TRANSLATIONS

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My intuitive approach led us to a guess, viz. that (pi)kea in Ab6-84 is located at the very beginning of the 1st half of the year, when Sun light once again just has returned. This idea emerged from non-straight 'global thinking', and it is now time to try to work in a more 'down to earth' mode of thought:

Ab6-76 Ab6-77 Ab6-78 Ab6-79 Ab6-80
Ab6-81 Ab6-82 Ab6-83 Ab6-84 Ab6-85

If we look at these 10 glyphs (once grouped thus by me from the visual cues only) as a list, then the kea glyph will be number 9, and the following ihe tau appropriately marks number 10. At 10 it is all over.

Tagata in Ab6-76 is depicted in profile to enable us to see his open mouth - he is 'eating' (i.e. growing). Then follows a peculiar combination of Rogo - note the form of his right arm - seen in profile and with his bottom obliquely cut off, together with a puo sign. A similar puo forms the central 'body' of kea in Ab6-84.

Another Rogo is depicted en face immediately below Rogo in Ab6-77, this one holding a double nuku (whích possibly should be understood as autumn 'turning around', leaving). His right arm looks like the crescent of Moon. We should remember what Ogotemmêli said - viz. that in the beginning, before fire had been brought down to earth, the arms and legs of man had no joints and were flexible like serpents. In Ab6-77 the right arm of Rogo has joints, in Ab6-82 it is his left (front) arm which has joints.

If the first 5 glyphs represent the 1st half of a cycle and the next group the 2nd half, then we should compare parallel signs, for instance the redmarked glyphs below:

Ab6-76 Ab6-77 Ab6-78 Ab6-79 Ab6-80
Ab6-81 Ab6-82 Ab6-83 Ab6-84 Ab6-85

Corresponding to the 2 henua glyphs in the first group we find a bent henua respectively an ihe tau sign. I interpret the bent henua as a Moon variant of the otherwise straight Sun henua 'stick'. The first group above could be referring to the light from Sun and the second group to the light from Moon. Ihe tau indicates how the season of Moon light has ended.

To the right and left of the puo body in Ab6-84 we can imagine the 2 'faces' of Moon - waxing and waning. The leg in front is formed as a waning crescent and the head at the back has a big open mouth. The central body is depicted as a different entity, maybe the night when waxing moon has left - i.e. the full moon night. Rogo in Ab6-82 could correspond to the night when moon is invisible, and the double nuku could refer to how the old month is 'turning around'.

The double nuku would then have a double function, not only to indicate the dark night when Moon is regenerated (bathing in vai ora), but also to indicate where in the year the counting by Moon should restart. Rogo in Ab6-77 stands at midsummer, presumably, which explains why he is holding a puo sign (to indicate Spring Sun has 'gone down into earth'):

Next we will try a numerical approach.

 
 

Earlier investigations (cfr e.g. at vaero) have established that side a of Tahua probably presents the 'front side' of the year (in spite of Metoro having chosen to begin his reading at the beginning of the other side).

Side b ought then to describe the 'back side', the 2nd (Moon) side of the year. Glyph line b6 is line number 14 counted from a1, and the end of line b6 could indicate the end of a 'greater fortnight' of Moon. Two henua ora glyphs support my idea of an ending:

Ab6-76 Ab6-77 Ab6-78 Ab6-79 Ab6-80
Ab6-81 Ab6-82 Ab6-83 Ab6-84 (1158) Ab6-85
Ab6-86 Ab6-87 Ab6-88 Ab6-89 Ab6-90

Ab6-91

Ab6-92 (1166)

 Ab7-1

Ab6-91 is number 16 counted from Ab6-76, and 16 is also in the center of 1166. 11 can be read as 'one more', which corresponds to number 17. But 16 occurs twice in 1166, i.e. also Ab6-92 should be inside the old season. And the unusual hatchmarked henua in Ab7-1 will then be the first glyph of next season (71 being the reversed 17).

Ordinal number 1165 (counted from Aa1-1) is equal to 5 * 233, which could be significant, for instance because 233 is the ordinal number (counted from Gb8-30) of a Rogo without head and with a 'zero' marking his stomach:

Gb1-1 Gb1-2 Gb1-3 (233)

8 * 29 = 232 = 160 + 72 and a new cycle could begin with 233. Checking if glyph number 160 confirms my guess, we find what looks like a newly hatched chicken in period 26 (= 16 + 10), the last number of the ruling Sun King:

26
Ga6-19 (160) Ga6-20
Kb3-9 Kb3-10

Moon has her last night at 16 (or 20 if we begin to count 4 nights earlier than from the beginning of the month) and also at 160 (= 8 * 20). Sun has his last day at 26 and also at 260 (= 9 * 29 - 1). At 8 * 29 = 232 the first 'limb' of the year apparently has come to its end, and 160 + 72 = 232, a number which combines 10 times the last night of Moon (160) with the last day of Spring Sun (72 = 8 * 9).

