TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

The beginning of hau tea in the glyph dictionary:

A few preliminary remarks and imaginations:

1. The beams of the sun which enlighten our world:

presumably form the bottom part of the hau tea glyph type. This way of illustrating - with the rays depicted as straight lines - is the same as in the petroglyphs below (ref. Heyerdahl 3):

The vertical sun rays are also seen on the upper part of an example of ao:

"A large portion of the upper blade, corresponding to the broad and tall forehead, is covered by dense rows of vertically painted stripes that may indicate hair although in some specimens they definitely assume the aspects of a feather-crown of the type common in aboriginal Easter Island." (Heyerdahl 3)

Ao, aô

Large dance paddle.

1. Command, power, mandate, reign: tagata ao, person in power, in command, ruler. 2. Dusk, nightfall. 3. Ao nui, midnight. 4. Ao popohaga, the hours between midnight and dawn. Aô, to serve (food); ku-âo-á te kai i ruga i te kokohu, the food is served on a platter. Vanaga.

1. Authority, kingdom, dignity, government, reign (aho); topa kia ia te ao, reign; hakatopa ki te ao, to confer rank; ao ariki, royalty; ka tu tokoe aho, thy kingdom come. PS Mgv.: ao, government, reign. Mq.: ao, government, reign, command. Sa.: ao, a title of chiefly dignity; aoao, excellent, surpassing, supreme. 2. Spoon; ao oone, shovel. 3. Dancing club T. 3. Aonui (ao-nui 2), midnight. 4. Pau.: ao, the world. Mgv.: ao, id. Ta.: ao, id. Mq.: aomaama, id. Ma.: ao, id. 5. Pau.: ao, happy, prosperity. Mgv.: ao, tranquil conscience. Ta.: ao, happiness. 6. Mgv.: ao, cloud, mist. Ta.: ao, id. Mq.: ao, id. Sa.: ao, cloud. Ma.: ao, id. 7. Mgv.: ao, hibiscus. 8. Ta.: ao, day. Mq.: ao, day from dawn to dark. Sa.: ao, id. Ma.: ao, id. 9. Ta.: ao, a bird. Ha.: ao, id. 10. Mq.: ao, respiration, breath. Ha.: aho, breath. 11. Mq.: ao, to collect with hand or net. Sa.: ao, to gather. Ma.: ao, to collect. Ta.: aoaia, to collect food and other things with care. Churchill.

"The ao and rapa differ from each other mainly in size and in decoration, but are otherwise closely related. Both were double-bladed paddles twirled and shaken in the hand during ceremonial dances. The ao was the larger of the two types, with a total length that could exceed 6 ft. (2 m.).

One blade of the paddle, usually pointing up during dances, has a conventionalized human face carved and painted on each of its sides. The blade itself is carved flat as on a functional paddle, with almost parallel edges and a rounded distal end.

The nose is very long and extremely narrow, and forks into two prominent eyebrows. This curved, Y-shaped combination of nose and eyebrows is slightly raised in relief. The eyes are carved and painted much larger than the mouth, which is either reduced to a minimum or lacking. The ears, however, are invariably present and carved in a conventionalized manner as two downward projecting lobes with circular earplugs.

One very old and worm-eaten sample (Boston 64845) has fish vertebrae inserted as earplugs. The specimen, collected by Agassiz' Albatross Expedition as late as 1904-5, has doubtless been kept hidden in a cave. A large portion of the upper blade, corresponding to the broad and tall forehead, is covered by dense rows of vertically painted stripes that may indicate hair although in some specimens they definitely assume the aspects of a feather-crown of the type common in aboriginal Easter Island.

Some specimens have vertical tear marks painted as parallel stripes running from the bases of the large eyes down across the chin. This 'weeping-eye' motif is particularly pronounced on the ancient ao symbols preserved as mural paintings on the slabs in the ceremonial houses of Orongo (Ferdon, 1961, Figs. 65 b, f and Pl. 29 c; this vol., 183 a). Some faces on ao paddles are painted with geometric fields suggesting tattoo.

Only one twin-faced blade of the ao is painted; the rest of the paddle is left polished and plain. A slim handle with an oval cross-section that becomes almost circular at mid-length connects the painted blade with the other one which is undecorated. It has the same outline except for the lack of indentations carved below the earlobes of the decorated blade.

In some specimens the second blade is slightly narrower and has a rounded rectanguloid outline. A fingerlike projection with a ring-shaped band in relief around its midsection is sometimes, but not always, carved at the center of the distal end of this second blade. In some specimens the ring is replaced by a steplike transition from a wider upper part to a narrower lower part. This extension corresponds to the knob carved elsewhere on some functional paddles and serves for pushing off or staking operations." (Heyerdahl 3)

The undecorated bottom paddle blade presumably is female, while the top decorated one is male. Cocks have gaudy colours, hens not.

