TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

The creator of the Mamari text may have been aware of our modern calendar, because the glyph joke kara etahi will be at day 365 if we add 63 to its ordinal number counted from Ca1-1:

6				7
	Ca11-16	Ca11-17	Ca11-18 (302)		Ca11-26
	363	364	365 = 63 + 302		373

Also in Tahua we can observe a connection between kara etahi and a special type of manu rere:


Ab7-27	Ab7-28	Ab7-29	Ab7-30	Ab7-31	Ab7-32


Aa5-8	Aa5-9	Aa5-10	Aa5-11	Aa5-12	Aa5-13

The order between kara etahi and manu rere is different on side a compared with that on side b and the signs are different too. Fat bodies on side a ought to mean midsummer is in the past. 2 mata in maitaki instead of 3 could refer to the 2 'faces' of the Moon and the weaker outlines of the birds could correspond to the weaker light of Moon.

Furthermore, the reversed order between kara etahi and manu rere on side a could allude to the reverse movement of the Moon - rising in the west and descending in the east.

In order to understand kara etahi it is necessary to investigate where these four birds are located in the text of Tahua and it will be done here.

The link 'here' leads first to the following page (with an underpage):

The most recent attempt (cfr hahe) to describe the structure of the Tahua text suggests the existence of a calendar beginning at Aa3-8 and ending some 400 glyphs later:

			398
Aa3-8	Aa3-9	Aa3-10		Aa7-84	Aa7-85	Aa8-1
		400

Kara etahi in Aa5-10 should be possible to integrate in this structure:

	157			239
Aa3-10 (185)		Aa5-10 (343)	Aa5-11		Aa7-84 (584)
*160 = 4 40**				*240 = 6 40**
*400 = 5 80**

Ordinal number 10 in a glyph line presumably is a day of Venus, which also happens to be the case with haú in Aa7-84. Subtracting the days at the beginning (Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus) from 584 results in 581 which is equal to 7 * 83.

Presumably 160 is a number connected with the moon and 240 a number associated with spring sun:


Aa5-8	Aa5-9	Aa5-10	Aa5-11

Aa5-12 (345)	Aa5-13	Aa5-14	Aa5-15	Aa5-16

5 * 12 = 60 and 345 could refer to the basic Pythagorean triangle for measuring the height of the sun.

The throat of the moe bird (Aa5-15) is open in front while the 'spirit rising' (manu rere) in Aa5-16 has a crack in the past (left wing open).

Henua ora in Aa5-14 indicates it is time for 'recycling' and the planet 'costume' is Mars, the spring garment of the Sun. Mercury will take over (moe in Aa5-15).

The character of manu rere in Aa5-9 is drastically different from that in Aa5-16:


Aa5-9 (342)	Aa5-16

342 = 18 * 19, a number which in a way is reversing 18 * 18 = 324 (by changing 24 into 42), the ordinal number of the hua glyph preceding manu rere in Aa4-74:


Aa4-73 (324)	Aa4-74	Aa4-75

Aa4-76	Aa4-77	Aa4-78

Possibly the type of manu rere which in Tahua has a 'cracked wing' at left indicates the 'spirit of spring'.

These are the manu rere glyphs in Tahua (42 on side a and 59 on side b). Red indicates open left wing and black open right wing:


Aa2-79	Aa2-82	Aa2-84	Aa2-85	Aa3-1	Aa3-5 (180)

Aa3-7	Aa3-18	Aa3-19	Aa3-22	Aa3-24	Aa3-28

Aa3-29	Aa3-30	Aa3-31	Aa3-51	Aa3-55	Aa3-57 (232)

Aa3-59	Aa3-61 (236)	Aa3-62	Aa4-4	Aa4-10	Aa4-56

Aa4-59	Aa4-62	Aa4-74	Aa4-80	Aa4-82	Aa5-9

Aa5-16	Aa5-28	Aa5-29	Aa5-74	Aa6-45 (461)	Aa6-57

Aa6-59	Aa7-12	Aa8-6	Aa8-54	Aa8-66	Aa8-77


Ab1-5	Ab1-28	Ab1-42	Ab1-43	Ab1-50	Ab1-52

Ab1-61	Ab1-67	Ab1-76	Ab1-79	Ab2-22	Ab2-24

Ab2-26	Ab2-28	Ab2-30	Ab2-64	Ab2-65	Ab2-69

Ab2-72	Ab2-73	Ab2-75	Ab2-76	Ab3-2	Ab3-4

Ab3-19	Ab3-24	Ab3-25	Ab3-27	Ab3-28	Ab3-38

Ab3-73	Ab4-37	Ab4-45	Ab4-46	Ab5-11	Ab5-13

Ab5-26	Ab5-31	Ab5-33	Ab5-77	Ab6-19	Ab6-30

Ab6-37	Ab6-45	Ab7-12	Ab7-14	Ab7-29	Ab7-35

Ab7-50	Ab7-67	Ab7-69	Ab7-72	Ab8-13	Ab8-14

Ab8-31	Ab8-34	Ab8-61	Ab8-70	Ab8-75

Magenta indicates manu rere with open wings both at left and right. The glyph with an exceptional right wing carrying a reverse open sign is coloured green.

Obviously the ordinal numbers counted from Aa1-1 carry meanings which can be coordinated with the signs in the glyphs:


Aa3-5 (180)	Aa3-57 (232)	Aa3-61 (236)	Aa6-45 (461)

Presumably the text on side a of Tahua can be understood by counting 1 glyph per day from Aa1-1. If so, then the sign of an open left wing does not occur until day 180. Alternatively we can count with 2 glyphs per day:


Aa3-5 (180)	Aa3-57 (232)	Aa3-61 (236)
90	*116 = 4 29**	*118 = 4 29.5**

However, if the redmarked manu rere glyphs are to represent 'the spirit of the spring returning to heaven', then 1 glyph per day seems to be a necessity.

Glyph number 461 is 'one more' than 460, which possibly explains the green Venus colour:


Aa6-39	Aa6-40	Aa6-41	Aa6-42

Aa6-43	Aa6-44	Aa6-45 (461)	Aa6-46

The same type of sign appears also in Pa8-11:


Pa8-9	Pa8-10	Pa8-11 (444)	Pa8-12	Pa8-13	Pa8-14	Pa8-15

Number 11 is, though, not a Venus day but a day of Saturn. However, (444 - 3) / 7 = 63.

Ordinal number 45 is 6 weeks (42 days) beyond day 3 (a Venus day).