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5.
It would take too much time and effort to here compare the
Mamari moon calendar with the Hawaiian one. Let us simply note
that both calendars seem to be based on a 'single leg'. Next 'leg'
is another similar month and why should it be necessary to repeat
what it entails?
The same argument cannot be used for a calendar covering a halfyear,
because in a year only half of it has Sun 'present'. Therefore
the 2nd list of place
names (cfr at honu) with some 60 names ought to map a
full year rather than a doublemonth. And the 1st list of place names (the
kuhane stations) with 28 specified locations ought to refer to half a
doublemonth.
If I am right we ought to find vai in 2 locations in
the 2nd list, one
when Sun is present and one with Sun absent. Then - if we have found
these supposed vai places - we should investigate which
stations are following them. Names which could allude to hopu
should follow vai stations when Sun (moa) is present and
when Sun is absent hupee names could follow vai
stations:
|
season
of 'earth' |
season
of 'water' |
|
'moa'
present |
vai + hopu |
'moa'
absent |
vai +
hupee |
The first step is to look for vai names.
The results can be summarized as:
|
p. 38 |
p. 39 |
p. 40 |
p. 41 |
|
growing
light |
waning light |
|
Sun |
Waxing Moon |
Waning
Moon |
Old year |
|
9
vai
a mei u(h)i kapokapo.
12
vai
poko aa raa mata turu |
18
vai
tara kai u(a) a ngao roaroa a ngao tokotokoa. |
- |
45
vai
ngaere a puku hehaheha.
47
e
vai
e hare hakangaengae i te tahu hanga rikiriki.
54
vai
rapa a hakaremereme
56
te
vai
rutu manu a koro rupa.e haho e hivi e e runga e te puku
ohu kahi e. |
Sun, Moon, and Mars could be a triplet of 'planets'
connected with the triplet of vai items in the season of
growing light - they arrive first in the week. Mercury, Jupiter, and
Venus
belong on the 'back side'. Saturn is - like p. 42 - a special case,
and he corresponds to the black time beyond the end of the old year
when the new fire is ignited. There are no vai items in p.
42, presumably because the technical term vai seems to be
connected with 'full stop' (of 'fire') - a fire is quickly ended by
drenching it.
In the 1st list of place names Nga Kope Ririva
Tutuu Vai A Te Taanga, the first of the kuhane stations,
is geographically located at the 3 islets outside the southwest
corner of the mainland. This place belongs to another person than
Hau Maka and vai here evidently is to be understood as
the 'full stop' of the reign of Taanga. His 'fire' is
'drenched' at the 3 islets. The 3 youths which are 'standing in the
water' could well describe the 3 islets, but if so then they should
be standing in sea water (tai), not in sweet water (vai):
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Vai
Water, liquid, juice. 1. Vai
tagata, semen, sperm (also: takatea). 2.
Vai kava, saltwater, sea, ocean. Vanaga.
(Sweet) water.
Vai-kura =
blood. Barthel.
1. Water, liquid, fluid, sap, juice,
gravy, fresh water as differing from tai
seawater; hakavai to dissolve, to liquefy, to
melt. P Pau.: ana-vai,
a brook. Mgv.: vai,
water. Mq.: vai,
water, liquid, juice. Ta.:
vai, sweet water, sap, juice.
Vaihu (vai-u),
milk. T Mq., Ta.: vaiu,
milk. Vaipuga
(vai-puna),
spring water. P Mgv.:
vaipuna, water which springs from among
stones. Mq.: vaipuna,
spring water. Ta.:
vaipuna, a spring.
Vaitahe (vai-tahe
1), river. 2. Pau.: Vai,
to exist. Ta.: vai,
to be, to exist. Vaiora,
to survive. Sa.: vaiola,
the spring 'water of life?' Ma.:
waiora, water
of life.
Vaitoa
(vai-toa 2),
sugar. Mgv.: vaito,
id. Vaituru (vai-turu
1), water conduit.
Vaivai, weak. PS Mq.:
vaivai, soft,
pleasant, agreeable. Sa., To.:
vaivai, weak.