2. Considering why there always are 3 vertical 'beams' in hau tea - it must have a meaning - and based on the assumption that it is sun beams which are illustrated, the natural conclusion will be that the three 'beams' indicate the division of the day:

"The Hawaiian day was divided in three general parts, like that of the early Greeks and Latins, - morning, noon, and afternoon - Kakahi-aka, breaking the shadows, scil. of night; Awakea, for Ao-akea, the plain full day; and Auina-la, the decline of the day.

The lapse of the night, however, was noted by five stations, if I may say so, and four intervals of time, viz.: (1.) Kihi, at 6 P.M., or about sunset; (2.) Pili, between sunset and midnight; (3) Kau, indicating midnight; (4.) Pilipuka, between midnight and surise, or about 3 A.M.; (5.) Kihipuka, corresponding to sunrise, or about 6 A.M. ..." (Fornander)

Time consisted of night + day = 4 + 3 = 7. The Polynesians considered the origin was in the darkest of night, with light arriving only later:

Night	Kihi (sunset)
		Pili
	Kau (midnight)
		Pilipuka
	Kihipuka (sunrise)

Day	*Kakahi-aka*	morning
	*Awakea*	noon
	*Auina-la*	afternoon

Fornander is not clear as to how the night was structured in Hawaii, but 4 intervals of time there were. I have put midnight in a special (black) box because it marks the 'death' of the old day (and the birth of a new day). The division ('cut') of time at midnight makes it natural to have a balance with 2 intervals before and 2 intervals after. There is no similar 'cut' at noon. Time begins anew (with a new cycle) at the darkest place. Pilipuka is the first 'season' of the day and Pili the 7th.

Hawaiian is harder to read than other Polynesian dialects because they removed 't' from their alphabet. Kau (midnight) could mean tau ('season') but also kau (swim), both of which are reasonable. In the darkest of times there is no visible land and you have to swim, and to mark the important border between one day and the next a stone (tau) is used.

Words from 'foreign' Polynesian dialects may have been preserved on Easter Island. Churchill's word list for Mangareva, I have noticed, often is helpful, and the south - north travels with Marquesas in the center, Hawaii in the north and Easter Island in the south may have been more frequent than other trips across the sea, at least during the later times when the Easter Polynesian dialects were being established in the Pacific.

The 7th 'station', Pili, on the other hand, is easy to transcribe into Rapanui:

Piri

1. To join (vi, vt); to meet someone on the road; piriga, meeting, gathering. 2. To choke: he-piri te gao. 3. Ka-piri, ka piri, exclamation: 'So many!' Ka-piri, kapiri te pipi, so many shellfish! Also used to welcome visitors: ka-piri, ka-piri! 4. Ai-ka-piri ta'a me'e ma'a, expression used to someone from whom one hopes to receive some news, like saying 'let's hear what news you bring'. 5. Kai piri, kai piri, exclamation expressing: 'such a thing had never happened to me before'. Kai piri, kai piri, ia anirá i-piri-mai-ai te me'e rakerake, such a bad thing had never happened to me before! Piripiri, a slug found on the coast, blackish, which secretes a sticky liquid. Piriu, a tattoo made on the back of the hand. Vanaga.

1. With, and. 2. A shock, blow. 3. To stick close to, to apply oneself, starch; pipiri, to stick, glue, gum; hakapiri, plaster, to solder; hakapipiri, to glue, to gum, to coat, to fasten with a seal; hakapipirihaga, glue. 4. To frequent, to join, to meet, to interview, to contribute, to unite, to be associated, neighboring; piri mai, to come, to assemble, a company, in a body, two together, in mass, indistinctly; piri ohorua, a couple; piri putuputu, to frequent; piri mai piri atu, sodomy; piri iho, to be addicted to; pipiri, to catch; hakapiri, to join together, aggregate, adjust, apply, associate, enqualize, graft, vise, join, league, patch, unite. Piria; tagata piria, traitor. Piriaro (piri 3 - aro), singlet, undershirt. Pirihaga, to ally, affinity, league. Piripou (piri 3 - pou), trousers. Piriukona, tattooing on the hands. Churchill.

To join, assemble (in mass), is one of the meanings of piri. To stick together like the blackish slugs (piripiri) on the coast (presumably the south coast) reminds us about Te Piringa Aniva, the 7th kuhane station (if Maunga Hau Epa is regarded as number 1) in the dark time when all the people gathered close together, presumably to help nature in delivering the new 'fire' (first Sirius, Te Pou, and later on sun). The structure is the same as that in the Hawaiian night.

It is a sluggish (slow and irregular) time:

Niva

Nivaniva, madman, idiot. Vanaga.