 

 

The first 6 lines on side a of Tahua sum up to 500 glyphs and end with Aa6-84 (the same number as kea in Ab6-84). At henua ora in Ab6-92 we could imagine for instance 692 = 500 + 192 (= 8 * 24 = 12 * 16) = 400 + 292 (= 4 * 73) = 300 + 392 (= 14 * 28 and also the number of glyphs on side a of Mamari) = 200 + 492 (= 4 * 123). 300 + 14 * 28 is one of the plausible alternatives, the sum of the 300 days of Sun and a 'greater fortnight' of Moon. If we count to 300 with 1 day per glyph and begin from Aa1-1 the glyphs indeed appear to refer to the end of the 10 months of Spring Sun:

Aa4-44 (295) Aa4-45 Aa4-46 Aa4-47 Aa4-48 Aa4-49 (300)
Aa4-50 Aa4-51 Aa4-52 Aa4-53 Aa4-54 Aa4-55
Aa4-56 Aa4-57 Aa4-58 Aa4-59 (310) Aa4-60 Aa4-62

8 months à 29.5 days amount to 236 = 4 * 59 and glyph number 310 (= 10 * 31) is underlined by a strange pair of pare. In H this important day is possibly described at Ha5-20:

115 295
Ha3-11 (119) Ha5-19 Ha5-20 Ha5-21 Ha10-31 Ha10-32 (534)
16 * 26 = 416

Glyph number 300 counted from Aa1-1 is equal to number 178 counted from kara etahi in Aa2-33 which we earlier (cfr at vaero) have found to be probably equivalent to Ga1-1. Counted from toki in Aa1-64 the number at ariki becomes 178 + 59 = 237, i.e. Aa4-49 should be a 'zero' marker:

175
Aa2-33 (123) Aa4-48 Aa4-49 (300) Aa4-50 Aa4-51
1 177 178 179 180
58
Aa1-59 Aa1-60 Aa1-61 Aa1-62 Aa1-63 Aa1-64 Aa2-33
5 59
58
Gb6-26 Gb6-27 Gb6-28 Gb7-1 Gb7-2 (413) Gb7-3 Ga1-1
64

With 4 * 59 = 236 (alluded to at Aa4-59) clearly indicating a cardinal point, we can count 310 - 236 = 74 and identify Aa1-74 as possibly also marking such point:

Aa1-72 Aa1-73 Aa1-74 (74 + 0) Aa1-75 (74 + 1) Aa1-76 (74 +2 )
Aa4-58 (235 + 74) Aa4-59 (236 + 74) Aa4-60 (237 + 74)

Evidently Tahua has a very complicated structure. Maybe 310 (= 10 * 31) was found useful because we can add 4 in order to reach 100π.

Aa4-63 (314) Aa4-64 Aa4-65 Aa4-66 Aa4-67
Aa4-68 Aa4-69 Aa4-70 Aa4-71 Aa4-72

 

Kea in Ab6-84 has ordinal numbere 1158, and 11 in 1158 (where 58 = 2 * 29) should indicate 'one more'. 15 (the full moon night) is 'surrounded' by 18 (the number of 20-day periods to reach 360):

Ab6-76 Ab6-77 Ab6-78 Ab6-79 Ab6-80
Ab6-81 Ab6-82 Ab6-83 Ab6-84 (1158) Ab6-85
Ab6-86 Ab6-87 Ab6-88 Ab6-89 Ab6-90

Ab6-91

Ab6-92 (1166)

 Ab7-1

500 should indicate when time is ripe for a new season (cfr at vaha mea), but 6 * 84 = 504 possibly is meant to remind us of a necessity to add 4. Such seems to be the case in G:

Gb1-3 Gb1-4 Gb1-5 Gb1-6 Gb1-7 (237)

We are fumbling around in the dark and the possibilities seem to be without limit. Numbers are like letters - only an illusive fabric of Moon. In Ab6-77 I imagine 677 = 500 + 177 (= 6 * 29.5), and likewise in Aa6-77 (another 'zero stomach' glyph):

Aa6-64 Aa6-65 Aa6-66 Aa6-67 Aa6-68 Aa6-69 Aa6-70
Aa6-71 Aa6-72 Aa6-73 Aa6-74 Aa6-75 Aa6-76 Aa6-77

But 1334 = 1166 + 178 (not 177). Let us therefore return to the parallel glyphs:

Ab6-76 Ab6-77 Ab6-78 Ab6-79 Ab6-80
Ab6-81 Ab6-82 Ab6-83 Ab6-84 (1158) Ab6-85

The pair of henua (Ab6-78 and Ab6-80) could refer to the days of the 2nd half of the solar year. The bottom 5 glyphs could refer to the nights of the same season. The irregular henua at left in Ab6-81 is of the same type as in dark Saturday:

Hb9-51 Hb9-52 Hb9-53 Hb9-54 Hb9-55
Hb9-56 Hb9-57 Hb9-58

But the right part of Ab6-81 is ragi with a moon crescent. Honu in Ab6-79 has no arms, he may have moved away from his 'teka' phase' into his 'swimming (tekau)' phase, and therefore also kea in Ab6-84 should have moved on away from the waxing Moon phase:

Ab6-79 Ab6-84

Maybe kea glyphs are nighttime equivalents of honu glyphs? 6 * 79 = 474 = 2 * 237.