TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

This is my 2nd 'axiom', viz. the calendar of the week in Hb9-17 -- Hb9-58:

Sunday	1	42
	2	41
	3	40
	4	39
	5	38
Monday	6	37
	7	36
	8	35	Saturday
	9	34
	10	33
	11	32	Friday
	12	31
	13	30
Tuesday	14	29
	15	28
	16	27
Wednesday	17	26
	18	25
	19	24
	20	23	Thursday
	21	22

Number 42 - the number of glyphs in this beautifully ordered calendar has haunted my mind for a long time. What does that number represent? That 42 is a special number is hinted at in ancient Egypt too:

"... They tightly swathed the broken body in linen bandages, and when they performed over it the rites that thereafter were to be continued in Egypt in the ceremonial burial of kings, Isis fanned the corpse with her wings and Osiris revived, to become the rule of the dead. He now sits majestically in the underworld, in the Hall of the Two Truths, assisted by forty-two assessors, one from each of the principal districts of Egypt; and there he judges the souls of the dead ..." (Campbell)

The closest guess I had so far was: 'As 42 = 7 * 6, presumably the two truths are the truth of the moon and the truth of the sun. Two different truths, not possible to unite.'

I later discovered - in what probably (though not yet an 'axiom') is another weekly calendar (Ea4-35 -- Ea5-18) - the same pattern with 2 halves containing an equal number of glyphs:

text:	E		H
1st half of the week	Number of glyphs	Sum	Number of glyphs	Sum
Sunday	2	2	5	5
Monday	3	5	8	13
Tuesday	3	8	3	16
Wednesday	2	10	6	22
2nd half of the week	Number of glyphs	Sum	Number of glyphs	Sum
Thursday	2	2	9	9
Friday	4	6	3	12
Saturday	4	10	8	20
Total number of glyphs		20		42

Of course 42 divided by 2 equals 21. But odd numbers should be avoided.

42 also turned up (together with π) when I counted the number of glyphs on each side of three tablets:

Keiti (E)			Large Santiago (H)			Tahua (A)
side a	314	100π	side a	648	200π + 20	side a	670	200π + 42
side b	314	100π	side b	648	200π + 20	side b	664	200π + 36
sum	628	200π	sum	1296	400π + 40	sum	1334	400π + 78

In The White Goddess number 42 also appears now and then, though without any definite explanation, for example:

"... according to the legend Sabazius was torn by the Titans into seven pieces. Seven was Jehovah's mystical number; so was also 42, the number of letters in his enlarged Name, and according to Cretan tradition, the number of pieces into which the Titans tore the bull-god Zagreus ..."

With a Solar year limited to 10 months, each consisting of 28 days, there are 3 * 28 = 84 nights left over for the Moon and 84 * ½ = 42. If that is a correct interpretation of 42, then side a of Tahua should be lunar in character and side b solar (suggested by 36 + 200π glyphs).

Furthermore, I had earlier inferred that the glyph type represented by e.g. Ab6-88 had to do with the moon:

Ab6-88:

Here the 'balls' are changed into rhombs, meaning three lunar double-months. Wheareas the solar double-months have 2 * 30 = 60 days, the lunar double-months have 30 + 29 = 59 nights.

There is no vertical straight line in the middle of the glyph. 59 is an odd number and cannot be divided into twins. Also there is no measurement, the moon is a 'clock' in itself.

The four corners in the rhomb marks where periods of 14 nights are completed. 4 * 14 = 56 = the number of nights in a two-month period when the moon is visible.

In a rhomb the 14 nights when the moon is waxing may be seen as the upwards going line at left, the apex being the time of full moon. The waning moon will then be represented by the downwards sloping line at right. At the time of new moon we turn the rhomb 180^o similar to when we start to read a rongorongo tablet (though here counter-clockwise instead of clockwise), and after that we can start once again with the waxing moon of the new month.

Moon and sun are complementary. And the texts on the rongorongo tablets turn counter-clockwise only every odd turn, the even turns are clockwise. Right and left alternate, just like sun and moon. The sun is right, the moon is left.

