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TRANSLATIONS
The kuhane of Hau Maka named timespace locations on Easter Island:
My idea about 42 seems to be affirmed. I said that 7 flames (420 days) of the sun were needed to harmonize the cycles of sun and moon, i.e. 14 * 30 = 420 = 15 * 28. The difference between solar 12 and lunar 13 months for a year is eliminated by moving 2 solar and 2 lunar months ahead. 12 does not relate well with 13, but 14 relates well with 15. Increasing 12 to 14 solar months is equivalent to increasing 24 solar half-months to 28 solar half-months. Barthel has coordinated the 24 half-month stations of the solar regular calendar year (360 days) with months:
"Judging from the oral traditions, the Easter Islanders did not reckon time by years, although there are records of grouping by decades in one type of old script (kohau ta'u). Since there seem to be no obvious connections to the fixed points of the solar system (solstice and equinox), this leaves the traditional lunar calendar as a source of reference. Taking the earliest date (the departure fo the explorers from Hiva) as 'zero point', its lunar phase is repeated at the time of arrival in Anakena eighty-eight days later. 88 / 29.5 = 3 The 'second list of place names' [the lunar list] shows that the royal residence is connected with the beginning of the month and the phase of the new moon. By assigning a moon age of 'first visibility' to July 23, it suddenly becomes evident why the stay in Oromanga lasted exactly twenty-seven days: this time period corresponds to the subsequent visibility of the moon during one lunation! 27 = 28 - 1 The episode with Kuukuu and the turtle, therefore, took place as long as the moon was visible and the 'twenty-seven day' indicated correspond to one sidereal month. 27.3 = 29.5 - 29.5/365.25 * 27.3 This means that when the exploreres arrived at the royal residence and when they left it, the moon stood close to the same star, once in the evening and once in the morning. The arrival of Hotu Matua is also determined by a 'fixed sidereal point': the island king arrives on October 15, fifty-five days after the departure of the explorers from Anakena, which means two sidereal months (fifty-four days and fifteen hours) later. 27.3 * 2 = 54.6 = 54 + 0.6 * 24 = 54 days and 14.4 hours Again the moon is associated with the same star, this time in the last quarter of the moon. 59.0 - 29.5/4 = 59.0 - 7.4 = 51.6 < 54.6 The connection with the stellar positions of the moon, however, is valid only for the royal residence. There is a reversal of the lunar phases on June 10, halfway between Hiva and Anakena. July 23 ('first visibility', Ohiro) - June 10 = 53 - 10 - 29.5 = 13.5 which corresponds to 29.5 - 13.5 = night no. 16 (Kokore tahi, the night after full moon). This puts the building of the house and the establishment of the plantation on Rano Kau into the beginning of the second half of the month, which agrees with the system of lunar nights of the 'second list of place names'. In summary, the following connections emerge for the moon phases and moon stations:
Based on a thirty-day month, the date of the new year of the immigrant year (July 1) falls into the first lunar quarter, the solstice occurs at the last visibility, and the equinox at the first visibility of the moon. July 23 + 59 = September 21 By using the dates of the royal residence, some of the solar points of the year can be determined with the help of corresponding lunar phases. Again, those same three localities which emerged from the analysis of the quarters show up. The scheme of dates may have accomodated a number of subsystems." (Barthel 2) If there was no time reckoning according to the solar number 36 (360) 'Judging from the oral traditions, the Easter Islanders did not reckon time by years, although there are records of grouping by decades in one type of old script (kohau ta'u). Since there seem to be no obvious connections to the fixed points of the solar system (solstice and equinox), this leaves the traditional lunar calendar as a source of reference ...' Which does not rule out knowledge and use of solstices and equinoxes, which I believe clearly is seen in the rongorongo texts. then why 42 (420)? Easy to answer that question: Because 15 was a number connected with full moon, and the next greater cycle of the moon naturally would be 15 * 28 = 420. At full moon there is a break (koti) as seen in Ca7-24:
Therefore one would guess that after 15 full moons the next grand break would occur. After 420 nights, however, the phase of the moon would be late with 15 (29.5 - 28) = 22.5 nights, and they would be in the waning 14th moon. Tahua - I believe - tell us about both cycles (420 and 360), by the number of glyphs 628 + 42 (side a) and 628 + 36 (side b):
Side a ends with a line which is 2 * 42 = 84 glyphs long (which is understandable as the full moon phase is located at midmonth) and side b starts with 36 glyphs which (as we have seen) belong to a sun-oriented description (ending with Aa1-36 as the last glyph of the daytime calendar). The creator of the Tahua text did not locate the X-area after the night (as in H/P/Q texts), and the reason probably was that the X-area is a sun-oriented text. Interestingly, the nighttime calendar (in Tahua) has Aa1-42 (a big tôa) immediately before the midnight glyph (a big henua):
I cite myself: 'Tauuruuru we probably should read as tau-uruuru. Possibly we should interpret tau with ta'u = year (season, age etc) and uruuru with to reach around the cycle and thread one of its ends into the other ...' Possibly the 6 glyphs after the end of the daytime calendar and up to midnight may allude to the 60 nights after the end of the solar year and up to 420 nights (the '7th flame'). If so, then we would expect a pattern with 2 groups of 3 glyphs (because 420 - 364 = 2 * 28):
But that is not very obvious. 2 months, each subdivided into 8 periods, are though suggested by the number of 'feathers' in the two ehu (ashes) glyphs respectively in the papagete glyph.
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