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There are 670 glyphs on side a of Tahua:

The first line (Aa1) seems to be 'outside', which leaves us with 29 * 20 = 580 glyphs 'inside'. In the Aztec 'calendar' - in the long flowing 'skirt' of Chalciuhtlicue - there was hinted at 29 * 14 = 406:

As 'proof' of the special nature of line a1 there are various indications. To begin with, we have observed how this line ends:

In Aa1-90 there is a triplet of openings towards right. Earlier I suggested a connection with Aa2-21 (the shape of which I now imagine probably is alluding to viri):

'... I guess we in Aa2-21 can see the full image of the glyph type to which Aa1-90 belongs. Fischer does not indicate any damage at the end of line a1.'

'... at the same time we cannot be blind for the resemblance with Aa1-54 (and similar glyphs):

In Aa1-90 parts are missing, that we must see and understand as a sign. There are 3 parts missing (at the top, in the middle and at bottom). This triplicity of 'not seen' probably means three times darkness and we remember the 3 glyphs Aa1-13--15:

'... A junction may be a conjunction where the ends are fused together (take, teke) or the junction may be a disjunction where the ends are separated (koti, kote - words where the syllables have a reversed order). In Aa1-90 there are 3 'open' ends, which possibly means 3 disjunctions. The toki (adze), according to this idea, should have a function of fusion - not fission ...'

At Aa1-90 Metoro said kua oho, where oho means 'to go' (away):

There is also an expression which may be alluded to: 'moa ohoa, crowing of cocks'.

'... The break after vae - expressed inside a glyph to make the signal very clear - probably means the break between old and new year. This type of signal we have met before, when discussing the meaning of Qb5-135--136 respectively Hb3-6 and Pb5-11:

 

    

  

In the beginning of line a1 we have uncovered a detailed structure which may be described like this:

'If these numbers are meant to be more than a playfield for number juggling, then we should interpret the 24 last glyphs as referring to the sun, because there are 24 glyphs in the X area + the day time area.'

'... the X glyph area is a continuation of what has been told before (presumably about the year being divided into 2 half-years, and by 4 cardinal points into 4 seasons). After the description of the regular calendrical year follows the X area describing midwinter solstice time, when the fire of the old year is stamped out and a new year is ignited. 15 is an odd number and that tells us that the story does not end with the X area. After year, half-years and quarters the next (lesser in duration) period to present should be the diurnal cycle ...The X area with 3 glyphs could, though, also be considered as the last part of the year. But number 3 indicates that the X-area is belonging to Hina (the Moon). 12 * 30 = 360 leaves 5 days for the 'night' (Hina). Therefore also Aa1-11--12 may be considered as belonging to Hina.

10 * 28 = 280 days is the period of lively Sun, the rest of the year he is 'absent'. During those 280 days when Sun is 'present' Moon is 'absent'. Sun has 280 days and Moon has 3 * 28 = 84 days. 280 + 84 = 364 and therefore 1 day is extracalendrical. This is a picture which may have been in the minds of the rongorongo writers. The table should therefore be reorganized into:

'... The X-glyph (Aa1-15), in what presumably is the gap between two 364-day periods, is definitely giving us information of an empty (time) space:

The leg at left may have a deeper and more sinister meaning, though, than what has been discussed earlier:

... However, the dislocation [of the hip of Tantalus - like that of other sacred kings] may have been produced - and it is likely that still another method [than '... produced by wide abduction of the thighs ... when a person embarking in a boat remains undecided whether to get in or remain on land.'] was practised on a hill-top, not beside a river - there was a taboo in Canaan on eating the flesh around the thigh-bone, as is expressely stated in Genesis in the story of Jacob's wrestling at Peniel ...

The right part of the glyph (which appropriately is number 15 - the day in the month when a changeover in rule is due from waxing to waning moon) is a moa (GD74), although Metoro understood the situation and preferred the word ariki. Another view of the moa character is given by the 4 (uniformly written) toko te ragi (GD32) in Aa1-5--8. Without doubt they illustrate how the sky is 'lifted up' to let in the light. During those magic 4 * 28 = 112 days before midsummer the changes are dramatic ....'

However, the details of the revised structure above were once again changed somewhat in accordance with the following reasoning:

'... We have 14 glyphs at the beginning of side a in Tahua before reaching the extracalendrical night Aa1-15:

These 14 glyphs could represent 26 nights each: 14 * 26 = 364. But the last updated version of the structure does not quite fit with this pattern. We counted 13 * 28 = 364 nights, not 14 * 26 = 364 nights. From the assumption that the fundamental unit was a month with 28 nights we reached the conclusion that there must be 13 months in a year. Changing the assumption to a fundamental unit with 14 nights, there must be 26 periods in a year. That means we should change the structure into:

With 26 * 14 = 364 there are 20 sun periods and 6 moon periods. With 28 * 13 = 364 there are 10 sun periods and 3 moon periods. 14 nights per period contra 28 nights per period.

5 glyphs beyond the first 10 in the calendar probably belong to the moon. The first 2 of these may be regarded as the 2 needed to fill up the year from 10 to 12 thirty-day months. However, counting periods as 14 nights implies that there should be 6 periods for the moon beyond the 20th and last for the sun.

In H/P/Q the glyphs parallel to Aa1-13--15 (the X glyphs) are located elsewhere in the texts. That implies that superficially seen there are 12 months with 30 days (= 360 days for a year), and that the number of the X glyphs do not measure the difference between the lenght of a true year and 360 days. The number of X glyphs are respectively (for A, H, P, and Q): 3, 7 (?), 6, and 0.

Though the ideas in the head of the creator of the A calendar should not be understood by way of what may appear in the other three texts.

Comparing with the Aztec view (as I have recently interpreted it) we recognize 280 as the sum of 'new year' + 'rising sun' (140) and 'sinking sun' (140), while 84 is 'midsummer':

Just 10 glyphs (Aa1-1--10) instead of 20 indicates that we should think about double periods of 14 days.

On Easter Island (at least according to the beginning of side a in Tahua) the 84 days at 'midsummer' have been relocated to winter, not an illogical step because the Aztecs live north of the equator.

20 (= 2 + 8 + 10) Aztec periods correspond to 10 rongorongo ones. If we (somewhat illogically) think that the Aztec number 42 corresponds to the rongorongo number 21, we could then add 21 to Aa1-13 and arrive at Aa1-34:

Aa1-34 is unique among the 10 tapa mea glyphs in the day calendar of Tahua. Not only is the glyph reversed (compared with the normal right and forward direction), but there are only 5 marks - indicating that sun is 'finished'.

'... In Aa1-34 we can see the reversed tapa mea as a picture of the sun 'falling on his face' (a Polynesian way of speech for dying) ...'

4 * 6 = 24 forward marks during a.m., added to 3 * 6 = 18 forward marks during p.m. give us 7 * 6 = 42 marks for the whole day. 6 backward marks during a.m., added to 6 + 5 = 11 backward marks during p.m. result in 17 backwards marks for the whole day. 42 + 17 = 59 = 2 * 29½.

34 (in Aa1-34) may be expressed as twice 17, possibly a doubly bad number. I feel inclined to revise the structure of the day into: