TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

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The meaning of item 28 is apparently difficult to explain, because there are so many words:

26	*ko te hakarava a hakanohonoho.*
27	*ko hanga nui a te papa tata ika.*
28	*ko tongariki a henga eha tunu kioe hakaputiti.ai*
	*ka haka punenenene henua mo opoopo o tau kioe*
29	*ko te rano a raraku.*

Item 29 is easy, though, because we know this crater is where the moai statues were hewn out from the rock. The moai images (of the once true persons) are in a way rona figures.

26 Kane

27 Lono

28 Mauli

29 Muku

It doesn't help much to say aringa ora ('living faces'), they are not alive any more. There is no 'fire' in them, they are stone cold. Perhaps 29 Muku could refer also to the 4th quarter.

Barthel has raraku = 'to scratch (the earth)'. Possibly, I think, the dark 4th quarter (or the dark 29th night of the moon) was thought of as the time for regeneration (similar to Roto Iri Are, the station before Tama):

Rara

Mgv.: a branch of a tree. Ta.: rara, id. Mq.: rara, small branches. Sa.: lala, id. Ma.: rara, id. Churchill.

Fire is generated Polynesian fashion by 'plowing' (with a 'fireplow'). Hakaheu is to 'scratch the ground', and maro in *Ca14-23 (probably at winter solstice because the preceding honu has no legs) made Metoro say kua heheu:


*Ca14-19	*Ca14-20	*Ca14-21	*Ca14-22	*Ca14-23
te henua	honu kau	te mata	te honu	kua heheu

The 5th Tahitian star pillar was Ana-heu-heu-po.

Ra'a'u is a scratch on the skin and a word close in sound to both Raraku and Rakau. Maybe Rano Raraku is not ending the whole year but only the front side of the year (the northern coast of the island). Presumably the 4 'bacabs' are holding the sky roof up only during the time of 'ebb'. One little thread of evidence corroborating my idea is:

"In the traditions, Raraku plays an important role as the demonkiller who runs amuck (RM:238; ME:370)." (Barthel 2)

The one who 'runs amuck' should be Mercury, not holding a straight line forward at any time, and Mercury could be Phaeton driving the Sun chariot down into the sea (resulting in the time of 'flood'). In Polynesia it was the 'prow of the Sun canoe' which went down, I guess.

This Mayan picture has 3 passengers 'high on land' at the back (in the past), while in front (ahead) only 2 swimmers are visible, but these 2 maybe should be considered as doubles, because in the foreground, as if floating on the surface of the water, there are 4 objects (maybe meant to represent waves) looking like small canoes. Maybe these 4 'canoes' are the 'bacabs' of next year. To survive the 'flood' they must float on the water.

... Among the multitude of gods worshipped by these people [the Maya] were four whom they called by the name Bacab. These were, they say, four brothers placed by God when he created the world at its four corners to sustain the heavens lest they fall ...

1	Ana-mua, entrance pillar	Antares, α Scorpii	-26° 19' 16h 26
2	Ana-muri, rear pillar (at the foot of which was the place for tattooing)	Aldebaran, α Tauri	16° 25' 04h 33
3	Ana-roto, middle pillar	Spica, α Virginis	-10° 54' 13h 23
4	Ana-tipu, upper-side-pillar (where the guards stood)	Dubhe, α Ursae Majoris	62° 01' 11h 01
5	Ana-heu-heu-po, the pillar where debates were held	Alphard, α Hydrae	-08° 26' 09h 25
6	Ana-tahua-taata-metua-te-tupu-mavae, a pillar to stand by	Arcturus, α Bootis	19° 27' 14h 13
7	Ana-tahua-vahine-o-toa-te-manava, pillar for elocution	Procyon, α Canis Minoris	05° 21' 07h 37
8	Ana-varu, pillar to sit by	Betelgeuse, α Orionis	07° 24' 05h 52
9	Ana-iva, pillar of exit	Phaed, γ Ursae Majoris	53° 58' 11h 51
10	Ana-nia, pillar-to-fish-by	North Star, α Ursae Minoris	89° 02' 01h 49

Antares and Aldebaran are 12 hours apart, and we could think Rano Raraku respectively Rano Kau, the craters where 'fire' is rekindled (by 'scratching the ground') respectively where you have to start swimming (kau).

