TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

Gb1-10 resembles the 'eating mouth' in Cb5-19:


Gb1-10	Cb5-19

From this we can draw two conclusions: That hakaturou (left in Gb1-10) probably depicts an arm ending in a hand, and that the missing hand at right presumably should be imagined as oriented leftwards (in harmony with the corresponding hand in Cb5-19).

I am documenting this parallel in order not to forget it. We cannot dig any deeper now here. Though easily we recognize how 10 and 19 are located at structurally similar stations ('refilling darkness'). 10 is one more than 9 and 19 one more than 18. An eating mouth is a good symbol. Let us instead return:

1
	Ga2-27	Ga2-28	Ga2-29	Ga3-1	Ga3-2	Ga3-3	Ga3-4	Ga3-5
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	8 suggest the sun.

	Ka3-15	Ka3-16		Ka3-17	Ka3-18	Ka3-19	Ka3-20	Ka3-21
	1	2		3	4	5	6	7
	7 suggests the moon.

I wrote about ordinal numbers and glyphs at niu in the glyph dictionary:

The numbers are important indicators of the subject matter of a rongorongo text. The cycles of moon and sun are similar: darkness, new light, waxing light, maximum light, turning around, waning light, last light, darkness.

Therefore the glyphs easily distinguish between these phases. But whether the subject matter is moon, sun or something else (the life cycle of some other 'person') is harder to determine. Counting saves the situation. We have earlier seen how the system works:

moon
	Ca8-27	Ca8-28	Ca8-29	Ca9-1	Ca9-2

	Ga2-27	Ga2-28	Ga2-29	Ga3-1

	Ka3-15	Ka3-16		Ka3-17
sun
sun	Ca5-17	Ca5-18	Ca5-19	Ca5-20

28 is the number of moonlit nights in a month, 15 is the night when moon is full. 18 is the number of decades (10) in a 'year'.

G and K tell about the moon in the 1st period of the calendrical year - 29 and 16 point at the dark new moon phase respectively the end of waxing moon - while in E the parallel glyphs do not 'mention' the moon. But in E we see the 7th period, not the 1st period of the calendar. Probably moon is important in the 1st period of a calendar.

Similarities in form between the glyphs tell about similarities in meaning. In Ga3-1 the top part is similar to the top part in Ca5-20. Both glyphs presumably tell about a new light ...

Although the number of glyphs in the 1st periods of the G and K calendars (8 respectively 7) recently made me suggest connections with sun respectively with moon, the arguments above rather convincingly shows connections with moon also in G. 8 does not mean sun, I think.

Yet, 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 8 = 36 and 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 7 = 28.

The differences between the G and K calendars bother me. Why, e.g., does hua poporo appear in the middle of summer in K? If the attempt to explain by way of a solar respectively lunar perspective fails, then maybe the reason for the differences is to be found in the undulations in the structures of the calendars. For instance:


Ga2-27	Ga2-28	Ga2-29	Ga3-1

Ka3-15	Ka3-16		Ka3-17

Both 17 and 29 are black nights, yet 17 is a number with a different 'taste' than 29.

3			'branch' not broken, but the 'fruit' is heavy
3	Ca7-15	Ca7-16	'branch' not broken, but the 'fruit' is heavy
4	'branch' breaks
4	'branch' breaks	Ca7-23	Ca7-24
8
8	Ca7-27	Ca7-28	Ca7-29

17 announces waning of moon, while 29 announces waxing. Likewise, autumn equinox announces waning of sun and winter solstice the arrival of a new waxing phase of the sun:

15				The lower numbers are counted from zero at Ka5-13:
	Kb1-4	Kb1-5	Kb1-6
	41	42	43
	5	6	7
16
	Kb1-7	Kb1-8	Kb1-9	Kb1-10
	44	45	46	47
	8	9	10	11

	Kb1-11	Kb1-12	Kb1-13	Kb1-14
	48	49	50	51
	12	13	14	15

Manu kake at Kb1-7 seems to indicate the arrival of the 'fishy season' (winter). This is the only manu kake in K. In G there are two examples:


Ga3-1	Ga4-21

Ga4-21 is located in the 14th period, maybe because 14 = 28 / 2:

14
14	Ga4-20	Ga4-21	Ga4-22

The fish at the bottom and the very much hanging down (wilting) heads announce how summer (sun) no longer rules. 21 is beyond a final solar 20.

Of great interest is how the unusual glyph type in Ga4-20 corresponds to Ga7-18 in period 34 (20 periods later):

34
34	Ga7-18	Ga7-19	Ga7-20

The 'solar canoe' in Ga7-19 has its 'sails' at left, just as in Kb1-9. In Kb1-13 the 'sails' are at right. Presumably, a 'canoe' should be depicted around a solstice.

"Nang ttlighwaas, 'the one who lies flat', is one of Skaay's kennings for the sea ... another: nang ghagins, 'the one that is usually smooth' ..." (Sharp as a Knife)

Obviously the flat sea resembles solstice, the flat 'head' of the solar path. A beautiful flat sea at high tide invites to a canoe trip.

If a full cycle is 20 and high tide, then 10 should be ebb. Maybe the canoe in Cb4-19 is used at high tide and at ebb the maro feathers illustrate 3 steps down to the flat from which the flood has fled:

			...
Cb4-19	Cb4-20	Cb4-21		Cb5-8	Cb5-9	Cb5-10
1	2	3		13	14	15

And maybe the imbalance in Cb5-9 illustrates ebb (left) and flood (right). If so, then we ought to read Ga4-21 is a similar way:

The 'affluent' time is past and a leaner time will come - ebb tide is coming. The fish here implies ebb at 'autumn equinox', while in Gb5-9 the bird at bottom together with a long beak at right illustrates flood tide at 'summer'.