Aa1-24 Aa1-25
 

This is the 5th period of the 10 periods of the day in Tahua. Sun has now grown up to be fully mature, standing straight and tall (high in the sky) on his own legs. Though he is still shown eating he is no longer as voracious as before, only a slight piece of light seems possible to compress into his mouth.

As we now have reached noon, a cardinal point, we should not take this eating literally; it is more a matter of a signal that the reversal has not yet begun. Neither morning nor afternoon contain noon.

Also the orientation of tapa mea illustrates that sun still shows no sign of beginning his decline towards the western horizon.

Aa1-24 has at right a sun where the central disk is connected to the elbow of the person at left. An elbow is the connection between two members (forearm and upper arm), and therefore it can be used as a symbol for a cardinal point (here noon).

The central disk of the sun is marked to make clear that the cardinal point in question is defined by the sun. Cardinal points are also to be seen e.g. in the evolution of the moon (new moon, full moon etc).

At noon we can feel that the sun is very near (as light and warmth decrease with distance). It is as if the noon part of him nearly touches us.

The Marquesans call noon 'belly of the sun'. The belly of the sun, after having fed himself all morning, is now hanging down low over us.

This 'hanging low' is illustrated by the hanging 'ribbon' between elbow and sun disk.

Aa1-25 is formed as the usual tapa mea in Tahua, with 6 marks grouped in two. This design presumably implies that we at noon have arrived at the spot between the lower and upper sets of 3 marks ('lower arm' and 'forearm').

The double sets of 3 marks illustrate the rays of the sun before noon and after noon and are somewhat similar to the bottom part of this type of glyph (Pa5-33):

The horizontal short bottom line is like the surface of the earth and the three vertical lines illustrate sun rays, i.e. if we shorten them they will be like the rays in a group of 3 marks in the Tahua type of tapa mea. Though the middle line there is shorter, not longer, than the other two.

The space (in Aa1-25) between the two sets of sun rays (= noon) is formed like a wedge coming down from the sky, as if there was a mountain of light protruding down.

 

After this introduction to the difficult to translate glyph Aa1-24, let us make a detour:

Bishop Jaussen on Tahiti recruited the help of Metoro Tau'a Ure, a native of Easter Island who worked temporarily on Tahiti, to have some of the rongorongo tablets translated into the Rapanui language. Among these tablets was Tahua.

We therefore have the possibility to compare the words of Metoro with what the glyphs are telling us:

 

ko te nuahine -  i mamau i te ahi e uhi tapamea

We immediately recognize tapa mea. The word uhi means yam, a large tuber and staple food on Easter Island in ancient times.

"The yam tuber has a brown or black skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety. They are at home growing in tropical climates, primarily in South America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Yams contain more natural sugar than sweet potatoes and a higher moisture content." (Internet)

The 'brown or black skin' does not agree with 'tapa mea' if we read that as 'red skin'. The word mea means reddish and tapa is cloth. But tapa mea presumably does not mean 'red skin'. Instead I guess that tapa has to do with counting things, that is another of the possible readings. To count reddish things: tapa mea, e.g. count yams with red flesh.

 

1. Side, corner, edge; he-hakarere a te tapa, to leave aside, to abandon; a te tapa mata'u o te haga, on the right-hand side of the bay. 2. Tapa mahute, piece of mahute material; this term is very common nowadays, but it seems probable that it was borrowed from the Tahitian in replacement of parehe mahute. 3. To recount the years, the months; to recount happenings of many years ago, in verses called manu, in which a murderer confided his crime to his victim's relatives; the murderer himself asked a brother or a friend to compose those verses: e tapa koe itooku manu, compose my manu. The expression tapa ite manu was also used of a group of people expressing the desire to kill someone. 4. Tagata tapa ta'u, according to traditions, this term referred to the scribes who recorded births on the tablets. Vanaga.

