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TRANSLATIONS
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4.
Here I could have ended my 'preliminary remarks and
imaginations'. Rona glyphs should, I have suggested, appear
immediately 'inside' the beginning of a new season or cycle, and the
twisted body posture ought to represent how 'movement' from now on
goes in the other direction. This is enough to try out, for instance
by looking at the beginning of texts after the tablets have been
turned, e.g. represented by our wellknown pair Gb1-6--7:
I have not classified them as rona, but Gb1-13
(in position 242 + 1) is a rona glyph.
However (a strange word which English Etymology does not care to
explain), my ambition goes higher. In the preceding hupee
chapter we have made a first (and fairly successful I would say)
attempt at connecting the geography of Easter Island with the
'geography in the sky' and we ought to go on in that direction.
Rona glyphs seem to be promising.
In the following pages, not so few, I will try to arrange my ideas
in as good an order as I can, but I know there is no King's way
ahead. The terrain is difficult. So let's go:
The entrance
to a hare paega can be protected by 2 rona
figures, or rather a Rona and a Runu I guess:
Not much is visible of them in this picture (cut out
from a drawing by Pierre Loti - cfr at haú) but they are standing there and in between
someone is crawling inside through the door opening.
The door should be at a cardinal point, one of the corners of the
'square earth'. If so, then the location ought to be at equinox I
imagine, because only the gods should enter a canoe at the stern or the prow
(and a hare paega is the equivalent of an overturned
canoe, the 'night side' of a canoe):
... to enter a war
canoe from either the stern or the prow was equivalent to a 'change
of state' or 'death'. Instead, the warrior had to cross the
threshold of the side-strakes as a ritual entry into the body of his
ancestor as represented by the canoe ...
Métraux has mentioned these entrance figures:
"The low entrances of
houses were guarded by images of wood or of bark cloth, representing
lizards or rarely crayfish.
The bark cloth
images were made over frames of reed, and were called manu-uru,
a name given also to kites, masks, and masked people
..."
The lizard (moko) and the crayfish (ura) form a pair
of contrasts, one up on land and the other down in the sea.
Manu-uru
are not real 'birds', just imitations
(reflections) made of 'straw'. Metoro
said toa tauuru
for 7 of the periods of the night (cfr Aa1-37--46). In my
added item for uru in the Polynesian dictionary I have commented that
uru
usually means breadfruit (= 'skull') and that its fruit resembles a
human skull. A cranium and uru symbolize, I think, the end of
life - which has great nutritional value. Uru has 2 u,
as is should for a 'back wheel'.
Nightfall and morning connect the diurnal
cycle with the yearly cycle. The hour of midnight was preferably a
time for sleep, because at that time (equal to new year) there was a
'door' open through which figures of fancy and fear moved.
Métraux has given us a good description of how it was to sleep in a
hare paega:
"... The most vivid
description of hut interiors is given by Eyraud ... who slept in
them several nights:
Imagine a half open
mussel, resting on the edge of its valves and you will have an idea
of the form of that cabin. Some sticks covered with straw form its
frame and roof. An oven-like opening allows its inhabitants to go
inside as well as the visitors who have to creep not only on all
fours but on their stomachs.
This indicates the
center of the building and lets enter enough light to see when you
have been inside for a while. You have no idea how many Kanacs may
find shelter under that thatch roof. It is rather hot inside, if you
make abstraction of the little disagreements caused by the deficient
cleanliness of the natives and the community of goods which
inevitably introduces itself ...
But by night time, when
you do not find other refuge, you are forced to do as others do.
Then everybody takes his place, the position being indicated to each
by the nature of the spot. The door, being in the center, determines
an axis which divides the hut into two equal parts. The heads,
facing each other on each side of that axis, allow enough room
between them to let pass those who enter or go out. So they lie
breadthwise, as commodiously as possible, and try to sleep."
Métraux has also given us a close-up picture of one of these
manu-uru figures:
"The nose is narrow and
straight and on the same plane as the forehead. The mouth is formed
by two parallel raised strips. The oval eyes protrude. The
cheekbones are two crescentic prominences ..."
