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TRANSLATIONS
The numerical approach is difficult, even when supported by the designs of the glyphs. Much effort is used and few results emerge. Yet, it is necessary to do these exercises. While the numbers are juggled, keeping the conscious mind focused, the creative powers are free to make their own journeys. I will soon return the book of Métraux to the library. Before that I have to pick out those items which we need for our puzzle. I begin with this little piece: "The four islands, Marotiri, Motu-nui, Motu-iti and Motu-kaokao, were all under the village of Orongo. Motu-nui, Motu-iti and Motu-kaokao had a fight with Marotiri and forced it to retreat. That was a hard fight and Marotiri got so tired that it ran away and established itself off Pui, where it remained alone. The three other islands abandoned the pursuit and returned where they are now."
My attention was drawn by the structure 3 + 1 (notice the contrast between the deep Rano Kao and the mountain Katiki) and the fact that I earlier have suggested that the 3 islands represent the threshold to the year: ... Hau Maka had a dream. The dream soul of Hau Maka moved in the direction of the sun (i.e., toward the East). When, through the power of her mana, the dream soul had reached seven lands, she rested there and looked around carefully. The dream soul of Hau Maka said the following: 'As yet, the land that stays in the dim twilight during the fast journey has not been reached.' The dream soul of Hau Maka countinued her journey and, thanks to her mana, reached another land. She descended on one of the small islets (off) the coast). The dream soul of Hau Maka looked around and said: 'These are his three young men.' She named the three islets 'the handsome youths of Te Taanga, who are standing in the water' [1 Nga Kope Ririva Tutuu Vai A Te Taanga] ... ... They were the 'sons' ... of Hau Maka ... This is the starting point. As we have seen, the path of the dream soul 'is' the path of the sun. Therefore these three islets represent the beginning of the year. I have found a glyph (Eb6-1) which presumably illustrates this 'station':
Here there is a gap (in the form of a missing henua) between old and new year, probably meaning that there are five nights which belong neither to the old year nor to the new year, nights which have no order (no henua), i.e. no foothold and through which you have to 'leap'. That is my interpretation for the moment ... We remember, of course, the ancient Egyptian picture of the happenings around new year:
The driving away of Marotiri forced the island from the 1st to the 15th station of the kuhane of Hau Maka:
What does it mean? Let us look at the names. Marotiri should be two words: maro + tiri:
Maro means June (etc) and tiri means to reject (etc). If the year starts outside Orongo (with the birdman contest), then it should ideally coincide with the astronomical new year, i.e. with winter solstice in June. But the birds arrive later. Does the little story tell about how the beginning of the year was pushed away from winter solstice to spring equinox? The sun moves (according to the kuhane) counterclockwise, which implies that Marotiri would have been pushed furher into the year. With the 3 islets outside the south-west corner of Rapa Nui defining the beginning of the year at spring equinox, Marotiri would be located later in the year than if the 3 islets defined the beginning of the year at winter solstice. The birds arrive around September or so, i.e. about 3 months later than June and at spring equinox rather than at winter solstice: "The manu-tara (sooty tern), whose eggs were the principal objects of the tangata-manu feast, arrive from August to October." (Métraux) If the 1st station of the kuhane changed its meaning from astronomical new year (winter solstice) to the bird-man new year (spring equinox) that must have moved Marotiri from winter solstice to midsummer. In mythical language it would be natural to describe it as a geographical move, where Marotiri after a hard fight (between the followers of the old system and believers of the new system) was pushed away to its location of today. To draw a parallel with the Battle of the Trees: ... The calendar may have anteceded the alphabet by some centuries. All that seems clear is that the Greek alphabetic formula which gives the Boibel-Loth its letter-names is at least a century or two earlier than 400 BC when the Battle of the Trees were fought in Britain. The formula is plain. The Sun-god of Stonehenge was the Lord of Days, and the thirty arches of the outer circle and the thirty posts of the inner circle stood for the days of the ordinary Egyptian month; but the secret enclosed by the these circles was that the solar year was divided into five seasons, each in turn divided into three twenty-four-day periods, represented by the three smaller posts in front of the dolmens. For the circle was so sited that at dawn of the summer solstice the sun rose exactly at the end of the avenue in dead line with the altar and the Heel stone; while, of the surviving pair of four undressed stones, one marks the sun's rising at the winter solstice, the other its setting at the summer solstice ... Marotiri means to throw away (tiri) - presumably the old year - and probably marked like a bird-feather upright (maro) where the point of halt (maro) of the old year was. In time Marotiri was pushed by the new structure not only 3 months away (because of the distance between winter solstice and spring equinox) but a further 3 months away because Marotiri no longer was a marker of the end of the old year. The 15th station of the kuhane is not at the 'black pole' but at the opposite end of the year, marking the end of the first half of the year. Midsummer is at Poike and Marotiri may now be regarded as the 'red pole'. The sequence 14-16 of the stations are indicative of quickly increasing light:
