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There is a better alternative to what I have just suggested, viz. that the 6 extra hau tea glyphs at the end of side b correspond to waxing moon. The Spring Sun time has no corresponding hau tea glyphs on side b (according to my reading of the text), therefore a sense of balance proposes that the 'spring' moon time (presumably not documented on side a), i.e. Waxing Moon, is worthy of a place on side b.

Here we must notice that Ab6-71 has a black 'eye', while Ab7-64 has an extraordinary big white 'eye'. I guess we here see an announcement of the reversal at midsummer - black going away and white taking over. We should remember the similar message in Aa4-58 and Aa4-60:

Monday affirms (in Hb9-23 and Hb9-25) that black is coming first:

There remains two glyphs, however:

Possibly Ab8-53 should be regarded as 'belonging' to side a, which would create a balance between 4 Waxing Moon glyphs + 1 extra for the moon + 1 extra for the sun + 4 Spring Sun glyphs.

Ab8-48 is similar to Aa5-5 and Aa5-63 in showing a steep slope upwards:

Ab8-53 has the middle vertical line shortest, a feature shared only with Ab4-49:

To investigate which of the two suggested solutions - for explaining the appearance of 6 extra hau tea after Ab4-79 - is supported by the Tahua text, I think we should compare the distribution of the internal parallel glyph sequences (all of which are found on the opposite side, none on the same side).

We begin with the text on side b. The first parallel appears at Ab1-14--20:

Although the order and the signs vary it is evident that these 7 glyphs are 'mirrored' on the opposite side of the tablet.

We have seen that side b starts with an apparent number pattern: 7, 6, 7 and the sum of these is 20. It is as yet unclear whether the 7, 6, 7 pattern is reflected also in the 13 glyphs before Aa4-12.

In Ab1-15 we recognize the boat of the sun from Aa1-2:

Most interesting is that in Large Washington Tablet we can see the same kind of presentation as in Ab1-14--16:

The messages certainly are not identical, though, as can be seen by the signs: 4 + 4 in Sb2-33 but 4 + 1 + 4 in Ab1-15, the boat in Ab1-15 separate but not so in Sb2-33 etc.

We have earlier met these glyphs in Large Washington Tablet as part of a presumed yearly calendar:

I have here red-painted obviously marked glyphs. To begin with Sb2-7, I earlier remarked:

Sb2-1 appears earlier in a possible 'period zero', which due to destroyed glyphs at the end of line b1 is unclear:

Also the end of line b2 (beyond Sb2-34) is destroyed, otherwise we could have determined whether Sb2-1 is the end of a missing period 0 or if alternatively we should read Sb2-1 as the first glyph in a series of triads, each one ending with a variant of the sun.

In the latter case we maybe should regard the 4th glyph in order below as the first one in a following 4-glyph sequence. I believe that is the correct reading - i.e. no part of line b1 ever had a part in the calendar.

The '11th' sun is Sb2-33, newborn and equal to the 1st sun in a canoe surrounded by darkness. Then it becomes obvious that Sb2-34 (GD28) belongs to the '11th' sun - because we know that GD28 signifies darkness.

Ab1-10 is 4 glyphs away, not arriving immediately before Ab1-14.  Similarly Aa4-3 appears 10 glyphs ahead of Aa4-13. The distance between the two marked GD45 (ihe tau) in S is 6 glyphs.

I earlier pointed at Aa7-72 as not only being marked but furthermore 'significantly ... also located in association with what I believe to be a calender of the year'. The calendar is the one which is found on Level 5 - while the Large Santiago calendar (which we are discussing) is located on Level 4.

We probably now should reread the structured table of 'uncomplicated' GD45 glyphs in Tahua:

Indeed, Aa7-72, together with Aa1-12, are heavily marked. They could be parallel in time, marking the close and new beginning of the great period, the year.

I count glyphs and find the distance between Aa1-12 and Aa7-72 to be 560 glyphs, and the distance the other way to be 1,334 - 560 = 774 glyphs.

560 = 20 * 28

774 = 6 * 129 = 18 * 43    -    or maybe (7 + 7) * 4 = 56

Although 20 * 28 is good, the other measure, 774, leaves me cold. I feel exhausted and is ready to give up, when I suddenly realize that Aa7-81 is a mirror image of Aa1-12:

Aa1-12 is fat, while Aa7-81 is lean. However, they share a common trait (which none of the 42 other glyphs have): they are open at the bottom. Aa1-12 is open at left and Aa7-81 at ríght. Presumably this means that at the left of Aa1-12 there is darkness, while the darkness is to the right of Aa7-81.

To the left of Aa1-12 we have the 'death' of the sun at Aa1-11, but also - a little earlier - the end of side b. To the right of Aa7-81 we find:

6 feathers in maro (in Aa7-83) should mean 'sun is ending'. Aa7-82 is the 3rd of the 12 main henua, maybe marking autumn equinox:

Aa1-12 is like alfa (α) and Aa7-82 is like omega (ω).

I am struck by the similarity in form and function between ω and viri.

I count the glyphs between Aa1-12 and Aa7-82 and reach 570 (of course, because Aa7-82 is 10 glyphs ahead of Aa7-72). Another alternative is to count also the 'alfa' and 'omega' glyphs, in which case we get 572.

1,334 - 570 = 764

1,334 - 572 = 762

570 = 10 * 57 while 764 = 4 * 191

572 = 11 * 52 while 762 = 6 * 127

Neither result is acceptable, and counting the ordinary way 'from - to' leads to odd numbers: 571 (a prime) and 763 = 7 * 109.

Probably it is not meant that we should count GD45 distances by way of Aa1-12 and Aa7-82 (and neither by way of Aa1-12 and Aa7-72).

All this counting has, however, lead me to the correct solution (to a problem which - it may be argued - is only located in my own head):

If we count by way of Aa1-12 (the 1st GD45 glyph on side a) and Ab1-10 (the 1st GD45 glyph on side b) we hit jackpot: They lie equidistant from each other.

Half the way through 1,334 glyphs we have 667 glyphs, but that is an odd number. 668 glyphs is better and that is the distance from Aa1-12 to Ab1-10:

667 would be the result if we had counted between Aa1-12 and Ab1-10, an obviously wrong procedure because 667 is an odd number. Equally bad would be to count including both end glyphs, reaching 669.

1,334 - 668 = 666 (the number of the beast)

I look up this beast in Wikipedia:

"... The Beast is a figure in the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament describing an elaborate metaphor. The Beast is an animal with seven heads coming out of a sea who makes himself an enemy of the Christian Church ..."

For Tahua I suggest the interpretation of 666 as symbolizing 3 repetitions of the solar double-month, magically imprinting the dark side b with the mark of the sun. Sun is the generator of light and order. What better number could be chosen than 666?

But it may all be in my imagination.