TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

Tahana in Aa5-31 is connected with tahana in Ab7-51 through another internal parallel (without parallels in H/P/Q):


Aa5-26	Aa5-27	Aa5-28	Aa5-29	Aa5-30	Aa5-31 (364)

Aa5-32	Aa5-33	Aa5-34	Aa5-35


Ab7-47	Ab7-48	Ab7-49	Ab7-50	Ab7-51
			*7 52 = 364**
Ab7-52 (1218)	Ab7-53	Ab7-54	*7 52 = 364**

Ab7-55	Ab7-56	Ab7-57	Ab7-58	Ab7-59

364 figures in both places. And the distances between the two tahana glyphs are apparently also meaningful:

	306	546		117	363
Aa5-31 (364)			Ab7-51 (1217)
*854 = 14 61**				*480 = 20 24**

If we instead count the ordinal numbers from te pito in Ab8-42 the distances remain intact, but the ordinal numbers will change from 364 to 406 = 14 * 29 respectively from 1217 to 1259, which number seems to say 12 times 59 (= 24 lunar months).

But 1217 is not a meaningless number, because it says that from Ab7-51 to the end of side b there are 118 = 4 * 29.5 glyphs. Counting to te pito instead, will result in 1292 - 1216 = 76 = 4 * 19 glyphs. Both these numbers (118 and 76) should be thought of at the same time - one is a 'square' of the moon (118) and the other a 'square' for the sun (76); 19 is a sign indicating that the sun measure 18 is in the past, i.e. it is similar in meaning to 29.5 which indicates that the moon light measure (28) is in the past. Ab7-51, therefore, stands at the beginning of the last part of the Tahua text, a dark time ready to give birth to next year.

If one of these two tahana glyphs refers to the moon, it could be Aa5-31, where we can see a bifurcated 'tail', whereas in Ab7-51 the tail has 3 'members'.

14 * 29 = 406 invites to a comparison with 14 * 61 = 854. 29 is one more than 28 and 61 one more than 60, where 28 denotes the light nights of the moon and 60 the light days of the sun.

61 - 29 = 32, which number indicates maximal growth. In the dark night of the moon (29) and the 'dark day' of the sun recreation occurs. Creating a calendar which shows both the cycles of the moon and the cycles of the sun (2 in each year) it would seem natural to locate sun number 61 at the same point in the calendar as the moon number 29.

The last and summary page:

Tahana glyphs were used in the rongorongo calendars to indicate where one 'year' was ending and another beginning.

An example will illustrate this:

	5		223
Ha3-39		Ha3-45		Ha7-33
231 *= 7 33**

Side a of the G text has 230 glyphs (given that we count with Gb8-30 as a first glyph), i.e. the first glyph on side b will be number 231. In H this number occurs if we count from tahana in Ha3-39 up to and including tahana (the sign at right) in Ha7-33. It is no coincidence, because 7 * 33 (as in Ha7-33) is equal to 231 - a method which was used for verifying a correct reading of the texts.

Tahana in Ha3-45 comes 6 positions later (than tahana in Ha3-39). Probably its function is to point at a glyph 6 positions later than Ha7-33:


Ha7-34	Ha7-35	Ha7-36	Ha7-37	Ha7-38 (236)	Ha7-39 (237)

The signs in the complicated glyphs Ha7-38--39 confirm that the sun is turning around from 'waxing' to 'waning' and a new 'year' is beginning at Ha7-39. In G the 'parallel' glyphs are very different, but they convey the same information in other terms:


Gb1-6 (236)	Gb1-7 (237)

The 'undulating sign' in Ha7-35 could be the same as in Ha7-33. In G twins of such signs are locted at the wings:


Gb1-4	Gb1-12

In H the 'undulating wing' appears earlier, at manu kake in Ha7-20:


Ha7-19	Ha7-20	Ha7-21	Ha7-22	Ha7-23	Ha7-24	Ha7-25

Possibly the sign of undulation 'undergoes a change' at midsummer from a position high up to a position low down. In G we find next sign of undulation at Te Pou, and then in a low down position:


Gb2-3	Gb2-4	Gb2-5	Gb2-6

Gb2-7	Gb2-8	Gb2-9	Gb2-10

Gb2-11	Gb2-12	Gb2-13	Gb2-14

Gb2-15	Gb2-16	Gb2-17	Gb2-18

But then, quickly, already at Gb2-13 the undulation is markedly at the top again.