6. The sacred geography of Easter Island has an opposition between the northern and the southern coasts, and we are reminded of how on Mangaia the spirits on the northern side of their island entered heaven at one solstice and those on the southern side at the other.

Nga Tavake A Rona and Te Ohiro A Te Runu appeared on the scene close to Mataveri:

"... the emissaries went from the west coast up to the rim of the crater Rano Kau, where Kuukuu had started a yam plantation some time earlier. After they had departed from Pu Pakakina they reached Vai Marama and met a man. Ira asked, 'How many are you?' He answered, 'There are two of us.' Ira continued asking, 'Where is he (the other)?' To that he answered, 'The one died.' Again Ira asked, 'Who has died?' He replied, 'That was Te Ohiro A Te Runu.' Ira asked anew, 'And who are your?' He answered, 'Nga Tavake A Te Rona.' (E:46) After this, the emissaries and Nga Tavake went to the yam plantation." (Barthel 2)

The southwestern corner of the island is where we should look for answers to questions hard to formulate:

Puu Pakakina and Vai Marama are, it is said, close to the northern rim of Rano Kau. There are clues in the following account of the prehistory of the island:

"This island was once a great land. The reason it became so small is because Uoke lifted the earth with a (mighty) pole and then let it sink (into the sea). It was because of the very bad people of Te Pito O Te Henua that Uoke lifted the land (and let it crumble) until it became very small. From the uplifted Te Pito O Te Henua, (they) came to the landing site of Nga Tavake, to Te Ohiro. In Rotomea (near Mataveri) they disembarked and climbed up to stay at Vai Marama (a waterplace near Mataveri).

During the next month, they moved on to Te Vare (on the slope of the crater Rano Kau). When they saw that the (land-) lifting Uoke also approached (their present) island, Nga Tavake spoke to Te Ohiro: 'The land is sinking into the sea and we are lost!' But Te Ohiro warded off the danger with a magic chant. In Puku Puhipuhi, Uoke's pole broke, and, in this way, at least Nga Tavake's landing site remained (of the formerly great land). (TP:21-22)" (Barthel 2)

Lifting up and letting fall down again is an action we recognize from what Ure Honu did when searching for the skull of Hotu Matua (cfr at ua). It probably refers to how the sky roof is being uplifted in spring and then let down again in fall. Furthermore, the same idea recurs in how difficult it was for the explorers to lift the 'turtle' - on the latitude of Easter Island they could not quite succeed in lifting her high.

The sky dome with all its stars is shifting to the north in summer north of the equator, but on Easter Island the same stars are shifting to the north in winter. 'Land' being uplifted could refer to the remarkable phenomenon of the sky dome moving up (and down) in a cyclical pattern.

The cretor of the round Dendera zodiac found it necessary to show also the signs below those in the normal zodiacal band (the ecliptic) because they had risen so high in summer.

We could recolour this zodiac. Pisces, Aquarius, and the other winter signs, could be bluemarked to indicate they are down in the  'sea' (below the equator of the sky). The rest of the blackmarked (normal zodiacal) signs (those not down in the 'sea') could be marked e.g. red as a sign of being 'uplifted from the sea' (on 'land').

In the center of this zodiacal world there is 'land' (with 'sky' in its very center, close to the pole where the 'world mountain' has its top). This central 'world island' is surrounded by 'sea' all around, not much different from how the conglomeration of the continental land masses down on Earth were found to be surrounded by sea on all sides.

If on Easter Island 'land' was sinking into the 'sea' it could mean that the sky dome was not only returning to the view at equinox but that it went on tilting alarmingly further down.

Events regarding Mataveri and locations close by could be connected to the entrance to summer. Maybe Rano Kau (where rano is the reverse of rona) is the site of 'birth'.

... The fact that the year ends at Vinapu and begins anew at Anakena may have meaning beyond the obvious transition of time and may also indicate a historic transition. The carbon-14 dating test assigned a much earlier date to Vinapu (ninth century) than to Anakena. This raises the question of an 'original population', which, according to the traditions, lived along the northern rim of Rano Kau (i.e., inland from Vinapu) and their relationship to the explorers ...

If you look at a globe of the earth the lines of the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn mark how far away from the equator is is possible to at least once in a year see the sun straight above in zenith.

Between them lies the tropical belt, and here - it can be said - is the 'kingdom of Sun'. The ancient Chinese  knew that the width of this belt was slowly decreasing. They had old observatory posts stationed on the tropic of Cancer, and they discovered they had to move them further south as time went on.

North and south of the tropical belt were domains outside the kingdom of Sun. The opposite of the warm and light rays of the sun were, I think, regarded as the cold and dark waves of the sea.

This symmetric model of the globe of the earth was found, however, not to be true. Land was not symmetrically distributed, there was more land in the north than in the south. Water follows the law of gravitation and flows downwards and south should be downwards. Flames, on the other hand, move upwards.

