao, side, flank, ribs, lateral. P Pau.: kaokao, the side, flank. Mgv.: kaokao, the side, flank. Mq.: kaokao, id. Ta.: aoáo, id. In Nuclear Polynesia this is particularized, in Samoa to the armpit, in Tonga and Futuna to the sides of the canoe. Therefore it may be considered a borrowing from the Tongafiti. Churchill.

Kau

1. To move one's feet (walking or swimming); ana oho koe, ana kau i te va'e, ka rava a me'e mo kai, if you go and move your feet, you'll get something to eat; kakau (or also kaukau), move yourself swimming. 2. To spread (of plants): ku-kau-áte kumara, the sweet potatoes have spread, have grown a lot. 3. To swarm, to mill around (of people): ku-kau-á te gagata i mu'a i tou hare, there's a crowd of people milling about in front of your house. 4. To flood (of water after the rain): ku-kau-á te vai haho, the water has flooded out (of a container such as a taheta). 5. To increase, to multiply: ku-kau-á te moa, the chickens have multiplied. 6. Wide, large: Rano Kau, 'Wide Crater' (name of the volcano in the southwest corner of the island). 7. Expression of admiration: kau-ké-ké! how big! hare kau-kéké! what a big house! tagata hakari kau-kéké! what a stout man! Vanaga.

To bathe, to swim; hakakau, to make to swim. P Pau., Mgv., Mq.: kau, to swim. Ta.: áu, id. Kauhaga, swimming. Churchill.

The stem kau does not appear independently in any language of Polynesian proper. For tree and for timber we have the composite lakau in various stages of transformation. But kau will also be found as an initial component of various tree names. It is in Viti that we first find it in free existence. In Melanesia this form is rare. It occurs as kau in Efaté, Sesake, Epi, Nguna, and perhaps may be preserved in Aneityum; as gau in Marina; as au in Motu and somewhere in the Solomon islands. The triplicity of the Efaté forms [kasu, kas, kau] suggests a possible transition. Kasu and kas are easy to be correlated, kasu and kau less easy. They might be linked by the assumption of a parent form kahu, from which each might derive. This would appear in modern Samoan as kau; but I have found it the rule that even the mildest aspirate in Proto-Samoan becoming extinct in modern Samoan is yet retained as aspiration in Nuclear Polynesia and as th in Viti, none of which mutations is found on this record. Churchill 2

Kaukau

1. Horizontal poles of a frame (of a hare paega, or a paina statue): he-hakatu'u te tama o te paina, he-kaukau, they erect the vertical poles of the paina then they lay upon them the horizontal ones. 2. Group of people: e-tahi tuitui reipá i Te Pei, ekó rava'a e-varu kaukau; i-garo ai i Hiva, i te kaiga, a necklace of mother-of-pearl is on te Pei, few will find it (lit: eight groups of people); it has remained in Hiva, in our homeland. 3. To go through, to pass through in unison; he-hogi-mai te ûka i te e'eo o te pua kaukau-á i roto ite hare, the girl smelt the fragrance of the pua wafting inside the house. 4. Newborn baby's first hand and feet movements (kaukau or kau). The five stages of a baby's development are: kaukau, puepe, tahuri, totoro, mahaga. Puepue = said of a newborn baby when, a few weeks old, it begins to distinguish people and objects: ku-puepue-á te poki. Tahuri = of a new-born baby, to move from side to side: ku-tahuri-á te poki. Totoro = to crawl; ki totoro te poki, when the baby crawls. Mahaga = baby when able to stand by itself. Vanaga.

Horizontal poles are females (in contrast to vertical poles which are males).

At the end of sun ('fire') there must be water of course, which is associated with Rano Kau:  '... since Easter Island has neither stream nor wells, the supply of fresh water, aside from the three crater lakes, presents a real problem ...' The water theme begins already at Hua Reva.

Of course we cannot stop here without trying to explain the end part of takau-re:

 
Re

Pau.: victory. Ta.: re, prize in any contest, prey. Mgv.: Re-mai, to emerge from prison, to recover from illness, delivered from evil. Mq.: ee, to go, to escape. Sa.: lele, to go out (of the passing soul). Ha.: lele, to depart (of the spirit). Churchill.

The connection to Reiga (spirit leaping place) means we should interpret it as re-î-ga, the place (ga) full of (î) departing spirits (re). Takaure is properly spelled takaúre (maybe to avoid misunderstanding it as taka-ure). When sun has reached the stage beyond haú (as in Hau Epa) only his spirit is left:

 

haú

Hua Reva