If we have to start swiming at Rano Kau, then either we are moving out across the southwestern sea (following the path of the spirit of Hotu Matua) or else we maybe should swim along the southern coast from west to east. Moon moves from west to east, but according to the 2nd list of place names it could be so that Waxing Moon goes along the western coast towards Cabo Norte, not along the southern coast. Therefore Rano Kau seems to be the station of exit from the island, possibly corresponding to Aldebaran.

Although Aldebaran is high in declination (16º) Sun is fading away in autumn (south of the equator). 16 can be understood as a sign of Moon. Antares (-26º) inaugurates summer and is a sign of Sun. Instead of a declination of 16º (for Aldebaran) Antares arrives at 16h, and 16 + 24 = 40 which possibly explains ordinal number 40 for Ra2-9:

39		187	177
39	Ra2-9 (40)	364		Rb8-5 (405)

If Ana-mua - Antares (16h) - should correspond to Anakena, where kings are born, then Spica (13h) could be Cabo Norte:

Spica is also the name of a bird with a pointed beak, and the basic meaning of the word apparently is to be 'pointed' (like an ear of corn). Spica should be located at the beginning of the season of harvest (once associated with Virgo) and also at a cape on the coastline (like Cabo Norte).

If Sun grows along the western coast and leaves at Cabo Norte, then only his white (kuokuo) wife will remain, until next king will arrive (at Anakena).

The distance from Spica to Antares is 16h - 13h = 3h (out of 24h). In the 2nd list of place names item 20 is Hanga Ohiro which becomes 24 if we add 4. Item 13 (or 17) is ko te hereke a kino ariki which corresponds to Cabo Norte. Item 16 (or 20) is Hanga Kuokuo a Vave Renga and next item is Opata Roa a Mana Aia in the 'Tree'. Antares seems to announce the arrival of the 'Tree'. Hanga Ohiro is its end and then surely Anakena must arrive, the station where the king (for instance Charles II) will be reborn.

Not much is very definite and clear, and all may be the results of too vivid an imagination. What we should remember for future use, though, is the possibility of equating 240 with 10 times 24 as a measure for the complete cycle of the season of light. We need not think in terms of 180 days, we can think in terms of hours. Hanga Ohiro could be midsummer.

"Day of the Winter Solstice - A - aidhircleóg, lapwing; alad, piebald. Why is the Lapwing at the head of the vowels? Not hard to answer. It is a reminder that the secrets of the Beth-Luis-Nion [the ABC of the pre-latin Ogham alphabet] must be hidden by deception and equivocation, as the lapwing hides her eggs. And Piebald is the colour of this mid-winter season when wise men keep to their chimney-corners, which are black with soot inside and outside white with snow; and of the Goddess of Life-in-Death and Death-in-Life, whose prophetic bird is the piebald magpie." (The White Goddess)

"piebald ... of two colours mingled, esp. white and black ... f. PIE¹ + BALD (in the sense 'streaked with white' ..."

"pie¹ ... MAGPIE ... L. pīca magpie, rel. to pīcus green woodpecker, and Skr. pikás Indian cuckoo, and referred by some to IE. *(s)pl- be pointed ..."

"magpie ... common European bird, Pica caudata, noted for its noisy chatter and pilfering habits ... f. Mag, pet-form of Margaret + PIE¹ ... Earlier (dial.) maggot-pie ... f. Maggot - (O)F. Margot, pet-form of Marguerite Margaret ..." (English Etymology)

Black with white streaks, a crooked bird (pilfering habits) and ultimately with a meaning 'to be pointed'. We can identify the magpie of Easter Island with manu tara.

