TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

Then there are 4 tahana close together in line b5:


Hb5-8	Hb5-9	Hb5-10	Hb5-11 (856)	Hb5-12	Hb5-13

Hb5-14	Hb5-15	Hb5-16	Hb5-17	Hb5-18 (863)	Hb5-19

Hb5-20	Hb5-21	Hb5-22	Hb5-23	Hb5-24	Hb5-25 (870)

Hb5-26	Hb5-27	Hb5-28

The reason for including Hb5-18 among the tahana in the catalogue here becomes more understandable. It should, though, be noted that without the close proximity to the more obvious tahana (which are rare in the rongorongo texts) I would presumably not have included it as a glyph with a tahana sign (where the head of tagata normally is). Ea4-28 is another glyph with such a sign, and without the experience from Hb5-18 I would not have seen it as tahana:

Ea4-28

Wíth 3 glyphs per day Hb5-25 is the last in the triplet for day 290. Hb5-19 - a bird looking back - stands at the end of day 288 (= 8 * 36). These are signs which indicate sun has reached to the end of his rule. Another such sign is Hb5-9, which is quite similar to the end glyph in the 24th and last period in a calendar in E:


Hb5-9	Eb6-19

In Hb5-11 a tagata (completed season) has a pau sign at bottom right, possibly alluding to Hanga Te Pau, and at right a sun 'fish' is rising. Vaha mea (in Hb5-16) is 'the red opening' and illustrates the arrival of a new 'dawn'. Day 288 (Hb5-17--19) apparently is the day when one year is ending and the next is beginning - in Hb45-17 there is a gap between tagata at left and the 'feathered' mauga ('mountain on fire') at right - which (we can guess) illustrates how darkness (mauga) is changed into light ('feathers').

288 = 12 * 24 = 16 * 18 = 9 * 32, and the last expression could allude to 9 'months' during which the newborn sun will come and deliver the growth necessary for life on the island. On the other hand, 288 is also equal to 8 * 36, and in this capacity we may have met the number earlier.

In Hb5-17 mauga has 5 feathers, in Hb5-18 there are 6. Possibly tagata at left in Hb5-17 refers to the end of the regular year, and in Hb5-18 tagata with the curious tahana head' (without 'eyes') might indicate the dark period before a new 'light' has been 'born'. Perhaps the top of tahana glyphs refers to the 'open gap' between one year and the next.

Haati in Hb5-15 has an inverted hipu sign at its top end. The old solar year is leaving and a new fire will soon be pushing upwards. An inverted hipu presumably is the later stage of pau (cfr Hb5-11). We can compare with Gb6-18:

Gb6-18 (401)

At viri it was discovered that there are 290 glyphs from Aa4-71 up to and including the viri with cut off top end, which means that between these two glyphs there are 288 glyphs:

*26 29 = 754**
	462			288
Ab7-26		Aa4-70	Aa4-71		Aa8-26
*464 = 16 29**			*290 = 10 29**

Although 288 = 8 * 36, it is more reasonable to count with 2 glyphs per day and then find 288 to be equal to 4 * 36 = 144 = 12 * 12 days. Because Aa4-71 seems to be located in the middle of summer and the 'cut-off' viri at the end of the year. Furthermore, with 2 glyphs per day 462 will be equal to 231 days.

... With 2 glyphs per day (the assumption we have used for locating kuhane stations in Tahua) ordinal number 365 for Aa4-72 is to be read as half that number in days:


Aa4-70	Aa4-71	Aa4-72	Aa4-73	Aa4-74	Aa4-75
363	364	365	366	367	368
182		183		184

If we reduce 183 days with the 3 weeks from pito at Ab8-43 to the end of side b, we will have 183 - 21 = 162 days left, equal to 9 * 18, which could be a way to say that sun (18 as in 180) has reached his limit (9). Furthermore, 4-72 can be read as 4 * 72 = 288, and with 2 glyphs per day that means 144 = 12 * 12 - a sun square is finished.

The Mamari moon calendar has 2 * 36 = 72 glyphs. Are we to understand this to mean twice 18 days? It would come closer to the length of a month.

The number of glyphs in Mamari is 392 + 348 = 740, possibly to be divided in 2 and meaning 370 (= 196 + 174 days).

Or should we divide with 3? 348 = 3 * 116 = 12 * 29, but 392 is not divisible by 3.

392 / 8 = 49 = 7 * 7. We must wait until we have studied the glyphs of Mamari closer.

864 could possibly also be read as 364 + 500, a way to say that indeed the 'fire' (sun) has been 'swallowed'. Cfr Gb5-10 where we can read 5 * 10 = 50:


Hb5-17	Hb5-18	Hb5-19 (864)		Gb5-10 (364)

Let us count the distance from the first two of the tahana glyphs. The arrangement around the first two suggests that either we say that day 50 or day 52 is what counts (it should be an even number):


Ha3-37	Ha3-38	Ha3-39	Ha3-40	Ha3-41	Ha3-42
49			50


Ha3-43	Ha3-44	Ha3-45	Ha3-46	Ha3-47	Ha3-48 (156)
51			52

Considering day 290 at Hb5-25 (a 'fire cube'), the natural choice ought to be 50, because then there will be 240 days to day number 290:

			717
Ha3-40 (148)	Ha3-41	Ha3-42	717	Hb5-23	Hb5-24	Hb5-25 (870)
240				290

It should here be mentioned that the first two glyph lines (Ha1-Ha2) together have 108 glyphs = 36 days, which means that before Ha3-40 (with 3 * 40 = 120) there are 36 + 13 = 49 (= 7 * 7) days. A square number initiates the text of H. Then follow 240 days up to what probably is the limit of the sun (day 290). Tahana glyphs evidently are involved in defining the beginning and end of a season which possibly is divided into 8 months à 30 days.

432 (the number of days in the H text) - 240 = 192 = 4 * 48 days. One of these 48-day periods could be from Ha1-1 up to Ha3-37.

			138
Ha1-1 (1)	Ha1-2	Ha1-3	138	Ha3-34	Ha3-35	Ha3-36 (144)
48

3 * 36 = 108 and 12 * 12 = 144. Several signs are helping us here: 36 is a square number referring to the sun and so is 144. 3 could be read as a sign to count 3 glyphs per day.

4 * 48 (= 192) can also be regarded as 8 * 24, and if so, we will have 432 = 18 * 24. Alternatively we can see 240 as equal to 5 periods with 48 days in each, i.e. 432 = 9 * 48.

192 (the number of glyphs in K) can be read as 8 * 24 and 472 (the number of glyphs in G) as 8 * 59. Therefore we should expect also 432 to be a multiple of 8 (especially as the island is Te Varu Kainga). And 8 * 54 = 432.

In Mamari 740 is not possible to divide by 8 (in order to reach a whole number). But the number of glyphs on side a is 8 * 49 (= 392). On side b there are 348 glyphs, which maybe should be read as 3 * 48 = 144 = 12 * 12 = 8 * 18. If so, then we have 8 * (49 + 18) = 8 * 67 = 536 (a 'cosmic' number not agreeing with the factual 740).

536 can then be read for instance as 5 * 36 = 180.

But we must wait until the glyphs of Mamari have been studied. Fact is, though, that 8 * 49 is the number of glyphs on side a. Maybe it is no coincidence that 49 (= 36 + 13) days come at the beginning of side a of H.