The third
introductory
page for ragi:
|
3.
The form of
the top of the 'tree'
in GD22 is (judging from how Metoro interpreted the glyphs)
the relevant part of the glyph type in which ragi is located. Possibly
the tent-like form has the same origin as the Taranaki
storehouse in this unique picture from
New Zealand (ref. Starzecka):
The apex
probably represents midsummer. Strange snake-like creatures crawl up
at left, before midsummer. The king - he wears a crown - is looking
up horrified:
The reason
is insight about his own imminent death. Beyond his execution the skull,
symbolized by an egg, is used for the procreation of next
generation. Childish joy is pictured beyond the vacant space (you
cannot see inside the womb):
The yearly cycle of the
sun can be compared to the cycle of all life - birth, growth, waning
and death. |
The vacant space
is the dark
phase in which
you cannot see,
as if you had
entered into a
hare paega
(or upside down
canoe).
The two ways of
memorizing the
myths, writing
on rongorongo
boards (male)
and using
threads (female,
kaikai),
would (according
to the ideas
above) imply a
total darkness
for kaikai.
Yet, in reality
your eyes will
get used to the
dark environment
well enough to
play with
threads. To
incise signs on
wood, though, is
a process which
needs much sun
light.
Maybe a child
yet not born has
at least some
light. He moves
inside and
therefore he
must have some
light. Without
light you cannot
live (move).
The two kinds of
poles in Haida
Gwaii are
parallels. One
kind is full
of pictures,
the other kind
is without any
'foot-hold'. One
kind is male,
the other is
female. The
bird-catcher can
climb up, but
not down.
Without head,
you cannot see
your way down.
The circuit of
the sun on the
Taranaki
storehouse goes
clockwise, not
counterclockwise
as described in
Barthel 2 for
the
kuhane
travel. I
suspect the
reason is that
the
kuhane
is a female, not
that sun moves
counterclockwise
on Easter
Island.
There is an
assymmetry in
the roof: 4
'fingers' at
right and 3 at
left. Maybe
these 'fingers',
which are
located
immediately
before
respectively
immediately
after winter
solstice,
correspond to 4
respectively 3
'berries' in the
hua poporo
glyphs.
The hyperlink
'storehouse'
leads to this
page:
|
The sky may be imagined as another and better
'earth' high above, a storehouse full of riches. The word ra'i
was (according to Henry) used for 'palace' and 'prince'. Churchill
mentions 'paradise' as one of the meanings.
Remarkably we find ragi used with a very similar
meaning among the Modoc Indians:
| Modoc, a language
used on the northwest coast of North America: 'A single
word, lagi, was used both for the chief and for a
rich man who possessed several wives, horses, armour
made of leather or wooden slats, well-filled quivers and
precious firs. In addition to owning these material
assets, the chief had to win military victories, possess
exceptional spiritual powers and display a gift for
oratory.' (The Naked Man) |
The riches in the sky were
reachable, it seems, at winter solstice, when the old year
was left behind and a new year was being born. With the proper
rites these riches could be expected, in the coming year, to be returned to earth (from
which they once must have originated). The
Hawaiians give us a good example:
|
"...
the renewal of kingship at the climax of the
Makahiki coincides with the rebirth of nature.
For in the ideal ritual calendar, the kali'i
battle follows the autumnal appearance of the
Pleiades, by thirty-three days - thus precisely, in
the late eighteenth century, 21 December, the winter
solstice. The king returns to power with the sun.
Whereas, over the next two days, Lono plays
the part of the sacrifice. The Makahiki
effigy is dismantled and hidden away in a rite
watched over by the king's 'living god',
Kahoali'i or 'The-Companion-of-the-King', the
one who is also known as 'Death-is-Near' (Koke-na-make).
Close kinsman of the king as his ceremonial double,
Kahoali'i swallows the eye of the victim in
ceremonies of human sacrifice (condensed symbolic
trace of the cannibalistic 'stranger-king').
The
'living god', moreover, passes the night prior to
the dismemberment of Lono in a temporary
house called 'the net house of Kahoali'i',
set up before the temple structure where the image
sleeps. In the myth pertinent to these rites, the
trickster hero - whose father has the same name (Kuuka'ohi'alaki)
as the Kuu-image of the temple - uses a
certain 'net of Maoloha' to encircle a house,
entrapping the goddess Haumea; whereas,
Haumea (or Papa) is also a version of
La'ila'i, the archetypal fertile woman, and the
net used to entangle her had belonged to one
Makali'i, 'Pleiades'.
Just
so, the succeeding Makahiki ceremony,
following upon the putting away of the god, is
called 'the net of Maoloha', and represents
the gains in fertility accruing to the people from
the victory over Lono. A large, loose-mesh
net, filled with all kinds of food, is shaken at a
priest's command. Fallen to earth, and to man's lot,
the food is the augury of the coming year. The
fertility of nature thus taken by humanity, a
tribute-canoe of offerings to Lono is set
adrift for Kahiki, homeland of the gods ..."
(Islands of
History) |
The form of the sky hemisphere is
not easy to follow when building with timbers.
|
The net -
a thread
mesh presumably
built by women
using their hair
- must have
caught the 'nut'
of the sun. I
remember the net
in ancient
Egypt:
The 'prow of the
canoe' is caught
in the net, and
beyond a new day
will be born.
The net at left
has 7 + 7 = 14
'berries'
arranged at the
longer sides.
The top side has
a bird (by which we
know this side
represents 'full
moon'). The full
moon side is in
both pictures
arranged with
the same kinds
of symbols - 2
'balls' in one
corner and a
kind of Y in the
other.
The pictures are
oriented
differently with
Nu-t's
head at left
respectively at
right - which
does not mean
anything - and
therefore the
'balls' and Y
are arranged in
the same order:
balls first and
crotch later.
We remember
Aa6-55
(presumably
located at 'full
moon'):
Ihe tau
looks like one
of the 'limbs'
in the Y corner
in the right
picture above,
the 'limb' which
is 'fatter' and
which is not a
prolongation of
the 'full moon
thread'.
The net of
Maoloha,
must mean such a
female 'net'.
Maoloha =
mao-loha,
I think:
| Roha
Mgv.: roha, the corner of a house. Mq.: oha,
koha, a transverse joist to brace the rafters. Ha.: loha,
the trimming of the corners and ridges of a house. Churchill. |