The counter-clockwise movement seems to be connected with the sun (south of the equator) and the clockwise movement therefore with the moon. Consequently, the waning moon should be the downwards sloping line at right.

'"The 'second list of place names' appears for the first time in Ms. E. The sequence of the places named runs opposite to Hau Maka's 'first list of place names'. Commencing on land at a point 'that can send signals' out to sea, the path turns to the right along the coastline so that the ocean is always on the left.

On the other hand, proceeding from the land of origin with the description of the route to the new land, Hau Maka's place names are intended to provide a route that starts from the ocean and along which the ocean is always to the right.

We seem to be dealing here with two possible inversions; turning 'toward the sea' vs. turning 'toward the land', while maintaining the same general direction, which is described by the common Polynesian contrast pair tai vs. uta, or turning 'toward the right' vs. turning 'toward the left', facing in the same direction at the start." (Barthel 2)

The 'first list of place names' (sun) seems to have been handed down in writing, the 'second list of place names' (moon) presumably was passed on with kaikai:

"While the 'first list of place names' is supposed to have been handed down explicitly in writing (ta ki runga ki te kaka), the 'second list of place names' was passed on with the aid of a mnemonic device in the form of recitations (patautau) accompanied by the string-figures (kaikai)." (Barthel 2)

I now am convinced that the fundamental unit in measuring the year was 14 nights. Three rhombs could therefore have been counted as 3 * 14 = 42 nights (not as 59 nights as I suggested earlier). In each such rhomb there are 4 sides and each such side is half a week, which of course explains why weekly calendars should be 'folded' in the middle.

Two such triple rhombs will cover the Moon part of the year - the 3 * 28 = 84 nights at the end of the regular calendar (leaving just 1 extracalendrical night before next year will start). 280 + 84 + 1 = 365.

In Mamari there are numerous such double glyphs, e.g. Ca10-20--21:

What the signs in form of 'eyes' mean will be interesting to find out later on.

Identifying the fundamental unit as 14 nights (a fortnight), also explains another number which has occured earlier, viz. 26. We will get 26 as the result of dividing 364 with 14.

We have seen 26 occasionally earlier, e.g. in the 31st and last sequence of glyphs in the (presumable) year calendar of Small Santiago (Ga7-5--10):

	5
	16
	5
Sum	26

'The ship of the sun god (the year) is carried by lesser gods (toko te ragi). They are 3*4 + 1*2 + 3*4 = 12 + 2 + 12 = 26 and the idea obviously expressed is that 26 * 14 = 364, the counting being done by way of half-months (28 / 2, i.e. the time when the moon is visible = seen by the sun). Probably the rhombic shape formed by the four arms in the middle of the ship also tells about the moon (4 * 7 = 28).

A little circle in the middle of this rhomb may be the full moon (or the time of 'breaking the coconut' = new year). The mid section of the ship is balancing two half-years (rei mua and rei muri), which are written assymmetric (first half-year is shorter north of the equator).

The number of arms of the lesser gods who carry the ship are 6, counting only those arms closest to us viewers, and they are bent in the middle (at the elbows), i.e. there are 6 * 2 solar months in a year. Counting the rest of the visible arms (of the gods closest to us) we get 8 such (more or less fully visible). Then we also can discern 3 + 3 + 0 + 1 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 16 additional (not more than partly visible) ones. The total is 12 + 8 + 16 = 36 (obviously standing for 360 days).

Counting feet of the lesser gods: 6 + 6 are more or less fully visible, then there are 13 only partly visible at left and 13+ only partly visible at right; there is a fraction more at right (as the time from summer solstice to winter solstice is somewhat longer than the time from winter solstice to summer solstice).

Notice also that there are two suns in the hat of the ram in rei muri, and there is a wavy brim in the hat (expressing 'under water' I believe). The collars in rei mua and rei muri also indicate the underworld, while the visible world in the light is expressed by the similarly looking 'fans' (in the Swedish language: 'solfjäder' = sun-feather) close to the middle of the boat.'