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TRANSLATIONS
If the Easter Islanders created a new calendar on arriving to the island - which seems probable because they arrived at an early date, before the necessary ancient knowledge was forgotten - and if they used the geographic features as a guide, then, surely, they could have used Mauga Terevaka as an image of the 'mountain' behind which sun disappears each year in autumn.
The great mountain area beyond Anakena will shadow the south side. Mauga Terevaka is the highest peak of the island.
With the fine beach of Anakena situated immediately before the great moutain, it would have been logical to locate the month He Anakena immediately before the dark 4th quarter of the year. Then, considering the Hawaiian custom of both proclaiming a new year at the beginning of the 4th quarter and letting the celebrations come to an end at the end of the same quarter, the whole 4th quarter must be outside the normal calendar course of the sun. Mauga Terevaka would stop the rays of the sun from reaching to the center of the island when sun stood low. This would happen both in autumn and in spring, of course. The 1st quarter would therefore be equally in the dark. Yet then the new sun was soon going to disperse ('break') the shadows The 4th and 1st quarters together are characterized by the opposite of sun (fire), i.e. of 'water'. A canoe is needed. The geography - an island with 3 sides - ought, however, to be interpreted as 3 tertials (not 4 quarters). Interesting is how Captain Cook had his ship tacking along the west coast (see map above), before he set anchor outside Haga Roa. This is the place where canoes come ashore. As it happens, I have blue-marked 4 months, which could correspond to the 'water' season:
The 1st station of the kuhane - Nga Kope Ririva (the 3 islets outside the southwest corner) - is at the beginning of the 'water' half of the year, and the 3 youths are standing in the water (vai-tu).
1
Nga Kope Ririva Tutuu Vai A Te Taanga
9
Hua Reva
17
Pua Katiki
2
Te Pu Mahore
10
Akahanga
18
Maunga Teatea
3
Te Poko Uri
11
Hatinga Te Kohe
19
Mahatua
4
Te Manavai
12
Roto Iri Are
20
Taharoa
5
Te Kioe Uri
13
Tama
21
Hanga Hoonu
6
Te Piringa Aniva
14
One Tea
22
Rangi Meamea
7
Te Pei
15
Hanga Takaure
23
Peke Tau O Hiti
8
Te Pou
16
Poike
24
Maunga Hau Epa
(24/2) * 30 = 360
25
Oromanga
26
Hanga Moria One
residences of the current king at
Anakena
27
Papa O Pea
28
Ahu Akapu
residences for the future and the abdicated kings
(28/2) * 30 = 420 Beyond 2 months (4 kuhane stations, half-months) and beyond the middle of the darkest time of the year (June-July) the hora season arrives. The darkest time of the year lies in the middle of the vai season. The canoe of the sun is needed before He Maro and He Anakena, but maybe not after. Manuscript E locates the arrival of Hotu Matua to a bay to the east of Anakena. Yet, canoes arrive outside Haga Roa. Possibly there is a correlation with the fact that only gods enter a canoe at its ends, while mortals enter 'midships' (as into a hare paega). The ends of the solar canoe could lie at Anakena and Vinapu, I guess. The west coast of the island lies between Maunga Hau Epa (24) and Nga Kope Ririva (1). Barthel 2: "... often Polynesian lists of months contain an additional thirteenth month. On our list, place 25 and 26, which occur before and after the royal residence, could easily function as an 'itercalary month'. At the same time, the name of the royal residence would fix the intercalary time at the beginning of the year."
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