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5.
In the Tuamotuan dialect
ronarona
means 'to pull one another about'. On
Easter Island rona means 'drawing, traction'.
Nga
Tavake A Te Rona and
Te Ohiro A Te Runu - the pair who were on the island
already before Ira and his team anchored (like gods in the
solstice
bay, Hanga Te Pau) - could represent the 2
forces ('beasts' contra 'men and gods') constantly tugging at war
and
beautifully illustrated in India:
The beasts are in
spring, and they describe the raw rava force, while
men and gods are more restrained, with mature planning ahead rather
than shortsighted and childish focus on the present only.
I have not earlier given an adequate description of
the rava force, because a separate
page was needed.
Te Ohiro A Te Runu should correspond to the team of autumn,
or
the team of Moon we could say, because Ohiro is the 1st
night of the Moon. And Nga Tavake A Te Rona would then
correspond to the team of spring, the team of Sun. However, it is
not so easy.
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Let us begin by repeating what Vanaga says:
1. Enough, sufficient; ku-rava-á,
that's enough, it is sufficient. 2. To be satiated, to be satisfied;
ku rava-á te tagata i te kai,
the man has eaten his fill. 3. Used very commonly before verbs to
express someone much inclined towards this action:
tagata rava taûa, quarrelsome person;
rava kai, glutton;
rava haúru, sleepy-head;
rava kî, chatterbox;
rava tagi, cry-baby;
rava keukeu, hard-working;
vara is often used instead of
rava. Vanaga.
Rava is here given two main meanings, as I
understand it. First of all an intensive, focused, selfish mood, and
secondarily the result thereof, viz. enough! The primary sense must be the
aggressive mood - hunger in all its senses - what can be expected after
a winter
season with scarce resources. |
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Next we should compare with the not quite so intense
and more neutral rave:
Ta.: Rave, to take. Sa.: lavea, to be
removed, of a disease. To.: lavea, to bite, to take the hook,
as a fish. Fu.: lave, to comprehend, to seize. Niuē:
laveaki, to convey. Rar.:
rave, to take, to
receive. Mgv: rave, to
take, to take hold; raveika,
fisherman. Ma.: rawe, to
take up, to snatch. Ha.: lawe,
to take and carry in the hand. Mq.: ave,
an expression used when the fishing line is caught in the stones.
Churchill 2.
Behind this spectrum of
meanings we can discern the idea of 'seize' (to take possession of). In the intensive hungry
rava mood much forceful
action (rave) must come, must be the result of the primary
drives. No time to deliberate or discuss, hunger is ravenous. But
rave
has no childish tune, it is a calculating and mature 'beast' who is
acting. |
In Churchill there is much information regarding rava,
and we can see that there is no clear bordeline between rava
and rave:
1. [I have missed to
copy this page in Churchill.] 2. To get, to have, to conquer, to
gain, to obtain, invasion, to capture, to procure, to recover,
to retrieve, to find, to bring back, to profit, to assist, to
participate, to prosper; mea
meitaki ka rava, to deserve. PS Pau.:
rave, to take. Mgv.:
rave, to take, to
acquire possession. Ta.: rave,
to seize, to receive, to take. To.:
lava, to achieve, to obtain. Viti:
rawā, to obtain, to
accomplish ... 3. To know; rava iu, to discern. 4.
Large; hakarava, to enlarge, to augment, to add. PS Sa.:
lava, large, very. 5. Hakarava, wide, width,
across, to put across, yard of a ship, firm; hakarava
hakaturu, quadrangular. P Mgv.: ravatua, the shelving
ridge of a road, poles in a thatch roof, a ridge. In the
Tongafiti speech this appears only in Maori whakarawa to
fasten with a latch of bolt ... 6. A prepositive intensive;
rava oho, to take root; rava keukeu, to apply
oneself; rava ahere, agile, without fixed abode; rava
ki, to prattle; rava vanaga, to prate. Mq.: ava,
enough, sufficient. 7. Hakarava, gummy eyes, lippitude.