From this experience it was natural to divide the sky similarly, with 'water' in the south and 'dry land' in the north, to create a globe of the sky which reflected the firsthand knowledge of earth.

The Nauru myth of creation (cfr Old Spider and the Clam in the Index) has the salty sea collecting in the lower half of the 'clam':

... One day the Old-Spider found a giant clam, took it up, and tried to find if this object had any opening, but could find none. She tapped on it, and as it sounded hollow, she decided it was empty. 

By repeating a charm, she opened the two shells and slipped inside. She could see nothing, because the sun and the moon did not then exist; and then, she could not stand up because there was not enough room in the shellfish. Constantly hunting about she at last found a snail. To endow it with power she placed it under her arm, lay down and slept for three days. Then she let it free, and still hunting about she found another snail bigger than the first one, and treated it in the same way. Then she said to the first snail: 'Can you open this room a little, so that we can sit down?' The snail said it could, and opened the shell a little. 

Old-Spider then took the snail, placed it in the west of the shell, and made it into the moon. Then there was a little light, which allowed Old-Spider to see a big worm. At her request he opened the shell a little wider, and from the body of the worm flowed a salted sweat which collected in the lower half-shell and became the sea. Then he raised the upper half-shell very high, and it became the sky. Rigi, the worm, exhausted by this great effort, then died. Old-Spider then made the sun from the second snail, and placed it beside the lower half-shell, which became the earth ...

Rigi, the one who died of the effort of raising the upper half-shell very high, I will equate with Kuukuu the planter who died of the effort of lifting the 'turtle'.

The opposite of raising the sky dome high is to helplessly (with arms akimbo) watch it sink down, not only to its original position but down to a lower level. But such is the rule of the world, any action will cause a reaction.

On Easter Island, they must have been aware of their position - outside the tropical belt, and threatened to be washed out into the dark and cold waves of the southern sea. But in cosmic terms (in the language of Manuscript E) it was not down on earth Uoke worked with his pole, it must have been in the sky.

The 'sea' in the sky was in the south, also on Easter Island, and 'land' must have been in the north.

7. The exhausted Rigi worm died from his efforts of lifting the sky shell, and we can imagine him falling on his face. What happened with his body? Did it become the horizon? Did it fall into the southern sea? One thing we can be sure of, his death must have come at midsummer, when his work was completed.

Midsummer is where a new year should begin. The season of the 'beast' is in the past and ahead lies the season of men and gods. The land is high and a sense of order has returned to this world of ours. On Hawaii new year began in winter, but that is the same time because Hawaii lies north of the equator.

The dramatic changes occasioned by Sun 'dying' (standing still) at midsummer has been so much described and commented upon in myths all over the world that we must keep a healthy distance to the subject. But it is necessary to take up one thread, viz. the Latin name for our 'tropical' bird: Phaethon rubricauda.

Once names were chosen with care and this plunge diver with a red tail made its namegiver recognize the legendary Phaethon, the reckless youth who once chaotically drove the Sun's chariot:

"In the story of Phaëton, which is another name for Helius himself (Homer, Iliad xi. 735 and Odyssey v. 479), an instructive fable has been grafted on the chariot allegory, the moral being that fathers should not spoil their sons by listening to female advice. This fable, however, is not quite so simple as it seems: it has a mythic importance in its reference to the annual sacrifice of a royal prince, on the one day reckoned as belonging to the terrestrial, but not to the sidereal year, namely that which followed the shortest day.

The sacred king pretended to die at sunset; the boy interrex was at once invested with his titles, dignities, and sacred implements, married to the queen, and killed twenty-four hours later: in Thrace, torn to pieces by women disguised as horses ... but at Corinth, and elsewhere, dragged at the tail of a sun-chariot drawn by maddened horses, until he was crushed to death. Thereupon the old king reappeared from the tomb where he had been hiding ... as the boy's successor ..." (Graves)

The chariot race took place at a solstice. The old year had ended and there was a 'dark night' before the beginning of the next year (presumably calculated to be due in day 365 = 364 + 1). The last day of the year belongs to Saturn (cfr the location of Saturday as the last day of the week).

"... And there is little doubt, in fact none, that Phaethon (in the strange transformation scenes of successive ages) came to be understood as Saturn. There is the testimony of Erastosthenes' Catasterisms, according to which the planet Saturn was Phaethon who fell from the chariot into Eridanus, and Stephanus of Byzantium calls Phaethon a Titan ..." (Hamlet's Mill)

If the year is regarded as a 'bicycle', then - I guess - there could be 2 events of 'falling down' (one at each cyclic end). Maybe the feeble and feminine Mercury is Phaethon rather than Saturn? If Saturn rules winter solstice north of the equator he could leave Mercury to rule winter solstice south of the equator. Saturn is high in the sky (indeed the planet closest to the stars) and therefore he should be located above the 'world mountain' in the north. Mercury is a liquid character and (s)he should be below the equator.