Manu tara

Sooty tern. The names of the age levels of the sooty tern were earlier used as children's names (Routledge). These names were (Barthel): pi(u) riuriu, kava 'eo'eo, te verovero, and ka 'ara'ara. Fischer.

Tara

1. Thorn: tara miro. 2. Spur: tara moa. 3. Corner; te tara o te hare, corner of house; tara o te ahu, corner of ahu. Vanaga.

(1. Dollar; moni tara, id.) 2. Thorn, spike, horn; taratara, prickly, rough, full of rocks. 3. To announce, to proclaim, to promulgate, to call, to slander; tatara, to make a genealogy. Churchill

The 'corner of the house' should refer to a cardinal point. The eggs of the 'lapwing' are located at the three islets outside Orongo. There they stole the first manu tara egg of the season (as if mimicking the pilferous magpie).

In Latin tara becomes Spica, and we can remove that S because IE. *(s)pl- is 'to be pointed'.

"Spica signifies, and marks, the Ear of Wheat shown in the Virgin's left hand ... In Chinese astronomy Spica was a great favorite as Kió, the Horn, or Spike, anciently Keok or Guik, the special star of springtime; and with ζ formed their 12th sieu under that title. " (Allen)

The magpie is black and white (suggesting both halves of the year), though in the sunshine she has all the colours.

My memory insists I should consider a book I read half a lifetime ago: The Mathematical Magpie by Clifton Fadiman (1962). I searched for it in my library and found the book. What had induced Fadiman to include a magpie in the title?

On the hard cover the titel reads The Mathematical Mag π. A joke, maybe, or maybe not. Mag for magazine and π for pie. A magpie is a collector of all sorts of things and Fadiman had assembled in his 'magazine' all sorts of mathematical curiosities. A pie is a dish composed of various ingredients:

pie² ... dish composed of meat, etc., enclosed in paste and baked ... it has been conjectured that the reason for the application is that the magpie collects miscellaneous objects †chewet meat or fish pie (perh. identical with F. chouette †jackdaw, now owl) and HAGGIS have been compared ...

haggis ... dish consisting of minced entrails of a sheep, etc., boiled in the maw of the animal ... of unknown origin; identity of form with †haggess magpie has suggested the possibility of its being a transf. use of the source of this, (O)F. agace, agasse magpie - OHG. agaz(z)a ... (English Etymology)

The pilferous bird (manu tara) should be an aspect of the quick-witted Mercury (Hiro).

In the bird list manu tara comes first:

manu tara	*tavake*
*pi riuriu*	*ruru*
*kava eoeo*	*taiko*
*te verovero*	*kumara*
*ka araara*	*kiakia*
*kukuru toua*	*tuvi*
*makohe*	*tuao*
*kena*	*tavi*

The sooty (as if having arrived through a chimney) tern announces spring. And if it should be equivalent with Spica (Cabo Norte), then the kena bird could announce the beginning of waning (item 21 in the 2nd list of place names):

ko te hereke a kino ariki

manu tara

14	hatu ngoio a taotao ika.
15	*ara koreu a pari maehaeha.*
16	*hanga kuokuo a vave renga.*

The Tree
17	*Opata roa a mana aia.*
18	*vai tara kai u(a) a ngao roaroa a ngao tokotokoa.*
19	*hia uka a hakairiiri a hakaturuturu.*
20	*hanga ohiro a pakipaki renga.*	*kena*

Waning
21	*ko roto kahi a touo renga.*
22	*ko papa kahi a roro.*
23	*ko puna a tuki a hauhau renga*
24	*ko ehu ko mahatua a piki rangi a hakakihikihi mahina*
25	*ko maunga teatea a pua katiki.*

Maybe it means Anakena is the birth station of waning?

manu tara (with sooty back)

kena (with white back)