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TRANSLATIONS
Let us begin with what Makemson has written about Ru. First a story telling about him as a hisorical person: "... It is generally accepted that during the period of greatest maritime activity from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries expeditions went out radially from the Society Islands in all directions navigating by suitable stars. The Tahitian legend of Ru illustrates this point. Ru announced that he had selected a certain star and intended to steer by it because it would lead him to a new land. Carrying out his plan he arrived with a sizeable party of colonists at Aitutaki in the Cook group and settled there. The great circle course of 258º from Raiatea to Aitutaki is determined by any star in declination 11º south. This corresponds exactly to the position of Spica in Virgo, and it may be recalled that Spica, or Mariua, was associated with the Birth of New lands in the Ancient Raiatea chant from which excerpts have been quoted." The excerpts quoted: "Let more land grow from Havaii! / Mariua is the star, Aeu-ere is the king / of Havaii, the birthplace of lands. / The morning apparition rides / Upon the flying vapor of the chilly border. Bear thou on! Bear on and strike where? / Strike upon Moana-urifa / In the border of the west. / The sea casts up Vavau, the firstborn." Then, he can also have a mythical quality: "In Manihiki they say that the constellation known as the Tail of the Scorpion is the fishhook of Maui. In Tonga and the Tuamotus Maui taught human beings the art of cooking. In Mangaia he hurled his father, Ru, who raised the sky, so high in the air that Ru stuck in the vault of heaven and hung there until his body decayed ..." The rotting bird carcass (gods - including Ru - must be birds) rings a bell. In Starzecka I once read about a curious custom among the Maori: "Ornamental feathers were affected by both sexes, the spatulate tail feathers of the now extinct huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) being the favourite chiefly emblem. They were blue black, with the uppermost quarter stark white. Flowing plumes of the white heron and the downy feathers of the albatross were prized for earrings, and the elegant narrow tails of the red-tailed tropic bird were also popular. Whole bird carcasses, particularly huia, were worn suspended from the ears." There must have been a special reason for wearing the carcasses in the ears. Decaying birds should mean the phase after death before they have flown away as spirits to Hiva, before they were completely dried out (cfr the skull of king Hotu). Sun symbols were worn in the ears on Easter Island. But these symbols were more likely noon sun symbols than the rotting sun. The rotting phase begins at autumn equinox. The ears are located in the middle between the face and the back side. When Ru became stuck in the vault of heaven it probably means he became located at a certain place among the stars, and then, the stars - which determined the seasons of the year - thereby also fixed Ru in the calendar for the year, presumably at autumn equinox. As to his raising of the sky: "It was Ru, the first-born of Atea and Hotu, who finally succeeded in raising his father a short distance. Ru drew up the sky Rumia for his king the star Betelgeuse, ninth pillar of the heavens, until it rested on the summit of Moua-raha on the island of Porapora. He propped it up on the flat leaves of certain trees and the tall tree-coral. He became humpbacked from the tremendous efforts, however, and was forced to desist ..." (Makemson) Betelgeuze is Ana-varu, the 8th pillar (not the 9th), the star where 'the bark' is removed (where the dead person is taken care of by the women to desiccate completely, to be mummified):
It is also the pillar to sit by:
We remember how in the 'humpback season' the person(s) are not standing, these are rather on the verge of flying away:
Now we are ready for a long (and last concerning Ru) citation from Makemson: "Long ago in the very beginning of time there dwelt within a shell an infant god whose name was Ta'aroa. He was Ta'aroa the unique one, the ancestor of all gods, the creator of the universe whose natures were myriad, whose backbone was the ridgepole of the world, whose ribs were its supporters. The shell was called Rumia, Upset. The universe (or rather cosmos) - in a way - was Ta'aroa, yet outside him there was a 'shell' (Rumia). The name Rumia is said to mean Upset, implying maybe something out of order, in need of fixing. There may be a wordplay: Ru-mia. Becoming aware at last of his own existence and oppressed by a yearning loneliness Ta'aroa broke open his shell and, looking out, beheld the black limitless expanse of empty space. We remember the one who must remain alone on Easter Island, Mako'i, who also sat alone: ... He went on, all alone he went on, and came to Te Pou. When he arrived there, he looked around and again said: 'Here it is!' and gave the name 'Te Pou A Hau Maka'. He sat down and rested. There was no bride-donor (tumu) to live with (? kia ora) ... Te Pou (Sirius) is located at the beginning of the year:
