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TRANSLATIONS
We will now continue with the pages in the glyph dictionary. Following a hyperlink 'fire generators' in the last page we arrive at:
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Aa8-26 |
Aa8-27 |
Aa8-28 |
Aa8-29 |
Aa8-30 |
Aa8-31 |
Aa8-32 |
Aa8-33 |
Aa8-33 belongs to
the glyph type hoea and when classifying glyphs I decided
Ka3-14 was also a variant of hoea:
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Ka3-14 |
Aa8-33 |
Whereas the 'fire
fingers' are extended in Ka3-14 they are hidden inside the 'fist' in
Aa8-33 - meaning that the 'fire' is only immanent as yet.
Therefore, when
'flames' are visualized in Aa8-30 it is because they are the last
ones of the
old fire - the 'fist' is 'quenching' the 'flames'. When Metoro
said ka puhi i te ahi i te toga nui he presumably meant the
old fire was extinguished. Puhi is to blow out equally well
as to blow:
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Puhi
1. To blow; to light a fire; to
extinguish, to blow out; he-puhi te umu, to light
the fire for the earth oven. 2. To fish for lobsters at
night using a bait (but during the day one calls it
hî); puhiga, night fishing spot. Vanaga.
To blow; puhi mai, to spring
up; pupuhi, wind, fan, to blow, puffed up, to
blow fresh, to ferment, to swell, to bloat, to spring
out, to gush, yeast; pupuhi vai, syringe;
pupuhi eve, squirt; pupuhi heenua, volley;
pupuhi nunui, cannon; pupuhi nui, swivel gun;
ahuahu pupuhi, amplitude; vai pupuhi,
water which gushes forth; pupuhihia, to carry on
the wind; hakapupuhi, to gush, leaven,
volatilize; puhipuhi, to smoke, to smoke tobacco,
a pipe. Churchill |
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The House of Nodding; I wrote about
not long ago:
| ... Maybe the very prominent hoea in Aa8-33 has something to do with those 'nodding spirits': 46 Hare Hakangaegnae (13-15)
e tai a hare hakangaengae i te tahu hanga rikiriki
The 'house that makes breathless' (or the 'house where one nods to each other') is located 'towards the sea'. I was told that the exact location is in the area east of Hanga Pau Kura. The 'very small bays' are supposed to be located west of Hanga Pau Kura. In a different combination, the words may indicate tending a fire (tahuhanga) or a small-sized fire (rikiriki). In this case, one would suspect a connection with the preceding motif of the earth-oven ... Tuu Ko Ihu and the origin of the wooden figures may provide an alternative explanation: the 'house where one nods to each other' suggests the reaction of the spirits who are eavesdropping and think they are unrecognized (TP:68), while the 'little ones' may be the carved sculptures ... |
Once I thought the nodding gesture visualized the heavy fruits in late summer - a sign of the season when sun soon would disappear. Basically, though, the hoea glyph type probably has to do with light rather than fruit. According to Barthel hoea was an instrument for tattooing - i.e. dark marks - and in Ka3-14 fiery fingers are visualized.
Yet, on another level there is a fruit in the fist - the possibility of opening the hand and letting the fingers be seen, the fruit contains next generation. The hand is female and opening the fist means to let light be reborn.
The suggestion in Barthel 2 that there are spirits who nod at each other cannot be right. The nodding is because the heads are heavy, nothing spiritual in that. The very bold contour lines in Aa8-33 tell us that the life inside the fist is the opposite of ghostly, there is very much power inside.
The House of Nodding (Hare Hakagaegae, 46) is the last phase before next generation comes. The number of glyphs in Tahua is 46 * 29.
The bottom sense in hakagaegae seems to be 'make to shake' (in which case the head of course must nod):
| Gae
Gaegae, short of breath, out of breath, breathless. PS Mgv.:
aeaea, short of breath, to breathe with difficulty, to feel
suffocated; gaegae, to have a feeble voice. Mq.: naenae,
kaekae, short of breath, unable to breathe, suffocated. Ta.:
áeáe, short and painful breathing, as one at the point of death.
Sa.: gae, to breathe hard, to pant, to be out of breath. Uvea:
gaegae, out of breath. Fu.: gaigaisā.
id. Gaehe,
to boil. Gaei, to shake, to contract, to move (gaeiei,
gaiei, geigei, garei, gerei); ua gaiei,
pulsation; hakagaie, to shake, to wave, to waddle, to twist the
body about; ahi hakagaie, a night signal; hakagerei, to
shake. Churchill. |
The ribs of moai kavakava also illustrate the rough going at the end of time.
... It was an old Maori belief that a change of seasons was often facilitated by earthquakes. Ruau-moko, a god of the Underworld, was said to bring about changes of season, punctuating them with an earthquake. Or as another Maori saying summed up the matter, 'It is the Earth-mother shaking her breasts, and a sign of the change of season' ...
Next page:
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We are here not
going to use any other kava sign than the two mentioned (in
Aa8-31 respectively Ka3-11). The investigation will be complex enough anyhow
(though important for the further developments). The first step of
the investigation is to integrate Aa8-31 in the viri
structure. There are 1334 glyphs in Tahua. The text can be
used as a calendar with viri glyphs marking the main
divisions (in multiples of 29 glyphs). With a slight improvement of
what has been presented earlier (at viri in this dictionary)
the overall 'map of the structure can be regarded as:
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58 |
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520 |
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752 |
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Aa8-85 |
Ab1-1 |
Ab7-26 |
Aa8-26 |
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2 * 29 |
522 = 18 *
29 |
754 = 26 *
29 |
The beginning of
the text is at Ab1-1 and the end at Aa8-85. With an even number of
glyphs there are two central glyphs, not
one.