Phaëton wished to show his siters Prote and Clymene what a fine fellow he was: and his fond mother Rhode (whose name is uncertain because she had been called by both her daugheters' names and by that of Rhode) encouraged him.

But, not being strong enough to check the career of the white horses, which his sisters had yoked for him, Phaëton  drove them first so high above the earth that everyone shivered, and then so near the earth that he scorched the fields.

Zeus, in a fit of rage, killed him with a thunderbolt, and he fell into the river Po. His grieving sisters were changed into poplar-trees on its banks, which weep amber tears; or, som say, into alder-trees."

(Graves)

8. When Sun (Helius or his alter ego Phaeton) comes to a full stop and falls down into the dark river Po (certainly the same word, I think, as the Polynesian po), it should be an occasion dependent upon the location of The Milky Way, because if the spirits of dead people must move along this road then surely also that of dead Sun should do so. And it would not do to let the spirit of Sun move around restlessly waiting, he must get on his way at once.

Ga Vake lie south of Ana-mua (Antares) which announces the beginning of summer south of the equator, i.e. the Galaxy is not at midsummer but at spring equinox. At viri was mentioned the Mayan idea of The Black Transformer, another version of the story, where it is said that 'the Milky Way is lying down flat' - as if in harmony with the flat path of Sun at midsummer - i.e., it should be easily accessible in all directions:

Once upon a time, though, the Milky Way was standing like a great tree at midsummer - a quarter of the precessional cycle ago. Centaurus was close to the root of this galactic tree and those who went there had to plunge dive.

"Plunge ... thrust or cast (oneself) into liquid ... f. L. plumbum lead ..." (English Etymology)

Lead is the metal of Saturn.

Maybe Hotu Matua, the Sun King, had to leave at spring equinox because at that time the Galaxy was available and within his reach:

... The king arose from his sleeping mat and said to all the people: 'Let us go to Orongo so that I can announce my death!' The king climbed on the rock and gazed in the direction of Hiva, the direction in which he had travelled (across the ocean). The king said: 'Here I am and I am speaking for the last time.' The people (mahingo) listened as he spoke. The king called out to his guardian spirits (akuaku), Kuihi and Kuaha, in a loud voice: 'Let the voice of the rooster of Ariana crow softly. The stem with many roots (i.e., the king) is entering!' The king fell down, and Hotu A Matua died ...

Kuihi sounds a bit like Ga Kuhi (the Tuamotuan name for α Centauri), but that may be a pure coincidence. The 'stem with many roots' is, I guess, alluding to the galactic tree, the tree of life (by way of reincarnation). The king enters into himself and disappears for a while.

The form of a hare paega with its entrance 'midships' suggests that the short ends (where only the gods can enter or leave) are at the equinoxes, where the path of sun is very bent.

9. The beginning of the year was on Easter Island connected with the arrival of Manu Tara birds to the 3 islets outside the southwesten corner of the island (cfr at manu kake and at vaha kai), which does not take place at midsummer but earlier in spring. This sea swallow species - which so to say 'swallows' the winter season - was very important for the islanders, announcing the arrival of summer far more evidently than Antares.

In Manuscript E there is an account of the 16 different kinds of birds (20 of each) which Hotu Matua brought with him to the island:

Each bird name was preceded by he (also he tavake), and we should notice the exceptional he te verovero.

I have coloured manu tara red because it stands at the beginning of the year, when Sun returns from the north. The following 4 names refer to the different ages of the young manu tara birds:

Therefore manu tara occupies the first 5 of the 16 positions in the list. And the first 8 names on the list can be read as 5 ('fire) + 3 (spring sun).

He Tavake is the first bird of the 2nd half, presumably not only on the list but also of the year.

With manu tara birds connected to the 3 islets in the southwestern corner of the island it would seem natural to locate tavake somewhere in the northeastern corner. However, Ga Tavake is one of the 3 islets:

"A fragment of the traditional account of Hau Maka in Ms. A (NA II: Fig. 129) lists the three sons of Te Taanga as 'Ga Tavake A Taaga, Te Ohiro A Te Taaga, (and) Haú A Te Taaga' ..." (Barthel 2)

Maybe Haú refers to the equator, Te Ohiro to the tropic of Cancer, and Ga Tavake to the tropic of Capricorn. Purely a guess.

10. The northern coast of the island was at hupee compared with the roof of the Taranaki storehouse:

The Sun king is loosing his head at the apex, which I read as midsummer. Another alternative is to regard the apex as winter solstice. But there are only 3 'fingers' at left, so tavake, the plunge diver, can explain why there is a vacant space beyond the egg. The Sun Bird has in his Tavake (Phaeton) 'costume' plunged into the 'river Po' far down in the southern region of the sky.

The map of Easter Island shows how the land is tilting, leaning towards left:

The beginning of spring is on Easter Island (if we follow the Taranaki picture) too far down at left and Poike to high in the east.