Hopefully, he shouted, but no voice answered him. He was alone in the vast cosmos. Within the broken Rumia he grew a new shell to shut out the primeval void. Here it becomes rather clear why the shell was called Upset - it had been broken. Broken probably refers to how an old season is 'dead', e.g. at full moon (Ca7-24):
The new shell presumably is a nut, they ripen in autumn. Eons passed and Ta'aroa grew to be a lad conscious of his own vigor and potentialities. Impatience grew upon him until he could bear his isolation no longer. He broke forth from his shell with energy, resolved to create beings like himself who would banish his loneliness forever. Ta'aroa's first act was to construct a firm foundation for the earth, using the strong second shell for stratum rock. The shell Rumia became his dwelling place, the overarching dome of the sky. It was a confined sky enclosing the world just forming, and in its deep and abiding night the lad attained manhood. There were no Sun, Moon, or stars and only one other living creature, the Great Octopus. The dwelling place resembles a hare paega, a resemblance of the sky dome. Ta'aroa had grown it himself, it is in a way his own body. "The first god's house in the temple was the body of Ta'aroa's own person, and it became a model for all other god's houses. One day Ta'aroa let himself go into a trance and his spirit stood away in space while his body floated in the sea, then he said to his daughters: 'Oh, girls! How many canoes are there at sea?' And the daughters replied: 'It is like one, it is like one!' Then Ta'aroa's spirit said: 'Who can it be?' And they answered: 'It is thyself assuredly!' (Henry) The sun was held down close above the slowly evolving earth by the Great Octopus, Tumu-rai-fenua, Foundation of Heaven and Earth, who lived in the primeval waters on which the earth floated. One of his arms was to the north, one to the south, one to the east and another to the west. An octopus has 8 arms, as all are well aware of. It is up to the listener of the myth to add the 4 arms in between the mentioned ones, which probably allude to the square 'earth'. Those in between, therefore, may refer to arms clinging to the sky dome, creating a pattern like X. With these vast arms he held the sky, the shell Rumia, close down against the earth. Here the contrary is implied: The X-arms are those which hold on to the earth. The myth is not about the earth but about the sky. Meanwhile on the earth itself various generations of rocks were born, one after the other; then sand appeared. On Easter Island, in the dark quarter (south) of the island, there are pebbles, but at Anakena there is sand (suggesting multiplication, myriads).
Roots were born and as they spread they held the sand together and the land became firm. Offspring will not only extend the family but also make it stronger, more united. Children create. Ta'aroa sat in his heaven above the earth and conjured forth gods with his words. Giving names is to determine, make firmer, a process similar to creating offspring. When he shook off his red and yellow feathers they drifted down and became trees. Here is an important statement: fiery feathers evolved into trees. From very early on in this investigation into the rongorongo signs I became convinced that henua glyphs had to do both with trees (including wood) and with time, and the idea originated from this information (Coe):
The common factor must be fire - red and yellow feathers look like flames, and to make a fire you need wood from trees who have allowed fire to live in them; all trees are not generated from the red and yellow feathers of Ta'aroa. Time is measured by the rays from the sun, the shape of the moon and the morning stars rising in the east. "The morning star was said to rule the month during which it rose before sunrise. As a result of the earth's motion in its orbit, a star rises about four minutes earlier each night or two hours earlier in the course of a month. Hence if on a certain morning in June-July Rigel is just visible above the eastern horizon before the rising Sun obliterates the stars, Rigel will rise two hours before daylight at the end of 30 days and another conspicious star will have appeared on the eastern horizon as a ruler of the ensuing month." (Makemson) Our eyes cannot see anything without light. Light is