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TRANSLATIONS
With Kb4-14 ends the main part of the calendar:
Although the ordinal numbers for the glyphs are counted from Ka1-1, it is evident that the main part of the calendar does not begin already there. Instead it appears to begin either with Rei at Ka3-15 or with the preceding 'light generator':
With Ka3-15 as the first glyph of the main part of the calendar (and with Kb4-14 as its last glyph) the main part of the calendar will be 107 glyphs long, and the initiatial sequence will be 60 glyphs long. On the other hand, with Ka3-14 as its first glyph, -14 for number in glyph line will occur 7 times in the main part of the text (not 6 times which would seem to be more preferable). Furthermore, it appears somewhat peculiar to both begin and end with -14. But 59 glyphs (days) for the initial sequence of glyphs would be better than 60, because time should be counted according to the moon (presumably even in a solar calendar). And then the main part of the calendar would be 108 days long:
108 is a numinous number and it appears also in E:
Since I wrote the above the perspective has changed. Instead of spring, summer, and winter the terms early spring, midspring, and late spring could possibly be more appropriate. 36 is not an exclusive sign for the solar year, which I once assumed. The occurrence of twice 36 glyphs in the Mamari moon calendar I have up to now explained as due to an effort by the creator of the text to use the 360 days and 360 nights of a regular solar year as a way to show the waxing and waning halves of the month. It is still an acceptable explanation, I think, but there may be other factors involved, e.g.: "Other divisions of the sky ... were the Decans of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Greeks, 'belts of stars extending round the heavens, the risings of which followed each other by ten days or so', but of much greater extent north and south than the Lunar Mansions, and thirty-six in number instead of twenty-eight. Miss Clerke writes of them: The Chaldeans chose three stars in each sign to be the 'counsellor gods' of the planets. These were called by the Greeks 'decans', because ten degreees of the ecliptic and ten days of the year were presided over by each. The college of the decans was conceived as moving, by their annual risings and settings, in an 'eternal circuit' beetween the infernal and supernal regions." (Allen) I mention this here because 12 + 24 = 36 for 'autumn' + 'spring' (or for 'winter') is no impossibility even if it should be a season ruled by the moon. Let us now compare with the G text. The glyphs pairwise compared below are rather dissimilar, with exception of the redmarked (6 glyphs apart):
In G the 60th glyph stands at the close of the 2nd glyph line, suggesting a new season will begin with Ga3-1. Once we identified Ga2-29 with Te Kioe Uri, but lately (because of counting from Gb8-30) Ga2-28 has got position 2 * 29.5 = 59. The uncertainty in K, whether the main part of the calendar begins with the π glyph of with the Rei glyph, has a corresponding uncertainty in G - whether 60 or 61 should be read as the first glyph of the main part. Possibly we should interpret this similarity in structural uncertainty to be intended: We should read the text both ways - the initial glyph sequence either can describe 59 days or 60 days, depending on how we intend to read on (according to a month with 29.5 nights or a month with 30 days). G and K are closely connected at this point. But further on the texts diverge and at the end of the main part of the calendars, number 167 is not located at parallel glyphs:
Defined from Ga6-29 (170) compared with Kb4-5 (158) the distance is 12 days, i.e. it has increased from -3 days to 12 days (with 15 days) during 29 periods. It suggests the difference in 'pace' is 0.5 days per period, with G advancing faster than K. Defined from Kb4-14 (167) compared with Ga7-10 (180) the distance is 13 days, i.e. it has increased another day during 9 (respectively 10 days). In K the main part of the calendar is based on 29 (it has 29 periods), while the main part in G has a basic reading involving 31. But in G period 29 ends with Ga6-29 (170), and the corresponding number in K may therefore indicate it is the last glyph of period 29:
And K, coverseley, refers to 31: In Kb4-2 (155) a great henua is a clear sign of an important point - 155 = 5 * 31. Then the alternative to 59 (2 * 29.5) is not, it seems, 30 but 31:
167 - 62 = 105 = 3 * 5 * 7. Ga2-29 and Ga3-1 are now receiving an important position as the central figures between 59 and 62. If we read the glyphs pairwise:
2-29 and 3-1 seems to allude to 2 * 29 = 59 respectively to 31. In K the corresponding table will be:
3-14 can be read as 3 * 14 = 42, possibly indicating that a season related to number 42 (half 84) is ending. 3-15 can similarly be read as 45, and 45 = 360 / 8 could give a hint that 30 may be useful when reading the K text. But glyph number 180 does not appear in our summary:
The reason is that we cannot see Kb5-8:
We can also read 3-14 together with 3-15 as an indication that 29 (14 + 15) is the basic measure, and that the 3rd month with 29 nights will begin here. |
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