Nivaniva, absurd, stupidity, bungler, delirium, madness, to err, to wander in mind, folly, foolish, heedless, frenzied, imbecile, senseless, odd, inconsistent, simple, dupe, stupid, flighty (nevaneva); nivaniva o te mata, lethargy. Hakanivaniva, queer, bewitched, stupefied, to tell lies. PS Ta.: nivaniva, neneva, foolish, stupid, mad. Sa.: niniva, giddy, dizzy. Churchill

The people (aniva) is like a mob, they can make the sun mobile again. Word play makes us understand.

In the beginning the gods were like slugs, we should remember from the Haida:

Aanishaw tangagyanggang, wansuuga.	Hereabouts was all saltwater, they say.
Li xitgwaangas, Xhuuya aa.	He was flying all around, the Raven was,
Tigu qqawgashlingaay gi lla quaangas.	looking for land that he could stand on.
Qawdihaw gwaay ghutgwa nang qaadla qqaayghudyas,	After a time, at the toe of the Islands, there was one rock awash.
llagu qqawghaayghan llagha lla xiidas.	He flew there to sit.

Aa ttl sghaana quiidas yasgagas ghiinuusis gangaang	Like sea-cucumbers, gods lay across it,
llagu gutgwii xhihldagahldiyaagas.	putting their mouths against it side by side.
Ga sghaanagwaay ghaaxas lla ttista qqaa sqqagilaangas,	The newborn gods were sleeping, out along the reef,
ttl gwiixhang xhahlgwii at wagwii aa.	heads and tails in all directions.
Ghaadagas gyaanhaw ising ghaalgagang, wansuuga ...	It was light then, and it turned to night, they say ...

It must be a joke what comes at the end, because obviously it was night then, and it turned to day. Light is a word play on night.

The heads and tails (as if flipping a coin, also a random event) of the 'cucumbers' were in all directions, describing the disorder before light was 'turned on'.

The 'toe' on which Raven 'alighted' possibly indicates Hanga Te Pau - at least it is a kind of last station. Its opposite should be at the other 'end' of the 'body', viz. at the 'snout':

Ihu

1. Nose; ihu more, snub nose, snub-nosed person. 2. Ihuihu cape, reef; ihuihu - many reefs, dangerous for boats. 3. Ihu moko, to die out (a family of which remains only one male without sons); koro hakamao te mate o te mahigo, he-toe e-tahi tagata nó, ina aana hakaara, koîa te me'e e-kî-nei: ku-moko-á te ihu o te mahigo, when the members of family have died and there remains only one man who has no offspring, we say: ku-moko-á te ihu o te mahigo. To disappear (of a tradition, a custom), me'e ihu moko o te tagata o te kaiga nei, he êi, the êi is a custom no longer in use among the people of this island. 4. Eldest child; first-born; term used alone or in conjunction with atariki. Vanaga.

1. Nose, snout, cape T (iju G). Po ihuihu, prow of a canoe. P Pau.: ihu, nose. Mgv.: ihu, nose; mataihu, cape, promontory. Mq., Ta.: ihu, nose, beak, bowsprit. Ihupagaha, ihupiro, to rap on the nose, to snuffle. 2. Mgv.: One who dives deep. Ta.: ihu, to dive. Churchill.

Sa.: isu, nose, snout, bill. Fu., Fakaafo, Aniwa, Manahiki: isu, the nose. Nuguria; kaisu, id. Fotuna: eisu, id. Moiki: ishu, id. To., Niuē, Uvea, Ma., Ta., Ha., Mq., Mgv., Pau., Rapanui, Tongareva, Nukuoro: ihu, id. Rarotonga: putaiu, id. Vaté: tus, id. Viti: uthu, nose. Rotumā: isu, id. ... usu and ngusu ... serve as transition forms, usu pointing to isu the nose in Polynesia and ngusu to ngutu the mouth, which is very near, nearer yet when we bear in mind that ngutu the mouth is snout as well and that isu the nose is snout too ... Churchill 2.

The name of the first Hawaiian station, Pilipuka, ought to be pili-puka, and puka maybe should be read as puta, cfr Rarotongan putaiu for 'nose', the 'nose' which has perforated (tiputa) the dark cloth, I suppose:

Tiputa

Pau.: To bore, to perforate. Ta.: tiputa, to pierce. Mq.: tiputa, id. Ha.: kipuka, an opening. Churchill

The ti plant could symbolize rebirth, we have learned from poporo.

Then we have rei puta, a whale bone 'saviour of life':

The picture is from Starzecka and shows the tattooed son of a Maori chief.

Rei

1. To tread, to trample on: rei kiraro ki te va'e. 2. (Used figuratively) away with you! ka-rei kiraro koe, e mageo ê, go away, you disgusting man. 3. To shed tears: he rei i te mata vai. 4. Crescent-shaped breast ornament, necklace; reimiro, wooden, crescent-shaped breast ornament; rei matapuku, necklace made of coral or of mother-of-pearl; rei pipipipi, necklace made of shells; rei pureva, necklace made of stones. 5. Clavicle. Îka reirei, vanquished enemy, who is kicked (rei). Vanaga.