8. Hakarava omua to come before, precede.
He then continues with words incorporating
rava:
Ravagei, to
prattle. Ravahaga, capture. Ravaika, to fish.
Mgv.: raveika, a fisherman. Mq.: avaika, avaiá,
id. Ravakai (ravekai), glutton, insatiable; tae
ravekai, frugal. Ravakata (ravakakata),
jovial, merry. Ravaki, to prattle, to tell stories,
loquacious, narrator, orator, eloquent, to boast, to speak evil,
to defame, slander, gossip. Ravapeto, to blab, to speak
evil. Ravapure, fervent, earnest. Ravavae,
invention. Ravatere, to scare away. Neku
ravatotouti, agile. Ravavanaga, loquacious,
garrulous, to tell stories, narration.
A negative tense is colouring many of these items
(glutton, boast, speak evil, blab etc). Table manners are not high
in priority when you are ravenous, and in a competition for scarce
resources the noble side is put aside. Furthermore childish
behaviour comes to the surface in times of stress.
A special case is the double variant of rave:
Ta.: raverave, a
servant, to serve. Ha.: lawelawe, to wait on the table,
to serve. Churchill.
When the gods and men of equal rank have sat down
to take what they want the more humble men should stand aside as
servants, they are the Mercury characters. |
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Fornander is as always a good source for coming to
grips with the meanings of words, and he has recognized the
relationship between rava and rave. First rava
(lawa):
LAWA, v. Haw., to work out, even to the
edge or boundary of a land, i.e., leave none uncultivated, to
fill, suffice, be enough.
Sam.,
lava, be enough, to complete; adj., indeed, very. Tah.,
rava-i, to suffice. N. Zeal., rava-kore, lit. 'not full',
poor. Fiji., rawa, accomplish, obtain, possess.
Sanskr.,
labh, lambh, to obtain, get, acquire, enjoy, undergo,
peform; lábha, acquisition, gain; rabh, to seize, to
take.
Lith.,
loba, the work of each day, gain, labour; lobis, goods,
possessions; pra-lobti, become rich; api-lobe, after
work, i.e., evening.
A. Pictet
refers the Lat. labor, work, to this same family, as well as
the Irish lobhar and the Welsh llafur. He also, with
Bopp and Benfey, refers the Goth. arbaiths, labour, work, to
the Sanskr. rabh = arb, as well as the Anc. Slav.,
rabu, a servant. Russ., rabota, labour. Gael., airbhe,
gain, profit, product.
The modern word 'robot' combines the
meanings 'work' and 'servant'. One cannot avoid thinking about the
'slaves' who do the work and those who take the profit. The division
between rava and raverave is still in force, and it
was also at the base of the Greek culture. Without work
there will be no food, but the food can be taken (robbed) by someone
tough enough higher up. |
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And lawe:
LAWE,
v.
Haw., to carry, bear, take from out of; lawe-lawe, to wait upon, to
attend on, serve, to handle, to feel of; adj. pertaining to
work.
Tah.,
rave, to receive, to take, seize, lay hold of; s. work,
operation; rave-rave, a servant, attendant.
Rarot.,
Paum., rave, id. Sam., lave, to be of service;
lave-a, to be removed, of a disease; lavea'i, to
extricate, to deliver. Fiji., lave, to raise, lift up.
Malg.,
ma-lafa, to take, seize; rava, pillage, destruction.
Sunda., rampok, theft. Mal., rampas, me-rabut,
take forcibly. Motu (N. Guinea), law-haia, to take away ...
Greek,
λαμβανω, έλαβον,
take hold of, seize, receive, obtain; λημμα,
income, gain; λαβη,
λαβις, grip, handle.
Lat.,
labor,
work, activity; perhaps also Laverna,
the goddess of gain or profit, the protectress of thieves;
rapio,
rapax.
Goth.,
raupjan, to
reap, pluck; raubon,
to reave, rob. Sax., reafian,
take violently. Pers., raftan,
to sweep, clean up; robodan,
to rob. Lith., ruba,
pillage; rûbina,
thief.
