TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

No ika sign can be found in connection with the other days of the week, not even in any of the other 'calendars' which I have tentatively identified as referring to the planets.

That should not be surprising, because the main point with planets seems to have been not whether they are in ascending of descending phase, but how they look and which stars are near.

The planets move around the 'waist' of the sky, along the ecliptic, in a way on the 'surface of the water' - i.e. they are not fish-like. However, the association between ika and Saturn is confirmed in what I believe to be another calendar for the week:

Saturday
Saturday	Ea5-15	Ea5-16	Ea5-17	Ea5-18

Here the fish signs are not small (as in Hb9-53), and Saturn may be connected with ika also conceptually (not only because it may have been named Ikaika). In the Swedish language Saturday is Lördag meaning the day to bathe and clean oneself (horoi in Tahitian).

I guess the explanation here furthermore hinges on Saturday being the last day of the week. To express the notion of a fortnight two fishes could have been used. The wedge signs on the fish heads may refer to the month, and the statement could therefore possibly be read: 'there are 4 weeks in a month'.

The wedge-sign occurs - though upside down - in henua ora:

We can also compare with mea ke and poporo, both of which suggest darkness:

While henua ora and mea ke clearly are 'black', poporo strives up towards the light and the sign has its apex down (as in the two Saturday fishes). A possible implication is that apex down for this type of sign indicates a position beyond nadir.

The double set of wedges in Ea5-16--17 therefore ought to - if my suggestion about a reference to the month is correct - illustrate two sets of waxing moon, each with two weeks (wedges). Counting must be done with 59, not with twice 29.5.

This could have explained why in the day of the dark planet there is a hau tea glyph - light is the end result of the reign of Saturn. But all the days in this calendar end with hau tea. Maybe hau tea here indicates dawn.

It at first appears rather strange how quickly the change from dark to light is described in the week. The jump from Saturn to Sun is abrupt and not at all in accordance with how sun has far to move from midsummer to next spring. On the other hand experience from lighting a fire in the dark evenings every day tells how quickly the change can be.

In the 'day' calendar of Q p.m. is not described at all. It is as if the fall of the sun from the 'midsummer tree' makes p.m. impossible to describe - sun has disappeared down into the earth. This abrupt change is the mirror image of the change from Saturn to Sun in the week. But the week belongs to the moon and if sun light abruptly disappears at 'midsummer', then moon light could abruptly appear at the end of the week.

The week follows the directives from the moon, and - we can conclude - it must be the moon who also 'lights the fire', an equally quick affair:


Aa1-24	Aa1-25	Aa1-26	Aa1-27
ko te nuahine - i mamau i te ahi	e uhi tapamea	ko te ahi - hakaturou	ki te henua

Moon symbolizes life ('quick'), and also the quick downfall of sun at 'midsummer' must therefore be due to her.

Next (and last) page:

I have no example to offer where ika has been used in reference to some star (other than sun). That may be due to the difficulty in identifying specific stars in the rongorongo texts.

To summarize: Only sun, moon, and Saturn have been found connected with ika.

Waxing moon was regarded as a 'rising fish', meaning 'growing', and waning moon with a descending (upside down) 'fish', declining in light.

This structure was then used also for the 'phases' of 'waxing' and 'waning' sun - for the season when it grew in strength, was revitalized, respectively the season when it faded away.

Saturn is another matter, this 'pale star' was connected with the fading end of the week, and therefore was the opposite of sun. The opposite of sun ('fire') is water, the element for fishes.

Here I have used the word 'fading', expressing the solar view where nothing happens very quickly, sun is eternal and never changes (it appears).

Fading (waning) is the opposite of what happens at the horizon (at least close to the equator), where sun, moon, and stars abruptly vanish, when Mother Earth swallows everybody quickly.

When moon wanes it is by following the rule of the sun - it takes time. It is the sun light, reflected on the face of the moon, which fades away.