TRANSLATIONS

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What happens if we try to fit the 5-fold subdivisions in line Aa1 onto the structure of the solar year?

Aa1-18 90 spring equinox sun is beginning to increase after having been released from the darkness of winter
Aa1-36 180 summer solstice maximum sunshine (tapa mea, red cloth) and a new half-year is beginning
Aa1-54 270 autumn equinox a new Pleiades year is beginning
Aa1-72 360 winter solstice five dark nights are around the bend

This looks promising. Next step is to try to fit this scheme onto side a of Tahua:

Aa1-18 90 spring equinox 145 Aa3-60
Aa1-36 180 summer solstice 290 Aa5-47
Aa1-54 270 autumn equinox 435 Aa6-25
Aa1-72 360 winter solstice 580 Aa8-85
670 - 90 = 580 and 580 / 4 = 145.

A single glyph does not tell us enough. We have to present also a few glyphs around those at right in the table above. Even better is though to use our earlier findings:

... not until Aa3-16 do things start to change for real (both Aa2-74 and Aa3-15 [hau tea glyphs] have their 'roofs' closed):

Aa3-16

Aa3-17

Aa3-18

Aa3-19

Aa3-20

Aa3-21

Aa3-22

Aa3-23

Aa3-24

Aa3-25

Aa3-26

Aa3-27

Aa3-28

Aa3-29

Aa3-30

Aa3-31

Aa3-32

Aa3-33

Aa3-34

Aa3-35

Hands held high possibly are greeting the sun. Aa3-32 is (together with Aa4-14) larger than normal.

Aa3-36

Aa3-37

Aa3-38

Aa3-39

Aa3-40

Aa3-41

Aa3-42

Aa3-43

Aa3-44

Aa3-38 (the last dark henua) has the top 'hatch-mark' sloping upwards. Aa3-44 is similar to Aa1-3--4:

Probably Aa3-44 therefore marks spring equinox.

Aa3-45

Aa3-46

Aa3-47

Aa3-48

Aa3-49

Aa3-50

Aa3-51

Aa3-52

Aa3-53

Aa3-54

Aa3-55

Aa3-56

Aa3-57

Aa3-58

Aa3-59

Aa3-60

Aa3-61

Aa3-62

Aa3-63

Aa3-64

After that the hand gestures include 'eating' (i.e. growing) and an arm is raised with a little sun symbol as thumb (Aa3-64), presumably pushing up the sky.

We are clearly close to equinox at Aa3-60. I had arrived at Aa3-44 as representing equinox and that is 16 glyphs earlier.

I think we should abandon this idea for the moment. We did not reach Aa3-44.

Instead, we should try to fit the 8 lines of side a to the cyclic pattern:

Aa1-18 90 spring equinox 45 line a1
90 line a2
Aa1-36 180 summer solstice 135 line a3
180 line a4
Aa1-54 270 autumn equinox 225 line a5
270 line a6
Aa1-72 360 winter solstice 315 line a7
360 line a8

Spring equinox ought to have passed away at Aa3-64

The elbow at left indicates that, and the Y-form at bottom may tell about the 'spirit' of the 1st quarter. According to the new table above the whole a3 line is past spring equinox.

The first two lines (a1 and a2) contain 90 + 85 = 175 glyphs (where 7 * 5 * 5 = 175). Reducing 90 with 6 'living sun' glyphs (Aa1-5--10) we have 84 glyphs. At the end of line a2 we have the 'smiling bird'

Let's recall what we once thought about this strange bird:

... Remember that in line a1 there presumably is a new beginning with Aa1-49 and that therefore we have 42 glyphs in line a1 which belong to the period of darkness:

Aa1-49

Aa1-50

Aa1-51

Aa1-52

Aa1-53

Aa1-54

Counting from Aa1-53 to Aa3-39:

we have 38 (line a1) + 85 (line a2) + 39 = 162 (= 9 * 18) glyphs. In line a2 we have 85 glyphs which number is 2*42 + 1. In view of the triple glyphs (Aa1-49--51), the triple dark periods, the triple subperiods of each such dark period, the triple light groups and triple hau tea, the three glyphs in the X-area, and the three 'stones' in Aa3-39 (notice 3 and 3 * 13 =39) we should seriously consider the possibility that 3 * 42 = 126 also should appear.

Aa1-49--90 covers 42 glyphs and then we have the double 42 in line a2. The extra glyph in line a2 certainly, then, must be the last glyph in the line, viz. Aa2-85:

 

The triple 'feathers' are here standing at the top of the outstreched (and broken?) 'wing'. Notice that there are 4 'feathers' in Aa2-85 - the 4th is 'inside' the 'knee' of the 'wing'. This should remind us about the 1 and 3 'feathers' on top of the internal parallel glyphs Aa4-72 and Ab5-10:

A side a (middle)

A side b (middle)

-

Metoro said ka takata at Aa2-85 and he may have understood the glyph as marking a point where there is a break at the end of a cycle ...

Haga

1. Bay, fishing spot. (Figuratively) he haga o te ákuáku, it is the [evil] spirit's fishing spot, i.e. a place where they hide waiting for people to fall under their power. 2. To want, to love. Ku haga á i te vai, I want water, I am thirsty. Vanaga.

1. Bay, strait, anchorage, strand, beach. 2. Work, labor, employment, act, affair, creation, design, state, maker, fashion, manufacture, occupation, profession; to do, to make, to construct, to employ, to form, to manufacture, to fashion, to found, to be busy with; haga rakerake, crime; tagata haga ei mea, mercenary; haga no iti, to plot mischief; haga ke, to act contrary; haga takataka, to disjoin; haga nui, difficulty, fatigue, to weary; tuhi ki te haga, to give employment; haga hakahou, to make over, to renew, recovery; haga koroiti, to deal prudently; haga nuinui ke, to overburden. 3. Agreement, conduct, liking, intention, desire, will; to resolve, to permit, to endeavor, to tolerate, to be willing, to wish, to approve; haga ihoiho, fixed desire; haga mai, haga no mai, to agree, to hearken favorably; tae haga, despite, involuntary, to refuse, to renounce; noho hakahaga, apathy. 4. = haka. Churchill.