The Fijian word
lave, to raise, lift up, can by
association go on to reva. But basically there is
no resemblance between raising food or else to superiors (rave)
on one hand and lifting up high in order to suspend (reva).
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Tavake in Nga Tavake a Te Rona could refer to the name
of one of the tropic birds:
"Tavake is the
general Polynesian name for the tropic bird, whose red tail feathers
were very popular. This name is closely connected with the original
population." (Barthel 2)
"The Red-tailed
Tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, is a seabird that nests
across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the rarest of the
tropicbirds, yet is still a widespread bird that is not considered
threatened. It nests in colonies on oceanic islands.
The Red-tailed
Tropicbird looks like a stout tern, and hence closely resembles the
other two tropicbird species. It has generally white plumage, often
with a pink tinge, a black crescent around the eye and a thin red
tail feather. It has a bright red bill and black feet
...
When breeding they
mainly choose coral atolls with low shrubs, nesting underneath them
(or occasionally in limestone cavities). They feed offshore away
from land, singly rather than in flocks. They are plunge-divers that
feed on fish, mostly flying fish, and squid."
(Wikipedia)
Nga marks plural:
| Ga
Preposed plural marker of rare usage. 1.
Sometimes used with a few nouns denoting human beings,
more often omitted. Te ga vî'e, te ga poki, the
women and the children. Ga rauhiva twins. 2. Used
with some proper names. Ga Vaka, Alpha and Beta
Centauri (lit. Canoes). Vanaga. |
It seems impossible to connect plural with
Spring Sun, he has only one 'leg' and spring is singleminded. Nga Tavake must belong beyond
midsummer. And this seems to agree with where Ira found him:
"Through the
meeting with Nga Tavake, the representative of the
original population in the area north of Rano Kau, the
number of the explorers is once again complete. Not only are
Kuukuu and Nga Tavake related as 'loss' and 'gain',
but also they share the same economic function: it was Kuukuu's
special mission to establish a yam plantation after the landing
(in his role he represents the vital function of the good
planter); Nga Tavake joined the explorers to work with
them in the yam plantation of the dead Kuukuu (i.e., he
closes the gap caused by the death of Kuukuu among the
planters.)" (Barthel 2)
Nga Tavake A Te Rona was found at the
back side of the island, the side of the Moon. The important
feature of the bird was its thin red tail feather. Red at the
end suggest a fire at the end of a cycle.
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"... They all sat down
and rested [on the plain of
Oromanga],
when suddenly they saw that a turtle had reached the shore and had
crawled up on the beach. He [Ira] looked at it and said,
'Hey, you! The turtle has come on land!' He said, 'Let's go! Let's
go back to the shore.' They all went to pick up the turtle. Ira
was the first one to try to lift the turtle - but she didn't move.
Then Raparenga
said, 'You do not have the necessary ability. Get out of my way so
that I can have a try!' Raparenga stepped up and tried to
lift the turtle - but Raparenga could not move her. Now you
spoke, Kuukuu: 'You don't have the necessary ability, but I
shall move this turtle. Get out of my way!' Kuukuu stepped
up, picked up the turtle, using all his strength. After he had
lifted the turtle a little bit, he pushed her up farther.
No sooner had he pushed
her up and lifted her completely off the ground when she struck
Kuukuu with one fin. She struck downward and broke Kuukuu's
spine. The turtle got up, went back into the (sea) water, and swam
away. All the kinsmen spoke to you (i.e. Kuukuu): 'Even you
did not prevail against the turtle!'
They put the injured
Kuukuu on a stretcher and carried him inland. They prepared a
soft bed for him in the cave and let him rest there. They stayed
there, rested, and lamented the severely injured Kuukuu.
Kuukuu said, 'Promise me, my friends, that you will not abandon
me!' They all replied, 'We could never abandon you!' They stayed
there twenty-seven days in Oromanga. Everytime Kuukuu
asked, 'Where are you, friends?' they immediately replied in one
voice, 'Here we are!'
