TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

I stated 'then follows (in period 6) an overview':

In the 5th period of the E calendar spring equinox is described. Then follows (in period 6) an overview:

5
	Eb3-1	Eb3-2	Eb3-3	Eb3-4	Eb3-5	Eb3-6
	34	35	36	37	38	39
6				34 etc are ordinal numbers counted from the beginning of the calendar (Eb1-37).
	Eb3-7	Eb3-8	Eb3-9
	40	41	42

	Eb3-10	Eb3-11	Eb3-12	Eb3-13	Eb3-14	Eb3-15
	1	2	3	4	5	6
					Eb3-11 is located at the beginning of summer.
	Eb3-16	Eb3-17	Eb3-18	Eb3-19
	7	8	9	10

I did not make clear what kind of overview. At first I thought, rather dimly, that it was the stages of the sun during summer, and I still believe it is some kind of overview with summer in the center. Yet, sun is born at winter solstice, not at spring equinox.

Eb3-7--9 may be describing the 2nd half of winter, possibly a way to introduce the 10 periods of the sun. 420 nights stretches through two (30-day) months beyond midwinter, and then 10 months is enough to reach next midwinter. Counting with 28 nights in a month: 3 + 10 = 13 and 13 * 28 = 84 + 280 = 364. With spring equinox around the 21st of September, 31 + 30 + 21 = 82 is close to 84.

Furthermore, I am inclined to believe there may be a description of the 'bacabs' ('corner staffs' of the 'house of the sun') in this sequence of glyphs:


Eb3-10	Eb3-11	Eb3-12	Eb3-13	Eb3-14	Eb3-15	Eb3-16	Eb3-17	Eb3-18	Eb3-19
1		2		3		4		5
3 'quarters' for the sun						tu'a

I have used the imagined structure in Large Santiago Tablet with 5 * 2 'months' (see at the end of preceding page).

The model is easy to applicate also at the beginning of side a in Tahua:


Aa1-1	Aa1-2	Aa1-3	Aa1-4	Aa1-5	Aa1-6	Aa1-7	Aa1-8
1				2

Aa1-9	Aa1-10	Aa1-11	Aa1-12	Aa1-13	Aa1-14	Aa1-15
3				*tu'a*

Aa1-1--2 will then correspond to Eb3-10 and Aa1-3--4 to Eb3-11, and ragi will arrive in the 2nd half of the 1st quarter (in time for spring equinox):

1st quarter	1
	1	Aa1-1	Aa1-2	Eb3-10
	2
	2	Aa1-3	Aa1-4	Eb3-11

It is even possible to compare with how the days of the week appear, with Sunday followed by Monday and then by the day of Mars (whose peculiar change in intensity may well be thought of as a magical act proper for spring equinox):

1
1	Aa1-1	Aa1-2	Eb3-10	Ea4-35	Ea4-36	Ea5-1	Ea5-2	Ea5-3
2							Mars is a twin.
2	Aa1-3	Aa1-4	Eb3-1	Ea5-4	Ea5-5	Ea5-6	Mars is a twin.

The astrological sign for Mars resembles ragi:

♂

The strange 'uplifted' sign in Tuesday - Friday presumably means 'sky uplifted':


Ea5-4	Ea5-5	Ea5-6	Ea5-7	Ea5-8
Mars			Mercury

Ea5-9	Ea5-10	Ea5-11	Ea5-12	Ea5-13	Ea5-14
Jupiter		Venus

Venus spends part of her time 'inside the earth', only at times is she 'uplifted'.

Though Sirius is presumably the primary ragi pillar:

... The Maori recognized two main divisions of the year: winter or takurua, a name for Sirius which then shone as morning star, and summer, raumati or o-rongo-nui, 'of the great Rongo', god of agriculture ...

... The rising Pleiades led a twinkling procession of bright stars into the sky: Aldebaran first, then the stars of Orion (called Tautoru by the Rapa Nui). Sirius (Reitanga in Rapanui), at a declination of 16º 42', is the brightest star in the sky on this and every other morning, and travels a path that takes it over the centre of Polynesian culture, Tahiti.

The Pleiades set at 2:00 pm in the afternoon of that day and in the direction of the solstitial sunset, but the event was not visible. If the sunset was viewed from Poike it would have taken place in the direction of Anakena, the name of the first month of their calendar, the landing place of Hotu Matu'a, the birth place of the island culture and the traditional home of the ariki mau ...

Involving Mars (instead of Sirius as a ragi pillar) is no difficulty. The precedent of takurua is enough evidence:

... Several Tuamotuan and Society Islands planet names begin with the word Takurua or Ta'urua which Henry translated Great Festivity and which is the name for the bright star Sirius in both New Zealand and Hawaii.

The planet names, therefore, represent the final stage in the evolution of takurua which was probably first applied to the winter solstice, then to Sirius which is the most conspicious object in the evening sky of December and January, and was then finally employed for the brilliant and conspicious planets which outshone even the brightest star Sirius. From its association with the ceremonies of the new year and the winter solstice, takurua also aquired the meaning 'holiday' or 'festivity' ...