Pau.: Vaiho,
to set down, to place. Ta.:
vaiiho, to place. Ma.:
waiho, to set
down. Pau.: Hakavaivai,
to delay. Ta.: vaivai,
to rest a bit. Ta.:
Vaianu, a plant. Mq.:
Vaimata,
tears. Ha.: waimaka,
id. Vaitahe,
a flood. Sa.: vaitafe,
a river. Ha.: waikahe,
running water, flood.
Vaitupu, spring water. To.:
vaitubu, well
water. Churchill.
Sa., Fakaafo, To., Fu., Niuē,
Uvea, Nukuoro, Ta., Rar., Tongareva, Mq., Mgv., Fotuna,
Nuguria, Vaté: vai, water. Rapanui: vai,
juice, liquid, water. Aniwa: vai, tavai,
water. Ma., Ha.: wai, id. Sikayana: wai,
wuai, id. Vi.: wai, water. Rotumā: vai,
voi, id. Churchill 2. |
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Tai
1. Ocean, sea (often used without an
article); he-turu au ki tai hopu, I am going
down to the sea to bathe. 2. To be calm, good for
fishing: he tai. There exists a surprisingly
developed terminology for distinguishing the phases
of the tides: tai pâpaku,
low tide; ku-gúgú-á te
tai, tide at his lowest, literally 'the sea has
dried up'; he-ranu te tai, when the water
starts rising again; this is a strange expression,
since ranu means 'amniotic liquid,' the
breaking of the waters which precedes birth; in this
phase of the tides the fish start coming out of
their hiding places and swim to the coast in search
of food; tai hahati, rising tide; tai hini
hahati, tide as it continues rising; tai u'a,
tai u'a parera, when the tide has reached its
high; tai hini u'a, tide all throughout its
full phase; tai hori, tide as it starts
receding; tai ma'u, tide during its
decreasing phase, right until it becomes tai
pâpaku again; tai raurau a riki. the
slight swell, or effervescence of the sea at a
change or the moon. 3. Good spot for raising
chickens; the stone chicken coops called hare
moa, were built in places 'tai moa'.
Ahé te tai o taau moa? whereabouts are the
raising grounds of your chickens? 4. Song in
general; song executed by a group of singers;
ku-garo-ana i a au te kupu o te tai, I have
forgotten the words of the song. Taitai,
tasteless; said especially of sweet potatoes and
other produces of the soil which do not taste good
for being too watery; kumara taitai, watery,
tasteless sweet potato. Vanaga.
1. Salt water; taitai,
brackish, salty. P Mgv., Mq., Ta.: tai, salt
water. Mq.: taitai, to salt. Ta.: taitai,
salty. 2. Sea, ocean; tai hati, breakers;
tai hohonu, depths of the sea; tai kaukau,
tide; tai negonego, tide; tai o,
ripple; tai parera, tide; tai poko,
breakers; tai titi, tide; tai ua,
tide, ebb; tai vanaga, ripple. P Mgv., Mq.,
Ta.: tai, sea, ocean. 3. Ta.: tai-ao,
dawn. Mq.: takitaki te ao, just before dawn.
Churchill. |
Tai means the source of life, vai its end. When the
sea water starts to rise again (he-ranu te tai) the fishes
swim to the shore. Moon is associated with tai and Sun with
vai. With the 'face' changes of Moon she is a living image of
the process of life - birth, growth, and waning. In her dark phase
she is not seen and the phase of death is instead illustrated by Sun
leaving in the evening (and by correspondence: in autumn).
Although we now can understand that the idea of searching for
hupee beyond the vai names in the season of waning light
(according to the 2nd list of place names) clearly must fail, the
idea of a rising tide with fishing swimming in should have an
opposite idea of ebb with fish swimming out. When the fishes have
left and the mud flats rise above the sea it is time for the people
to go into action, to harvest the beach. Hupee could be a
term associated with ebb, when it is hard to say whether it is earth
or water below your feet. The corresponding time of the year should
be early spring.
But hupee could also be a reflection of the time, once a
year, when the Chilean ship arrives bringing influenza to the
island.
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