They all sat down and
thought. They had an idea and Ira spoke, 'Hey, you! Bring the
round stones (from the shore) and pile them into six heaps of
stones!' One of the youths said to Ira, 'Why do we want heaps
of stone?' Ira replied, 'So that we can all ask the stones to
do something.' They took (the material) for the stone heaps (pipi
horeko) and piled up six heaps of stone at the outer edge of the
cave.
Then they all said to
the stone heaps, 'Whenever he calls, whenever he calls for us, let
your voices rush (to him) instead of the six (of us) (i.e., the six
stone heaps are supposed to be substitutes for the youths). They all
drew back to profit (from the deception) (? ki honui) and
listened. A short while later, Kuukuu called. As soon as he
had asked, 'Where are you?' the voices of the stone heaps replied,
'Here we are!' All (the youths) said, 'Hey, you! That was well
done!' ..." (Manuscript E according to Barthel 2)
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As regards
Te Ohiro A Te Runu (who had died - maybe killed by a turtle like
Kuukuu?) we must first consider
runu:
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Runu
To take, to grab with the hand; to
receive, to welcome someone in one's home. Ko Timoteo
Pakarati ku-runu-rivariva-á ki a au i toona hare,
Timoteo Pakarati received me well in his house.
Runurunu, iterative of runu: to take
continuously, to collect. Vanaga.
1. To pluck, to pick, a burden. 2. A
substitute; runurunu, a representative.
Churchill. |
The idea of 'to take' (rave) corresponds to spring rather
than to autumn, to the front side rather than to the back side. In
order 'to
grab with the hand' (runu) it is certainly necessary to have
a hand (rima), which ought to exclude the nuku
(autumn) season. Furthermore, ru in the Mangarevan dialect
means 'eager, in haste, impatient', which is a feeling of spring
rather than autumn.
Then we must also take into consideration the possible meanings of hiro:
| Hiro
1. A deity invoked when praying for rain
(meaning uncertain). 2. To twine tree fibres (hauhau,
mahute) into strings or ropes.
Ohirohiro, waterspout
(more exactly pú ohirohiro), a column of water
which rises spinning on itself.
Vanaga.
To spin, to twist. P Mgv.: hiro,
iro, to make a cord or line in the native manner
by twisting on the thigh. Mq.: fió, hió,
to spin, to twist, to twine. Ta.: hiro, to twist.
This differs essentially from the in-and-out movement
involved in hiri 2, for here the movement is that
of rolling on the axis of length, the result is that of
spinning. Starting with the coir fiber, the first
operation is to roll (hiro) by the palm of the
hand upon the thigh, which lies coveniently exposed in
the crosslegged sedentary posture, two or three threads
into a cord; next to plait (hiri) three or other
odd number of such cords into sennit. Hirohiro,
to mix, to blend, to dissolve, to infuse, to inject, to
season, to streak with several colors; hirohiro ei
paatai, to salt. Hirohiroa, to mingle;
hirohiroa ei vai, diluted with water. Churchill.
Ta.: Hiro, to exaggerate. Ha.:
hilohilo, to lengthen a speech by mentioning
little circumstances, to make nice oratorial language.
Churchill. |
The deity of sneak thieves was
Whiro (Mercury) on New Zealand (according to Makemson):
|
Hawaiian Islands |
Society Islands |
Tuamotus |
New Zealand |
Pukapuka |
|
Ukali
or
Ukali-alii
'Following-the-chief' (i.e. the Sun)
Kawela 'Radiant' |
Ta'ero
or
Ta'ero-arii
'Royal-inebriate' (referring to the eccentric and
undignified behavior of the planet as it zigzags
from one side of the Sun to the other) |
Fatu-ngarue
'Weave-to-and-fro'
Fatu-nga-rue
'Lord of
the Earthquake' |
Whiro
'Steals-off-and-hides'; also the universal name for
the 'dark of the Moon' or the first day of the lunar
month; also the deity of
sneak thieves and rascals. |
Te Mata-pili-loa-ki-te-la
'Star-very-close-to-the-Sun' |
Irregular movement is a basic astronomical characteristic of Mercury,
which explains the action 'to-and-fro'. Whiro
was a deity of thieves, because they must be quick in their
actions. In spring it must go quick, in
autumn it can take time. There is nothing
negative with theft, according to
the Polynesians view, on the contrary it is a virtue.