T. 1. Neck. 2. Figure-head. Rei mua = Figure-head in the bow. Rei muri = Figure-head in the stern. Henry.

Mother of pearl; rei kauaha, fin. Mgv.: rei, whale's tooth. Mq.: éi, id. This is probably associable with the general Polynesian rei, which means the tooth of the cachalot, an object held in such esteem that in Viti one tooth (tambua) was the ransom of a man's life, the ransom of a soul on the spirit path that led through the perils of Na Kauvandra to the last abode in Mbulotu. The word is undoubtedly descriptive, generic as to some character which Polynesian perception sees shared by whale ivory and nacre. Rei kauaha is not this rei; in the Maori whakarei designates the carved work at bow and stern of the canoe and Tahiti has the same use but without particularizing the carving: assuming a sense descriptive of something which projects in a relatively thin and flat form from the main body, and this describes these canoe ornaments, it will be seen that it might be applied to the fins of fishes, which in these waters are frequently ornamental in hue and shape. The latter sense is confined to the Tongafiti migration. Reirei, to trample down, to knead, to pound. Churchill.

Pau.: Rei-hopehopega, nape. Churchill.

Mg. Reiga, Spirit leaping-place. Oral Traditions.

Now we are prepared to read about the names of stars. Makemson:

"473. Pili-lua, Two-friends-close-together; the Hawaiian form of Pipiri or Pipili, whose myth is told throughout the Polynesian area. The Hawaiian pair of stars was supposed to bring the opelu fish to local waters."

Maybe opelu is o-pelu, and pelu = to fold, double over. If so, then there will be - in a way - 'two friends close together'.

Peu

1. Axe, adze, mattock; peu pakoa, an axe poorly helved. 2. Energy. Peupeu: 1. To groan. 2. To be affectionate, to grow tender; peupeuhaga, friendship. Mq.: pèèhu, haápeéhu, pekehu, to make tender. 3. Pau.: peu, habit, custom, manners. Ta.: peu, custom, habit, usage. 4. Pau.: hakapeu, to strut. Ta.: haapeu, id. Churchill.

Sa.: mapelu, to bend, to stoop, to bow down, persons stooping with age, housebeams sagging under weight. To.: pelu, bebelu, to fold, to crease. Fu.: pelu, peluki, to fold. Uvea: pelu, id., mapelu, to bend, to bow. Ha.: pelu, to double over, to bend, to fold. Rapanui: peu, axe, adze. Churchill 2.

Te Peu (significantly on the western coast close to the end of the kuhane journey) is where Tuu Ko Ihu buried the head of Hotua Matua. He was intending to be the 'nose' (ihu), the new boss.

Gemini, we can conclude, means the two friends close together - one representing one side of the fold of time, the other the other side of the fold. Spring equinox once was located in Gemimi.

"476. Pipili-ma, the Twins; a name for Lambda and Upsilon Scorpii in Pukapuka.

477. Pipiri is the Maori name for the celebrated twins who became stars. They are described as 'two stars of low rank', probably referring to the degree of brightness, which rise shortly before the Pleiades and herald the approach of the illustrious cluster and hence of a new year

Some Maori tribes called the first month of the year Te Tahi-o-Pipiri, the First of Pipiri, or by the abbreviated form Opipiri. Pipiri was thus a synonym for winter, like Takurua, Sirius.

The Mangaians called the third month of the winter season Pipiri. In Mangareva Pipiri was June, while in Easter Island it stood for December.

Makemson can hardly have misunderstood, because the close (in text and geography) Mangarevans had Pipiri properly located in June. Maybe her source had misunderstood - on Easter Island Pipiri ought to refer to 'December' rather than to December.

From the description it is evident that the Maori Pipiri is the constellation Aries, which consists of two stars on the same diurnal path as the Pleiades. In the Society Islands, Tuamotus and Pukapuka Pipiri is identified as a double star in Scorpius, while in the Hawaiian Islands Pililua is said to be Castor and Pollux.

Pipiri also appears in the form Oipiri. According to a half-forgotten Maori myth, Oipiri and Whaka-ahu, Castor, were the daughters of Po, Night, and Ao, Day. They both became wives of Rehua. Oipiri was well versed in matters pertaining to night and winter and she produced the snow. Whaka-ahu was associated with summer and the world of light, marama heko-heko. As night and day, cold and heat, summer and winter continually vie with one another, so the attendants of Oipiri and Whaka-ahu are engaged in an eternal conflict, but neither gains a permanent victory."

There is more in Makemson about pipiri, but this ought to be enough for the moment. The main point is clear: Pipiri is an important marker for a change of season.