The flip around 180° of Marotiri also, of course, must have turned the rest of the sacred geography on its head. We now understand why both Anakena and Vinapu have 'black characteristics' referring to winter solstice. Vinapu is located just before Marotiri and Anakena a quarter ahead of Orongo. The black rat is part of the old system, while Hotu Matua landing at Anakena is part of the new system. While in the new system time rotated counterclockwise with the sun, we cannot be sure that in the old system time also rotated counterclockwise. Maybe time was governed by the moon and a clockwise rotation? The geography, indeed, implies that Marotiri, at the end of the old year should be followed by Vinapu, the dark rat, and a submergence into the sea at Orongo. More unclear is the meaning of the stretch of land from the northwest corner of Easter Island (where possibly the emergence onto dry land would have been located) and (clockwise) to Marotiri. A natural division would be to regard Poike as midsummer. Marotiri would then be located after midsummer. The journey of the kuhane shows how fast sun climbs up from the surface of the sea:
Maybe there is a descent equally fast? Maybe Marotiri once marked autumn equinox? It would be in agreemetn with an old system according to which sun is finished at that time (point, maro). We have not yet looked at the name Haga Takaure. It has three parts: haga, taka and ure:
... The dream soul passes the 'white sand' (one tea) without paying attention to the crater and quarry of Rano Raraku, of outstanding importance in the history of Easter Island. Then the dream soul passes the 'bay of flies' (hanga takaura), east of Hanga Nui, and climbs up to the barren height of Poike (compare MAO. poike 'place aloft') with the summits Pua Katiki and the 'white mountain' (maunga teatea). The latter is a side crater in the northern flank of Poike ... ... From a religious point of view, the high regard for flies, whose increase or reduction causes a similar increase or reduction in the size of the human population, is interesting, even more so because swarms of flies are often a real nuisance on Easter Island, something most visitors have commented on in vivid language. The explanation seems to be that there is a parallel relationship between flies and human souls, in this case, the souls of the unborn. There is a widespread belief throughout Polynesia that insects are the embodiment of numinous beings, such as gods or the spirits of the dead, and this concept extends into Southeast Asia, where insects are seen as the embodiment of the soul ... The main idea is thereby stated - the insects are embodiments of souls and as such necessary for the procreation in the new year. Another myth (about Tuu Maheke) makes the same statement: ... Another day dawned, and the men saw a dense swarm of flies pour forth and spread out like a whirlwind (ure tiatia moana) until it disappeared into the sky.
Tuu Maheke understood. He went up and took the head, which was already stinking in the hole in which it had been hidden. He took it and washed it with fresh water. When it was clean, he took it and hid it anew. Another day came, and again Tuu Maheke came and saw that it was completely dried out (pakapaka).
He took it, went away, and washed it with fresh water until (the head) was completely clean. Then he took it and painted it yellow (he pua hai pua renga) and wound a strip of barkcloth (nua) around it.
He took it and hid it in the hole of a stone that was exactly the size of the head. He put it there, closed up the stone (from the outside), and left it there. There it stayed ... ... My idea here is that the head of Hotu A Matua (the sun) is a kind of hua, the next generation (solar cycle) will grow from this head. Like a nut the skull will generate a new cycle. We should remember the sick Hawaiian boy Mokuola who couldn't live without his father's (Ulu) skull first being buried in the garden ... Once again we should consider if Hb9-19 is it not a picture of the 'insect' stage:
i.e. a 'completely dried out' skin (pakapaka) around a fruitful center: ... A dry outer shell protects the soft inner parts of the sun from the watery surroundings when he is taking a rest to rejuvenate himself ... First sun, though, must be washed carefully in fresh water to get rid of the salt from the ocean ('he washed it with fresh water until ... the head ...was completely clean'). This process possibly motivates Hb9-18:
Perhaps we see vai ora a Tane, the sweet water of the sun. However, it looks more like a 'canoe of the night'. I have noticed that in Tahua the two versions of GD16 (oval with single respectively double rim) are distributed according to side. On side b there are only GD16 glyphs with a single rim:
The fact that the sign of Y in the tail of Hb9-19 is 'closed' presumably means 'not dead' (i.e. full of life). Yesterday I worked with the definition of GD61 and the tail of Y is 'closed' there too.
Often GD61 glyphs have 'pregnant stomachs' and another feature is the 'green leaves'. In sum: I have begun to nurture a suspicion that Hb9-19 is a variant of the group GD61 + GD68. In GD64, on the other hand, life has gone away - open Y-tail. Unluckily (if I am right) the prototype of GD64 has a closed tail:
Though, of course, rau hei are not more then temporarily dead, they will soon recover like the true mimosa (... the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched, re-opening within minutes ...): ... Nevertheless, we may here have another explanation for the nuku glyphs (GD69) in the nighttime calendars. The upside down hanging victims (rau hei, mimosa branches) may be Easter Island 'decorations' of the same kind as those called ra'a nu'u, sacredness (ra'a) of the host (nu'u) on Tahiti, beautiful offers to the gods.  Sunday may have been called Ra'a-tapu on Easter Island (in agreement with Maori Ratapu) and if there should be a sound value connected with GD64, it should have been ra'a rather than rau Together with nuku (GD69) in Aa1-39 we get ra'a nu'u:
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