generated from fires. Even the moon is visible only due to reflection of light from the sun. (Earth illuminats the moon too, but also earth has its light from the sun.) He created the first parents, Tumu-nui, Great Foundation, to be the husband, and Paparaharaha, Stratum Rock, to be the wife. He put the very essence of himself into their creation; yet when he commanded them to wed, each refused to go to the other. So Ta'aroa created other gods and Atea, Bright Expanse, the Sky-goddess, who dwelt in darkness in the confined sky Rumia. By Papa-tuoi, Thin Earth, Atea was the mother of children who became artisans for Rai-tupua-nui, Great-Sky-builder. They assisted him in erecting the ten heavens above the earth. In the hightest of these dwelt the god Tane, so it was called the Sky-of-the-sacred-omens of Tane and Sky-of-the-water-of-life of Tane. The next highest heaven was called Hiro's Sky-of-prophets. Atea then became the wife of Rua-tupua-nui, Source of Great Growth, and they became the parents of all the celestial beings, first the shooting stars, then the Moon and the Sun, next the comets, then the multitude of stars and constellations, and finally the bright and dark nebulae. When this tremendous task had been accomplished Atea took a third husband, Fa'a-hotu, Make Fruitful. The number of husbands ultimately may be reflections of how the moon has 3 visible phases. Hotu would then allude to the full moon. Englert's Omotohi for the 14th night of the moon was according to Métraux instead Hotu. Also the Tahitians regarded the 14th night as Hotu. Beyond the full moon phase (beyond number 16) the creation (waxing) is over. From this perspective it is easy to understand Thin Earth and Source of Greath Growth - the very first visible phase of the moon respectively the 'season' of waxing. 28 half-nights = 14 nights and reading the Mamari moon calendar we now can locate period 1 to a time antedating the tremendous task of Atea:
Then occurred a curious event. Whether Atea had wearied of bringing forth offspring we are not told, but certain it is that Atea and her husband Fa'a-hotu exchanged sexes. A most important statement. Continuing with the phases of the moon we enter into waning. Fa'a-hotu, Make Fruitful, becomes female. The full moon 'egg' will in due time generate a new month. Fundamentally a female is dark (no eyes) and a male bright (all eyes). Full moon should be male, but the 'head' must be buried (dark new moon phase) before the birth of next month. Full moon is changing over from female to male. The Source of Greath Growth season (waxing) is dominated by a female characteristic - growing new 'life'. It must be female. Beyond that the male factor (brightness) will become dominant. Waning moon is the opposite of growing, and the 'death' phase is the continuation of the 'nut'. Here 'death' (the opposite of female 'birth') is the dominant aspect, and it cannot be regarded as the same 'person' as the one symbolizing the waxing phase. Males kill, females give birth. Atea cannot represent the moon any longer, the fundamentally female moon has to change into a male. Then the [male] eyes of Atea glanced down at those of his wife Hotu and they begat Ru. Beyond waxing and full moon the phase of waning must bring into play the last quarter and Ru can be regarded as the dark new moon. We remember how Ruamoko, the youngest one, remained inside his mother: ... They were Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, both sealed together in a close embrace. Crushed between the weight of their bodies were their many children, whose oppression deepened. They yearned to be free; they fought their parents and each other to break loose. Tuumatauenga, virile god of war, thrust and shouted; Tangaroa of the oceans whirled and surged; Tawhirirangimaatea howled with many raging winds; Haumiatiketike and Rongomatane, of wild foods and cultivated crops tried their best but were not successful; and Ruamoko, god of earthquakes, yet to be born, struggled in the confinement of his mother's womb ... Probably we are to read Ruamoko as Ru-a-moko, Ru of the Moko, alternatively as Rua-moko, the pit (rua) of Moko:
When moon disappears at the end of the night it is probably because it goes down into its pit (rua). All luminous bodies will pass underground (or over the sky, or behind the mountian, or below the horizon in the west) at some stage in their evolution. Down inside the 'womb' of the earth mother they can be regarded as yet unborn soles of the dead. Earthquakes can be caused by their struggles to be born, and a birth will always be a struggle for the mother:
It was this Ru who explored the whole earth and divided it into north, south, east, and west." |
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