1334 = (18 + 26 +
2) * 29. The 4th viri (Aa5-7) is not needed for our
present 'map' of the Tahua text, yet it is informative to
include it when viewing the development:
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The first 'counting
machine' certainly was that delivered by mother nature in form of
the fingers and toes.
There are 10 fingers and
looking at the hands we can see the fingers grouped into 4 + 2 (the
thumbs) + 4 = 10. As far as I know this fundamental fact is not
something you learn in contemporary schools of the Western
Civilization, but we can be assured the schools of ancient man did
not miss to make use of it. With an even number there must be two
central units.
At a more advanced
stage the knuckles could be used:
(Ref.: Ifrah)
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We ought to list the pair of glyphs
where viri comes as 2nd element:
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--- -
Te hoea - rutua te
pahu etc |
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Aa8-85 |
Ab1-1 |
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kua mau
ia - i tona hue - i te vaha |
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Ab7-25 |
Ab7-26 |
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kua
hura te tagata - tona hura i roto i te pa |
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Aa5-6 |
Aa5-7 |
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ka hura
ia - te hura - mau uau - kua
viri |
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Aa8-25 |
Aa8-26 |
Much information certainly
is embedded in this new table. Notable is Metoro's choice of
words at Ab1-1 and Aa8-26 (the beginning and end), viz. hoea
and a long string of words not possible to put in parallel with the
glyphs respectively viri (the 'thread-reel').
Of the 4 viri locations
only Aa8-26 is at the right moment to roll up the thread of time. Only at
Ab1-1 is it proper to mention the sound of drums (rutu a te pahu).
In Mamari
there is another instance of drums:
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Cb1-5 |
Cb1-6 |
Cb1-7 |
Cb1-8 |
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rutua - te pahu -
rutua te maeva - atua rerorero -
atua hiko ura - hiko o tea |
Also in C the drums
are located at the beginning of side b.
An idea: Maybe rutu means
Ru (is) Tu, in other words: the season is governed by Ru,
the earthquake god.
| Rutu
1. To read, to recite, to pronounce words
solemnly; he-rutu i te kohau motu, to read the rongorongo
tablets; hare rutu rogorogo mo hakama'a ki te ga poki ite
kai, i te rogorogo, rongorongo school, house in which
children were taught reading and writing the rongorongo signs.
2. To pelt with stones. 3. To gather in great numbers (of
people). Vanaga.
Sound. Rutu-rongorongo = the sound of
recitation. Barthel.
T. Beat. Henry.
To recite; tae rutu, irreverence.
Churchill.
Pau.: rutu, a drum. Mgv.: rutu,
to beat, to cause to resound. Ta.: rutu, a drum, to drum.
Mq.: utu, to drum. Sa.: lutu, to shake a rattle.
Churchill. |
Beating on
drums will wake up the gods:
... There
was noise at night at Marioro, it was Hina beating tapa
in the dark for the god Tangaroa, and the noise of her mallet was
annoying that god, he could endure it no longer. He said to Pani, 'Oh
Pani, is that noise the beating of tapa?' and Pani
answered, 'It is Hina tutu po beating fine tapa.' Then
Tangaroa said, 'You go to her and tell her to stop, the harbour of
the god is noisy.' Pani
therefore went to Hina's place and said to her, 'Stop it, or the
harbour of the god will be noisy.' But Hina replied, 'I will not
stop, I will beat out white tapa here as a wrapping for the gods
Tangaroa, 'Oro, Moe, Ruanu'u, Tu,
Tongahiti, Tau utu, Te Meharo, and Punua the burst
of thunder.' So Pani returned and told the god that Hina would
not stop.
'Then go to
her again', said Tangaroa, 'and make her stop. The harbour of the god
is noisy!' So Pani went again, and he went a third time also, but
with no result. Then Pani too became furious with Hina, and he
seized her mallet and beat her on the head. She died, but her spirit flew up
into the sky, and she remained forever in the moon, beating white tapa.
All may see her there. From that time on she was known as Hina nui aiai i
te marama, Great-Hina-beating-in-the-Moon ...
Among the Maya indians ku
(exactly as the Hawaiian version of tu) meant 'god':
"In the ms.
Ritual of the Bacabs, the cantul kuob [the suffix '-ob'
indicates plural] , cantul bacabob, the four gods, the four bacabs, occur
constantly in the incantations, with the four colors, four directions, and
their various names and offices." (Gates)
| ... To the Polynesian and to the Melanesian
has come no concept of bare existence; he sees no need to say of
himself 'I am', always 'I am doing', 'I am suffering'. It is
hard for the stranger of alien culture to relinquish his nude
idea of existence and to adopt the island idea; it is far more
difficult to acquire the feeling of the language and to
accomplish elegance in the diction under these unfamiliar
conditions. Take for an illustrative example these two sentences
from the Viti: Sa tiko na tamata e kila: there are (sit)
men who know. Sa tu mai vale na yau: the goods are
(stand) in the house. The use of tu for tiko and
of tiko for tu would not produce
incomprehensibility, but it would entail a loss of finish in
diction, it would stamp the speaker as vulgar, as a white man
... Savage life is far too complex; it is only in rich
civilization that we can rise to the simplicity of elemental
concepts ... Churchill 2. |
I think tu'u means to stand
up and a god ought to be standing (not sitting), because the ruling star is
high above, not close to the horizon in the west (setting). You do not 'set'
a god, he will sit down himself - or do you imagine your magic is forceful
enough
to make him sit down?
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