9 Hazel August 5th - September 1st "The ninth tree is the hazel, in the nutting season. The nut in Celtic legend is always an emblem of concentrated wisdom: something sweet, compact and sustaining enclosed in a small hard shell - as we say 'this is the matter in a nut-shell'. The Rennes Dinnshenchas, an important early Irish topograhical treatise, describes a beautiful fountain called Connla's Well, near Tipperary, over which hung the nine hazels of poetic art which produced flowers and fruit (i.e. beauty and wisdom) simultaneously. As the nuts dropped into the well they fed the salmon swimming in it, and whatever number of nuts any of them swallowed, so many bright spots appeared on its body ... In England a forked hazel-stick was used until the seventeenth century for divining not only buried treasure and hidden water, as now, but guilty persons in cases of murder and theft ... The letter Coll [hazel] was used as the Bardic numeral nine - because nine is the number sacred to the Muses and because the hazel fruits after nine years. The hazel was the Bile Ratha, 'the venerated tree of the rath' ... (picture from Wikipedia - The Ráth at Tara Hill) In the Fenian legend of the Ancient Dripping Hazel, the hazel appears as a tree of wisdom that can be put to destructive uses. It dripped a poisonous milk, had no leaves and was the abode of vultures and ravens, birds of divination. It split in two when the head of the God Balor was placed in its fork after his death, and when Fionn used its wood as a shield in battle its noxious vapours killed thousands of the enemy ..." (The White Goddess)

The year might begin with the 'fall' of light or it might beging with the 'birth' of light. It is more or less an arbitrary decision where to cut the flow of time. The well of time marks new year, a sweet treacle-well, where 3 sisters live.

The Raven (or Vulture as in ancient Egypt) is sitting in the hazel tree top (presumably waiting for sun to die), and I wonder what would happen if we located new year to winter solstice instead of to autumn equinox. In Hawaii they had another nut tree - the coconut. What bird was their carrion eater?

The head of Balor was placed in the fork of the hazel tree after his death. The head or Ulu was planted near a spring of running water. The head of Balor was placed high, the head of Ulu was placed low - water collects in wells.

Both Hawaii and Ireland lie north of the equator, and the reason for high contra low, therefore, ought to be due to Balor dying at summer solstice and Ulu at winter solstice. The reference to Mo'o confirms the latter statement; moko may be - I guess - be in opposition to mago. Remember the two sisters Vie Kena (light?) and Vie Moko (darkness?):

... Line 18 of the creation chant lists as the mythical parents of kena 'Vie Moko' and 'Vie Tea' (PH:520). The 'lizard woman' (vie moko) and her younger sister the 'booby woman' (vie kena) were considered the originators of tattooing (ME: 367-368). The 'white booby woman' (vie kena tea), together with other deities, protected the eggs of sea birds (RM:260). She might even be considered to be the female counterpart of the supreme god Makemake. In modern Hangaroa, vie kena tea is a term of endearment for a beloved wife whose well-rounded body and light skin is being praised ...

Furthermore:

... The seven men looked around and saw that the turtle had crawled on land in the bay (of Hanga Hoonu). It was the spirit (kuhane) and not a turtle. It was a spirit that already had followed them. The seven laughed and went on their way. When the turtle saw that the seven went on their way, the turtle followed them out to sea ... (After the discovery of Anakena), the turtle also arrived (on the beach) of Hiro Moko ... (After Kuukuu's defeat), the turtle hurried away and returned to Hiva ...

... When the king had taken up residence in Anakena, in Hare Tupa Tuu, he said to the two men, 'Return to Hiva, to the (home)land, to the stone figure (moai maea) and bring the figure back. It was left out in the bay. Be careful when you get to the bay that the companion (mahaki), the Tautó, the king, is not broken!' Two men sailed in the canoe. There were no waves; the water was not turbulent (pari); there was no wind. The men sailed and landed in Hiva. When they had landed there, they saw that the figure (moai) was standing upright (maroa) out in the bay. They broke the neck of the figure, of Tautó. At that, the waves broke, the wind blew, the rain fell, the thunder rolled, and a meteorite fell on this land. Hotu Matua knew what had happened and lamented, 'Ah - broken is the neck of the figure, of the Tautó, of the king. You were not careful with the companion (mahaki).'

(He) called to the servants (tangata vere taueve): 'Go down and see the companion, who was brought on land, on the beach, the beach of Hiro Moko.' The men went, arrived, and saw that (the figure) had landed on shore. They picked up the figure, the figure of Tautó. There was only a face (aringa) and a neck (ngao) (i.e., only the head of the figure was left). They picked it up, went to the king, and handed (the fragment) over to the king, to Hotu Matua. The king wept because the body (hakari), the legs (vae), and the arms (rima) had been (left) in Hiva, in the (home)land. The king lamented, '(So) this is how you came from Hiva, from the land where there is an abundance of food, where the lips ooze with the waste (of the abundant food) (kainga kai nui ngutu oone)!' ...

Hiro Moko is 'the birthplace of the king's successor' (Bathel 2).

... It was an old Maori belief that a change of seasons was often facilitated by earthquakes. Ruau-moko, a god of the Underworld, was said to bring about changes of season, punctuating them with an earthquake. Or as another Maori saying summed up the matter, 'It is the Earth-mother shaking her breasts, and a sign of the change of season ...

... Maui at first assumed the form of a kiore, or rat, to enter the body of Hine. But tataeko, the little whitehead, said he would never succeed in that form. So he took the form of a toke, or earth-worm. But tiwaiwaka the fantail, who did not like worms, was against this. So Maui turned himself into a moko huruhuru, a kind of caterpillar that glistens. It was agreed that this looked best, and so Maui started forth, with comical movements ...

In Polynesia they had Moko instead of Dormouse. I think 'dormouse' means 'door-mouse', the Opener of the Way (Upwaut) - alias the mother of Romulus and Remus (the twins):

... Alice was a good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upsed the milk-jug into his plate ...