1. Border, fringe, edge, groin, cloth, clothing, dress, garment. Tatapa, lateral, bank. Tapatapa, edge. 2. To name, to mention, to count, to calculate, to reckon, to number, to figure up, to recapitulate; tapa ki te igoa, to take a census; tapa igoa, list. Tatapa, to count, to number, to reckon. Tapatapa, to mention. Churchill

Is there perhaps some common meaning in 'border, fringe ... cloth ... ' etc and 'to name, to mention, to count' etc? Interestingly uhi-uhi means 'to sew'. Uhi sometimes has 'purple or red flesh' and, remarkably, the skin 'resembles the bark of a tree'. Tapa cloth is bark cloth.

The word mea often indicates a reddish colour:

 

1. Tonsil, gill (of fish). 2. Red (probably because it is the colour of gills); light red, rose; also meamea. 3. To grow or to exist in abundance in a place or around a place: ku-mea-á te ma ka, bananas grow in abundance (in this place); ku-mea-á te ka, there is plenty of fish (in a stretch of the coast or the sea); ku-mea-á te tai, the tide is low and the sea completely calm (good for fishing); mau mea, abundance. Vanaga.

1. Red; ata mea, the dawn. Meamea, red, ruddy, rubricund, scarlet, vermilion, yellow; ariga meamea, florid; kahu meamea purple; moni meamea, gold; hanuanua meamea, rainbow; pua ei meamea, to make yellow. Hakameamea, to redden, to make yellow. 2. A thing, an object, elements (mee); e mea, circumstance; mea ke, differently, excepted, save, but; ra mea, to belong; mea rakerake, assault; ko mea, such a one; a mea nei, this; a mea ka, during; a mea, then; no te mea, because, since, seeing that; na te mea, since; a mea era, that; ko mea tera, however, but. Hakamea, to prepare, to make ready. 3. In order that, for. 4. An individual; tagata mea, tagata mee, an individual. 5. Necessary, urgent; e mea ka, must needs be, necessary; e mea, urgent. 6. Manners, customs. Churchill.

 The little word e might mean 'and' or possibly be a 'weak demonstative'.

Metoro seems to have identified the little 'sun' as ahi = fire.

 

Fire; he-tutu i te ahi to light a fire. Ahiahi = evening; ahiahi-ata, the last moments of light before nightfall. Vanaga.

1. Candle, stove, fire (vahi); ahi hakapura, match; ahi hakagaiei, firebrand waved as a night signal. 2. To be night; agatahi ahi atu, day before yesterday. Ahiahi, afternoon, night; kai ahiahi, supper. Ahipipi (ahi 1 - pipi 2) a spark, to flash. Churchill.

According to Churchill mamau (= mama'u) means 'to arrest'. As when the sun seems to be standing still at summer solstice we might feel that the sun has been arrested in its daily course when reaching noon. Close to the horizon, on the other hand, we clearly can see him moving. It therefore is reasonable to say that Metoro identified the fire (ahi) with the sun.

 

Mau. 1. Very, highly; űka keukeu mau, very hard-working girl. 2. To be plentiful; he-mau to te kaiga, the island abounds in food. 3. Properly. Vanaga.

Ma'u. 1. To carry, to transport; he-ma'u-mai, to bring; he-ma'u-atu, to remove, ma'u tako'a, to take away with oneself; te tagata hau-ha'a i raro, ina ekó ma'u-tako'a i te hauha'a o te kaiga nei ana mate; bienes terrenales cuando muere. --> a rich man in this world world cannot take his earthly belongings with him when he dies. 2. To fasten, to hold something fast, to be firm; ku ma'u-á te veo, the nail holds fast. 3. To contain, to hold back; kai ma'u te tagi i roto, he could not hold his tears back. Vanaga.