Taka

Taka, takataka. Circle; to form circles, to gather, to get together (of people). Vanaga.

1. A dredge. P Mgv.: akataka, to fish all day or all night with the line, to throw the fishing line here and there. This can only apply to some sort of net used in fishing. We find in Samoa ta'ā a small fishing line, Tonga taka the short line attached to fish hooks, Futuna taka-taka a fishing party of women in the reef pools (net), Maori takā the thread by which the fishhook is fastened to the line, Hawaii kaa in the same sense, Marquesas takako a badly spun thread, Mangareva takara a thread for fastening the bait on the hook. 2. Ruddy. 3. Wheel, arch; takataka, ball, spherical, round, circle, oval, to roll in a circle, wheel, circular piece of wood, around; miro takataka, bush; haga takataka, to disjoin; hakatakataka, to round, to concentrate. P Pau.: fakatakataka, to whirl around. Mq.: taka, to gird. Ta.: taa, circular piece which connects the frame of a house. Churchill. 

Takai, a curl, to tie; takaikai, to lace up; takaitakai, to coil. P Pau.: takai, a ball, to tie. Mgv.: takai, a circle, ring, hoop, to go around a thing. Mq.: takai, to voyage around. Ta.: taai, to make into a ball, to attach. Churchill. 

The two lines a1 and a2 belong together because they lie before spring equinox.

The point of spring equinox should, however, be later than Aa3-15, because there the 'roof' is not yet open. We earlier coordinated the hau tea glyphs with the solar calendar like this:

Aa2-74

Aa3-15

Aa3-32

Aa4-18

1

2

3

4

Aa4-43

Aa4-46

Aa4-54

Aa4-70

5

6

7

8

Aa5-5

Aa5-63

Aa7-79

Aa8-51

9

10

11

12

The glyphs in the beginning of line a3 appear to tell about the change:

Aa3-6 Aa3-7 Aa3-8 Aa3-9 Aa3-10 Aa3-11 Aa3-12
-
Ab2-34 Ab2-35 Ab2-36 Ab2-37 Ab2-38 Ab2-39
Not until Aa3-16 does the sky seem to lift:
Aa3-13 Aa3-14 Aa3-15

In Aa3-11 there are 5 upward hatch marks, in Ab2-38 there are 6 downward. In Aa3-9 the crossed henua 'sticks' show us 5 parts, in Ab2-36 we see 3.

With Aa3-16 the internal parallel sequence of glyphs in the lines a3 and b2 no longer continue.

Counting glyphs: line a1 (90) + line a2 (85) + 15 (in Aa3-15) we reach 190, which cannot be correct. We should have 180.

But we reach can 180 if we end with Aa3-5:

Aa2-81 Aa2-82 Aa2-83 Aa2-84
kua rere ia - kua hiri ia kua tau ia e te manu e e vaero rua
2 * 90 = 180

'vaero rua'
Aa2-85
ka takata.
Aa3-1 Aa3-2 Aa3-3 Aa3-4 Aa3-5
I ahu mata katakata ko te vae kua oho koia ki te vae ma to maro e manu

Aa3-2 and Aa3-4 tell us by way of maro (5 feathers on each) that the season is ending. The glyph in their middle (Aa3-3) visualizes how the season 'person' is falling on his face.

The double-tailed bird in Aa2-84 may mean that there are two seasonal subdivisions which end here. 

The words of Metoro at Aa3-1 connects this glyph with Aa2-85, and we thereby have line Aa2 as 84 + 1 glyphs.

This is the only place where Metoro used the word ahu in his readings.

Ahu

1. Funerary monument with niches holding the skeletons of the dead. 2. Generic term for a grave, a tomb merely enclosed with stones. 3. Stone platform, with or without graves. 4. Elevated seat, throne. 5. Swollen; to swell up: ku-ahu-á tooku va'e, my foot is swollen; ananake te raá e-tagi-era te ûka riva mo toona matu'a ka-ahu ahu-ró te mata, every day the daughter cried for her parents until her eyes were quite swollen. Vanaga.

1. To transfer, to transplant, to take up by the roots. 2. To puff up, to swell, a swelling, protuberance; gutu ahu, swollen lips; ahuahu, to swell, plump, elephantiasis, dropsy; ahuahu pupuhi, amplitude; manava ahuahu, indigestion. 3. Paralysis. 4. A carved god of dancing, brought forth only on rare occasions and held of great potency. Ahuahu, inflammation. Ahukarukaru (ahu 2 - karukaru), dropsy. Churchill.

My intuition tells me to reflect on the fact that ahu means not only a 'funerary momunent' but also 'swollen'. My foot is swollen, ku-ahu-á tooku va'e, is an expression which easily could have been visualized among the glyphs above, but I cannot find it. On the other hand, we should remember the Saturday swollen leg:

Hb9-51 Hb9-52 Hb9-53 Hb9-54 Hb9-55 Hb9-56 Hb9-57 Hb9-58

The expression for swollen eyes - ananake te raá e-tagi-era te ûka riva mo toona matu'a ka-ahu ahu-ró te mata, every day the daughter cried for her parents until her eyes were quite swollen -.may have entered Metoro's mind when he said ahu mata.

Ró

1. Of, concerning. 2. Yet, nevertheless, still; kakore ro, our; ka kikiu ro, to importune (? no). Churchill.