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TRANSLATIONS
If Aa1-1 is outside the calendar, which for the moment at least seems true, then we should notice that the shape of the little 'bird' may give us affirmative information:
The shape is unusual for this type of glyph, viz. GD42:
The important sign in form of a 'knee' is missing. This 'knee' we on the other hand find in the variant of GD32 (left below) which appears as Aa1-5--8 (right):
I have interpreted the 'knee' pointing at left as 'before midsummer' and the 'knee' pointing at right as 'after midsummer'. No 'knee' would then mean 'undefined as regards midsummer'. I therefore suggest this new 'reading' of Aa1-1--12:
There are 9 redpainted ('summer') periods and sun 'dies' in the last (9th of course) 'month' of 'summer'. Maro and Anakena straddles winter solstice. Vaitu Nui, Vaitu Potu and Maro together are 'nga huru' (10 + 2).
The 10th month (Vaitu) is divided in two parts (Nui and Potu) because there is a 'koti' in this month. The 2nd and 3rd months (Hora Iti and Hora Nui) have names telling about the gradually increasing light. Manuscript E (E:1) has in addition to the list of old kings this comment: O maori te ariki nei. etahi te angahuru. ko maori. te ingoa o te kainga. ko marae renga te ingoa. o te maara noho o te ariki.nui.ko ma rae tohia te rua maara noho o te ariki. We could try to understand by cutting the text into parts:
Corm (in 'taro corm' - cfr tohi above) was a new word for me and I had to look it up to see that it was not a misspelling of 'corn': 'Solid swollen underground bulb-shaped stem or stem base and serving as a reproductive structure.' Omotohi (for full moon) could be the first of the 'flats' (maara) for the king and new moon the other flat landing area at the rim of the 'island'. The ten kings could correspond to 10 lunar months, with - possibly - Oto Uta at full moon and Hotu at new moon. The Maori had a word marua-roa for solstice and it would not surprise me if marua and maara are closely related concepts: "The Maori used the same word for both solstices, marua-roa, 'long pit', and applied the term also to the month or season during which the Sun passed through its most northerly or southerly declination. A qualifying word such as takurua, 'winter', or o-rongo-nui, 'summer', was usually appended to denote which solstice was meant. When no explanatory word was added marua-roa seems to have signified the winter solstice, as in the following statements made by Maori sages: Marua-roa is in the latter part of June at the time of te takanga o te ra, 'the turning of the Sun'. After ten nights the Sun seeks his other wife Hine-raumati, Summer Maid'. The 'turning of the Sun' clearly is the same concept as that which is illustrated by the variant of GD32 (toko te ragi) which I have named 'hakaturu' (following Metoro's hakaturou), here e.g. Pa5-52 at noon in the calendar of daylight:
And During the marua-roa Rigel is seen. Canopus is the principal star. It is seen in the morning during the marua-roa. The ten or twelve days when the Sun appeared to linger at the winter solstice were a period of deep concern to primitive man, who trembled lest the luminary hesitate too long or fail to return to give life and warmth to earth and mankind. Hence the reference to the 'long pit'." (Makemson) Remarkably 'ten or twelve days' seems to be reflected in the discussion whether there are 10 or 12 months in a year, I think. Furthermore, the lunar month once was divided into 10-night periods: "Division of the lunar month into periods of the days recalling the Egyptian and Chaldaean decanates is mentioned by Kamakau, who declares that these intervals were named for the 'growing', the 'round', and the 'decreasing' Moon, respectively." (Makemson) 3 times 10 equals 30, or ½ more than those 29½ which measures the cycle of the moon. Maybe the concept of 3 'wives' of the sun (which I imagine was reflected - directly or indirectly via some other cycle - in the Sycamore Lady and also, possibly, in the rongorongo texts) here has its origin. "The Egyptian year was divided into three seasons of four months each: the time of waters, the season of vegetation, and the period of harvest. The months were numbered according to their positions in the seasons as First of Waters and so on. They also had popular names, being called after the particular god who governed them. Each month was divided into three decades presided over by a star of small group of stars known as decani. Among the Polynesians a single conspicious star reigned supreme for an entire month, except in the Gilbert group and the Marquesas where systems resembling the Egyptian decanates prevailed." (Makemson) The 10 'wise' kings may have been stars regulating (reigning) the months. The word marua (in marua-roa - and also in maara I guess) is worth a closer study:
It belive there are more words derived from the 'long-pit', e.g. marae, the flat ground in the center of the community:
Let us now continue with the story about Oto Uta: "After the canoe of Pure O had departed, King Hotu contacted his guardian spirits (atua akuaku), namely, first, Kuihi and, second, Kuaha. ... Pure O picked up a large round stone (pureva) and hit the top of the figure. Because of the stone, the neck of Oto Uta was broken.