1. As soon as, since. 2. Several; te mau tagata, a collective use. 3. Food, meat; mau nui, abundance of food, provision, harvest; mau ke avai, abundance. 4. End, to take away. 5. To hold, to seize, to detain, to arrest, to retain, to catch, to grasp. 6. Certain, sure, true, correct, to confide in; mau roa, indubitable, sure. 7. Fixed, constant, firm, stable, resolute, calm; tae mau, not fixed, unstable; mau no, stable; hakamau, to make firm, to attach, to consolidate, to tie, to assure; pena hakamau, bridle; hakamau ihoiho, to immortalize; hakamau iho, restoration. 8. To give, to accord, to remit, to satisfy, to deliver; to accept, to adopt, debt; to emabark, to raise. Churchill.

Mamau. To arrest. Churchill.

OR. All. Fischer.

T. 1. Really. E ari'i mau teie vahine = this woman really is a princess. 2.Things. Te mau mautai = plenty of things. 3. Hold. A toro te a'a, a mau te one = the roots spread and held the sand. Henry.

And at last we have to consider this strange nuahine. Is there an old woman who is arresting the sun?

 

Nuahine. 1. Old woman. 2. Ko te Nuahine ká umu a ragi kotekote, ancient name of "the woman in the moon" inspired by the resemblance of its landscape with the likeness of a woman sitting, lighting the fire of her oven. Vanaga.

Nuehine. Old woman. Churchill.

"[Englert 1948, 165:] '... se selia nombrar Ko te Nuahine káumu ŕ rangi kote kote que significa: La vieja que enciende el curanto en el cielo kotekote. Puedo haber sido una personificación de la luna porque las viejos decían, comentando este nombre, que no es una montańa que seve en la luna, sino una mujer anciana que está suntada [sentada?] al lado un gran curanto umu pae (de piedras en circulo)." (Barthel)

In the Mamari moon calendar the full moon glyph (Ca7-24) probably illustrates this old woman sitting down eating by the fire:

The waxing moon is finished and the waning moon must now start. I guess that the left henua is the sun illuminating the waxing moon and the right henua the sun illuminating the waning moon. There is a break (a cardinal point) at full moon. So someone has to start the new 'limb' of 'fire' - the old woman in the moon.

There should be a structurally similar situation at noon. The first half of the day ('waxing sun') is finished and the second half ('waning sun') must be initiated. The old woman (nuahine) will stop (arrest) the waxing sun and start the waning sun on its path towards the western horizon.

If this is a correct reading (of Metoro), then the text describes a discontinuation at noon. The path of the sun is broken in two pieces: before noon and after noon. These ideas agree with 'rangi kote kote [kotikoti]' ('cielo kotekote' ), which I think means 'sky cut up into pieces':

 

To cut with scissors (since this is an old word and scissors do not seem to have existed, it must mean something of the kind). Vanaga.

To tear; kokoti, to cut, to chop, to hew, to cleave, to assassinate, to amputate, to scar, to notch, to carve, to use a knife, to cut off, to lop, to gash, to mow, to saw; kokotiga kore, indivisible; kokotihaga, cutting, gash furrow. Churchill.

But there definitely is no sign of koti koti in this glyph. Often the sign of koti (according to Metoro) is written as e.g. (Aa6-23, Ha8-15, Pa7-33):

              

It would have been easy for the writer of Tahua to use this kind of sign, but he (she?) did not. Why?

Answer: to indicate that there is no real break at noon. Instead there is a continuity. This continuity - in the path of the sun - presumably is indicated by the hanging ribbon. And then we should understand the left part of the glyph (the standing person) as before noon and the right part of the glyph as the soon to be born after noon - still just like a nut (the right end of the ribbon). The 'nut' emerges from the elbow, just as it should. Because new life cannot emerge from the time of a regular 'ruler' (henua). So there is a break at noon, illustrated by the 'nut'. From which the new sun will emerge. It looks like a flower soon to be in full bloom.

This 'nut' is not very big. Therefore it cannot represent the 'belly of the sun'. The central part of the glyph is the ribbon hanging down, that could be the 'belly'.

The standing person at left cannot be somebody who is arresting the sun. Because that would have been written e.g. like this (Aa3-35):

(Unless, of course, this sign was used for different purposes.)