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(part of a drawing from Easter
Island where thieves are in full action)
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"If I am allowed to
lift a page from The Golden Bough: each year the
sylvan landscape of old New Zealand provided 'the scene
of a strange and recurring tragedy.' In a small
sweet-potato garden set apart for the god, a Maori
priest enacted a sacred marriage that would be worthy of
his legendary colleague of the grove of Nemi.
Accompanying his movements with a chant that included
the phrase, 'Be pregnant, be pregnant', the priest
planted the first hillocks (puke, also 'mons
veneris') of the year's crop. The priest plays the part
of the god Rongo (-marae-roa, Ha., Lono),
he who originally brought the sweet potato in his penis
from the spiritual homeland, to impregnate his wife (Pani,
the field).
During the period of
growth, no stranger will be suffered to disturb the
garden. But at the harvest, Rongo's
possession is contested by another god, Tuu (-matauenga)
- ancestor of man 'as tapu warrior' - in a battle
sometimes memorialized as the origin of war itself.
Using an unworked
branch of the mapou tree - should we not thus
say, a bough broken from a sacred tree? - a second
priest, representing Tuu, removes, binds up, and
then reburies the first sweet-potato tubers. He so kills
Rongo, the god, parent and body of the sweet
potato, or else puts him to sleep, so that man may
harvest the crop to his own use. Colenso's brilliant
Maori informant goes on to the essentials of the charter
myth:
Rongo-marae-roa
[Rongo as the sweet potato] with his people were
slain by Tu-matauenga [Tuu as warrior]...
Tu-matauenga
also baked in an oven and ate his elder brother
Rongo-marae-roa so that he was wholly devoured as
food.
Now the plain
interpretation, or meaning of these names in common
words, is, that Rongo-marae-roa is the kumara
[sweet potato], and that Tu-matauenga is man."
"...the Hawaiian
staple, taro, is the older brother of mankind, as
indeed all useful plants and animals are immanent forms
of the divine ancestors - so many kino lau or
'myriad bodies' of the gods. Moreover, to make root
crops accessible to man by cooking is precisely to
destroy what is divine in them: their autonomous power,
in the raw state, to reproduce."
"...the aggressive
transformation of divine life into human substance
describes the mode of production as well as consumption
- even as the term for 'work' (Ha., hana) does
service for 'ritual'. Fishing, cultivating, constructing
a canoe, or, for that matter, fathering a child are so
many ways that men actively appropriate 'a life from the
god'."
"Man, then, lives by a
kind of periodic deicide. Or, the god is separated from
the objects of human existence by acts of piety that in
social life would be tantamount to theft and violence -
not to speak of cannibalism.
'Be thou undermost, /
While I am uppermost', goes a Maori incantation to the
god accompanying the offering of cooked food; for as
cooked food destroys tabu, the propitiation is at the
same time a kind of pollution - i.e., of the god.
The aggressive
relation to divine beings helps explain why contact with
the sacred is extremely dangerous to those who are not
themselves in a tabu state. Precisely, then, these
Polynesians prefer to wrest their existence from the god
under the sign and protection of a divine adversary.
They put on Tuu (Kuu), god of warriors.
Thus did men learn how to oppose the divine in its
productive and peaceful aspect of Rongo (Lono).
In their ultimate relations to the universe, including
the relations of production and reproduction, men are
warriors."
"...the Hawaiians had
a sweet-potato ritual of the same general structure as
the Maori cycle. It was used in the 'fields of
Kamapua'a', name of the pig-god said by some to be a
form of Lono, whose rooting in the earth is a
well-known symbol of virile action. While the crops were
growing, the garden was tabu, so that the pig could do
his inseminating work. No one was allowed to throw
stones into the garden, thrust a stick into it, or walk
upon it - curious prohibitions, except that they amount
to protection against human attack. If the garden thus
belonged to Lono, at the harvest the first god
invoked was Kuu-kuila, 'Ku-the-striver'."
(Islands of History) |
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