The
arrival of the 'season of nuku' should be searched for where
sun is fading away, and we can easily find where this happens in H
and P:
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Ha3-11 |
Ha10-31 |
Pa3-3 |
Pa10-1 |
In
the Q text, however, there is no pare glyph parallel with
Ha10-31 and Pa10-1. We can anyhow find where it should have been,
viz. at the very end of side a. But the Q tablet is not so
large as H and P, and certain parts of the text had to be left out.
In Q
the fading away of sun coincides with where the reader turns the
tablet to continue reading on the back side. In a way it is a sign
equally potent as a fading away pare glyph - side a is the
'front side', the side of spring sun, and darkness falls in
conjunction with moon taking over.
No
easily recognizable nuku sign arrives in the Q text, though,
until *Qb3-41:
 |
|
*Qb3-41 |
This
fact necessitates an explanation.
|
The 'eye' of nuku is at
right. With vanishing sun at left it
cannot refer to the sun. Either it
signifies the moon in front or else
it possibly indicates that the face
(mata) of this nuku
glyph is at right (from us seen).
It must be a sign, because nuku
glyphs should look straight at us. A
while of reflection leads me to
conclude that it here must mean that
the mata (eye) at left (sun)
has vanished.
The first of the pages of
'explanation':
This
is where our nuku glyph is located:
|
The puo in *Qb3-43 could be
connected with *Qb3-51:
 |
7 |
 |
|
*Qb3-43 |
*Qb3-51 |
They could together
define 4 days of going away. A pair
of vae are flanking the
'eater' which now has grown up, and
in *Qb3-50 he is only a ghost.
534, the number of
*Qb3-50 is equal to day number 267 +
64 = 331:
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
*Qb3-43 |
*Qb3-44 |
*Qb3-45 |
*Qb3-46 |
*Qb3-47 |
*Qb3-48 |
|
328 |
329 |
330
= 266 + 64 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
*Qb3-49 |
*Qb3-50 |
*Qb3-51 |
Qb4-1 (536) |
Qb4-2 |
Qb4-3 |
|
331 |
332 |
333 |
The two subpages:
Fischer has attempted to explain how a rongorongo tablet
'ideally' should be read:
I
will use his pictures and text to improve on what he has written:
On
side a ('Side One') the reading should begin at bottom left and move
towards the right. At the end of
line a1 the text continues with line a2. The beginning of line a2 is immediately above the end of
a1.
The
glyphs in line a2 are, though, upside down. Either you have to turn
the tablet to see them in normal fashion or you must learn to read
upside down glyphs. The experts on Easter Islands did not turn their
tablets, they could read upside down texts.
The
end of line a2 is immediately above the beginning of line a1 and
immediately below the beginning of line a3. The glyphs in line a3 are
oriented as those in line a1. If you have turned the tablet in order
to read line a2 you must once again turn the tablet to see the glyphs
with their normal orientation.
Every
odd-numbered line can be easily read, while the lines with
even numbers have inverted text. The text grows upwards like
a vine.
Fischer then states - incorrectly - that on side b ('Side Two') the
described pattern is different, that odd-numbered lines are
inverted. But such is not always the case (which Fischer also later
on admits).
The
text lines on side b of G, for example, behave exactly as on side a.
Odd-numbered lines are not inverted.
|
G has
twice 8 glyph lines, and the text covers twice 8 * 29.5 = 472 days.
Contents and form are intervowen.
Q has
twice 9 glyph lines, and this tablet indeed follows Fischer's rule. It means
that line Qa9 reads in normal fashion, while line Qb1 has its glyphs
inverted. The form is also here in harmony with the perceived
content - sun is fading away at the end of the front side of the
tablet and the first glyph line on the back side is inverted.
Upside down is a sign which we recognize, e.g. from the first glyph
of the second half of the G text:
 |
 |
|
Gb1-6 |
Gb1-7 (237) |
When
reading on the backside of the Q tablet, line b3 is found to be
upside down in
the same way as line b1. And going on from line b3 to line b4
implies a turn of the tablet (or reading on like the experts).
One
way to memorize this pattern in Q is to count the lines
on side b as a continuation from side a. There are 9 lines on side a
and Qb1 is line number 10 counted from line Qa1.
From
this perspective glyph line Qb3 will be number 12, and following the
rule of Fischer it must have inverted glyphs.
I
guess an odd number of glyph lines on a tablet side is a sign which
means the reader must continue on to next side. G has no such sign
and the moon is its main subject - the front side and the back side
are different matters. Waxing is different from waning.
|
The vine-like growing upwards of the
textlines is a sign. They were
agricultural people and growth is
the essence of life. Side a should
begin at the bottom and follow the
path of rising spring sun. Next rain
must come.
Earlier I though boustrophedon was
the wrong label for the lines
changing direction in the
rongorongo texts. But it has the
right connection with agriculture.
Earth must be plowed.
The rising feathered serpent refers
to the sky. And snakes show us their
backs along their whole body, while
they move in their sinusoidal
pattern.
The reason for inverting every even
glyph line should be to mimick
something in nature. The changes
between day and night is such a
pattern. If sun has to move below
the earth from evening to morning,
we can for our inner minds recognize
he must turn his body. Instead of
having his face towards us, as
during the day, he must have his
face towards those who live on the
other side of the earth during our
night.
So the glyph lines are following the
path of the sun. The inverted lines
represent what happens during the
night, on the other side of the
earth.
The back side of a tablet is
something else. It represents the
time of the year when the drought of
high summer has changed into
the rainy autumn. It also represents
the time when moon is ruling instead
of the sun. Because the moon is
connected with rain. There must be
another pole than fire (sun), and it
ought to be his wife.
Ua (rain) could have moon as
its first vowel, because for the
Maya indians U meant the
moon.
There are inverted glyph lines also
on the back side of the tablets,
because night and day continue.
The calendar system has the
beginning of the year 64 days before
side a. Sun is born at winter
solstice, but is not very
interesting until 8 times 8 days
have passed. A square of moon reigns
the end of side b.
Summer solstice likewise comes
before side b. 236 - 184 = 52 days
seems to have been the measure for
the time from the 'birth' of a
greater month until Te Pei.
52 * 7 = 364, and 6 *
52 = 312 (as in 3 * 12 = 360).
8 * 29.5 + 52 = 288
(as in 36 * 8).
600 = 288 + 312.
472 = 312 + 160, and
312 + 260 = 572.
64 + 52 = 116 = 4 *
29.
