Aa1-13	Aa1-14	Aa1-15

These three glyphs are closely connected with the glyphs documenting the calendar of the 'day' ('po') - i.e. Aa1-16 -- 48 = 33 glyphs. Adding the 3 glyphs above we get 36 glyphs and by force of this number we should interpret Aa1-13 -- 15 as alluding to the perennial cycle of the sun.

But why is there a reference to the perennial cycle of the sun when the theme of the calendar is the diurnal cycle of the sun?

Maybe the answer is that there ought to be some mention of the difference in light and darkness due to season.

In the 'po' calendars of H and P (Q has no glyphs parallel to Aa1-13 -- 15) the text corresponding to the three glyphs above arrive after the calendar, not before. But the structure is different also because night arrives before day (not as in A day first and night after that). If we label the Aa1-13 -- 15 and the parallel sequences of glyphs in H and P with X, then the structures in the four tablets can be described like this:

X is never located between day and night (or night and day). X is outside the diurnal cycle, but closer to day than to night.

After these preliminary remarks we should try to make a summary of what the four calendars have told us about the diurnal cycle of the sun. What of all that has been said so far in the translations is worthy of mentioning in such a summary?

SUMMARY SO FAR

1. Midnight is marked by a henua (GD37) type of glyph:

2. After midnight a canoe (GD48) appears and it is not symmetric:

3. At the end of the night there are glyphs with 'appendices':

4. The beginning of the day is announced by a variant of sun glyph (GD12) with two armlike 'flames' extending upwards:

5. During a.m. we find glyphs describing how the sun is 'eating' or 'being fed', e.g.:

6. At noon we can see a glyph describing how the sun now is standing straight and tall like a grownup person (GD15), a result of having eaten so well during a.m.:

7. At noon we also find another sign of the highest point: a glyph showing reversal (GD32+GD36). Growth will change into waning and the path leads to the western horizon:

8. Afternoon starts with a sun glyph with hau tea (GD41) on top and this hau tea has two sun-symbols (like the 'ears' of the fully grown sun person):

9. The fact that the power of the sun is diminishing during p.m. possibly is pictured by an outstretched hand (the opposite to the feeding hand during a.m.):

10. A glyph type marking when sun is 'finished' (GD73) appears late in the day:

11. At the end of the day we have a sun glyph with two 'persons' on top:

12. All the phases of the day end with variants of tapa mea (GD55), e.g.:

13. All the phases of the night similarly are indicated by variants of tôa (GD47) or rau hei (GD64), e.g.:

14. The four calendars differ very much in the details: in the number of phases, in the number of glyphs and in the many various signs adorning the glyphs. All these differences tend to disturb the translation process rather than to facilitate.

15. The translation process is facilitated by counting glyphs and marks of different kinds, e.g. was Ha6-3

at first seen as a variant of hau tea with the middle line marked by an oval outline, presumably to indicate noon. Later an association with the Polynesian way of making fire was added to the 'middle'-interpretation.

Finally, by counting glyphs from the beginning of the calendar Ha6-3 was found to be no. 26. The total number of glyphs in the H-calendar (including those in the X part) could also be reconstructed as 52 (i.e twice 26).

By counting glyphs the identification of the glyph Ha6-3 as middle was thereby reinforced, at the same time as the earlier (weak only) conclusions about the total number of glyphs in the H-calendar also were confirmed.

 

The summary above should be compared with what earlier investigators have thought about these glyphs. Barthel was of the view that the eating gesture might be related to an eclipse of the sun:

"Beim gegenwärtigen Stand der Untersuchung hat es den Anschein, als ob Zeichen 8 [i.e. GD12] und seine Variante 81 [i.e. GD12 with fish tail] in erster Linie für die Begriffe 'Feuer' oder 'Sonne' stehen. Um 'Feuer' dürfte es sich bei den meisten Verbindungen mit Personenzeichen handeln ...

Verdoppelungen könnten 'ahiahi' gelesen und auf den 'Abend' bezogen werden.

In zweif Fällen, wo das Zeichen 94a vorangeht, welches eine von oben nach unten gerichtete Bewegung anzeigt, ist die Lesart 'raa' besser und eine Deutung des Bigrammes als 'Sonnen-Untergang' naheliegend.

[Barthel refers to Cb5-5--6 and Da7-103--104:

       

and not to the glyph type at the beginning of the day. Barthel may be right in his interpretation of these glyphs - especially as we can see that the sun disc is big like a ripe fruit. A secure interpretation must, however, take note of the surrounding glyphs and the structure they delineate.]

Um 'Sonnenvogel' dürfte es sich bei den Zeichen 550 und 555 handeln; ein Zusammenhang mit der neuseeländischen Bezeichnung 'te-manu-i-te-ra' für einen Kometen ist gut denkbar.

[Barthel with 550 refers to this type of glyph, as here represented by Ca5-15,

    

and 555 is a variant with 'undulating wings'. I do not share Barthel's opinion that this type of compound between GD11 and GD12 represents or indicates a comet; Ca5-15 hardly stands for a comet. My view is reinforced by Sa3-118

and these two examples (Ca5-15 and Sa3-118) instead may refer to crucial points in the perennial cycle of the sun.]

Als Wiedergabe eine Eklipse kann der sechszackige Stern, verbunden mit einer Hand in der Gebärde des Essens, aufgefaßt werden." (Barthel)

Our interpretation is not eclipse but growth:

 

Barthel's idea about an eclipse of the sun , i.e. by moon intruding in the path of the light, is tangential (but contrary) to my idea about what the glyphs are telling about: viz. an exchange of light between moon and sun, where during a.m. sun is 'being repaid' by the moon. During a.m. moon is not inhibiting light but giving it back to the young sun.

 

glyph type	components
	GD12	GD51	GD32	GD52

Credit must be given to Barthel for his early planting of the idea about toko-te-ragi in my head:

"Ein wichtiger Begriff aus der Polynesischen Mythologie, der sich auf die Urzeit bezieht, als der Himmel durch Stützpfosten augerichtet und so von der Erde getrennt wurde, läßt sich in der Kombination der Zeichen 1 [GD37, henua] und 9 [GD22, rangi] erkennen ..."

He does not, however, seem to have understood that GD32, may be read as toko-te-ragi, especially as an aspect of the a.m. sun. At which thought we should remember the introductory citation in his book:

"Truth can be brought out of error much more readily than out of chaos. (Bacon)"