Then the wind started blowing, the billow rose, the waves broke, the rain started falling, the flame (i.e., lightning) shone brightly, and the thunder rolled. As soon as the wind started blowing, the waves broke, the rain fell, and thunder rolled, King Hotu knew that Pure O had done harm to Oto Uta. Hotu spoke: 'These fellows have done a mean thing to King Oto Uta!' After the neck of Oto Uta had been broken, Kuihi and Kuaha arrived. They picked up the neck of King Oto Uta, took it, and brought it with them. They arrived out in the bay, in Hanga Rau. (There) Kuihi and Kuaha left (the fragment). After the neck of Oto Uta had been brought on land, out in the bay of Hanga Rau, the wind, the rain, the waves, and the thunder subsided. Kuihi and Kuaha arrived and told the king the following: 'King Oto Uta is out in the bay of Hanga Rau'. Hotu said to his servant (tuura) Moa Kehu, 'Go down to king Oto Uta and take him up out of the bay of Hanga Rau!' Hanga Rau is the place where new life begins: '... When Hotu's canoe had reached Taharoa [station 19 of the voyage of the kuhane of Hau Maka], the vaginal fluid (of Hotu's pregnant wife) appeared. They sailed toward Hanga Hoonu [station 20], where the mucus (kovare seems to refer to the amniotic sac in this case) appeared. They sailed on and came to Rangi Meamea [station 21], where the amniotic fluid ran out and the contractions began. They anchored the canoe in the front part of the bay, in Hanga Rau. The canoe of Ava Rei Pua also arrived and anchored. After Hotu's canoe had anchored, the child of Vakai and Hotu appeared. It was Tuu Maheke, son of Hotu, a boy. After the canoe of Ava Rei Pua had also arrived and anchored, the child of Ava Rei Pua was born. It was a girl named Ava Rei Pua Poki ...' The word rau implies 'many'
Moa Kehu arose, went down, picked up (the fragment), and carried (it) on his shoulders to the house. There he left it for King Hotu. Moa we understand (as in moai, the great 'cock' statues, where -i probably implies superlative; we remember Vaka-î the great 'full' (î) queen 'vaka'). Kehu probably is a moai (a helper to the sun) and the name gives us more clues:
When sun is 'hidden' (kehu) it may be alluded to by kekehu (shoulder), I guess. Because the yearly path of the sun was likened to how he moved over the body of the sky vault: "A Maori sage explained the annual motion of the Sun as follows: During the matahi o te tau, 'the first month of the season or year', the Sun moves at the time of the solstice toward the head of the ancestor, Rangi the Sky-father. On arriving at his shoulders the Sun turns and returns to the other extremíty. Now that is the marua-roa of winter. The marua-roa of the shoulders is called summer solstice. These are tokens of winter and summer.'" (Makemson) The 'shoulders' of the Sky-father once were located in the north, then as the Maori reached New Zealand they had to reorient the Sky-father so his shoulders was in the south: "In equatorial Central Polynesia the difference between the length of days of summer and winter was not sufficiently marked to necessitate a change in Rangi's position although the settlements were south of the equator. But in New Zealand a very different state of affairs existed, since there the Sun reached its highest noon altitude and the days were longest in late December when the Sun was at its most southerly point. Hence if the Summer solstice occured when the Sun reached the shoulders of Rangi and the winter solstice when it was at the other extremity, a revolution must have taken place in their ideas regarding the orientation of Rangi." (Makemson) I believe the Easter Islanders also reoriented Ragi and that we have seen confirmation of this in the rongorongo texts. At noon, of course, sun must reach the shoulders of Ragi, and this was expressed by a standing en face person with both sun-ears visible and an apex head form, e.g. as seen in Ha6-2:
In Pa5-15--15 we see him again, this time though with a raised arm possibly meaning harvest time:
Summer solstice has just passed, and his image still remains. King Hotu sat down and wept over King Oto Uta. This is Hotu's lament (tanginga): ka hati toou ngao e oto uta e te ariki e / mo tau papa rangaranga o haho i te tai / mo tuu huehue rangaranga o haho i te tai / mo tau hahave rere ai ka pae / mo tae ngu rere ai ka pae / mo te ika aringa riva nei he aku renga ai ka pae Broken is your neck, oh Oto Uta, oh king! / Floating (?) like a raft (?) out at sea. / To be erected for the drifting huehue (fish) out at sea. / Able (?) to put an end to the flight of the flying fish hahave; / Able (?) to put and end to the flight of the flying fish ngu; / Put an end to this fish, a dorado, with the good face! (E:87-90)" (Barthel 2)
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