TRANSLATIONS
Once again, geometric progress is the foundation of the calendar text in H. There are 3 phases:
The end of sun shine and the final of both the full 432 night long cycle and the cycle of the sun is followed by the dark cycle in which everything is beginning once again. The dark (mea ke) mago at Hb9-63 stands at the very beginning of the new cycle:
Moon will then begin to shine after a double-month in complete darkness (58 nights). Moon arrives at the beginning of side a. According to her map 118 nights is equivalent to glyph number 354 (counted from Ha1-1). Two lunar double-months with 3 glyphs per night will reach to glyph number 3 * 118 = 6 * 59 = 12 * 29.5 = 354. Then arrives the season of 'multiplying' (beginning after 58 + 118 = 176 days without):
Working with 64 as a unit of time, we find 192 (as in the number of glyphs in K) to be equal to 3 such, and 12 months à 32 will be twice so much, 384 days. 432 (days in H) = 192 + 240 = 6 * 32 + 6 * 40. 472 (glyphs in G) = 6 * 32 + 7 * 40. To this basic lunar vision of time is then added a solar calendar, still working with 3 glyphs per day, but shorter than 432 days of course. The solar calendar cannot begin in the darkest of times, announced by mago in Hb9-63, and it cannot begin before moon has arrived. Especially if she is the mother of the sun. The solution is to let the solar calendar end at the same point as the 432 night long calendar dictated by the grand vision:
The solar year is a fraction (ca 0.25) longer that 365 days, however, and the creator of the H text seems to have solved this dilemma by adding 1 glyph (0.333 days) at the beginning (which ought to be in the dark):
1122 - 26 = 1096 glyphs = 365⅓ days, and accordingly 432 = 58 + 8⅔ + 365⅓. To this can be added another vision:
Metoro presumably should have said manu mata etoru at Ha3-10 (where 3 * 10 = 30). This curious expression possibly means that each glyph now has to be counted 3 times its normal value, i.e. each glyph will be equal to 1 day. 140 days beyond winter solstice is coming close to summer solstice and the force of sun prolongs the days. 118 possibly alludes to the tertial of moon (4 * 29.5 = 118), and moe stands at the beginning of a new season. The double Rei in Ha3-12 (where 3 * 12 = 36) appears to 'kick into action' a season which is not counted in double weeks but in nights. 118 (= 4 * 29.5) + 413 (= 14 * 29.5) = 531 = 18 * 29.5. Ariki has no feathers (though no ariki glyph in H has feathers). In pare we can identify the left (in the past) fist as signifying the moon and the right fist as the sun. Manu mata etoru has likewise a bigger mata coming earlier - the tip of the beak is the last point in time. The 1st mata is the first in time, it is the head of the bird, but is is not visible, it is inside the perimeter of the bird itself. The 1st mata is 58 dark nights long. Moe says a light in the east is beginning with Ha3-10. The beak of manu mata etoru takes a rather sharp bend where the new mata is located. A new flame adorns the top of pare. The 2nd pare is located at the center of day 278 counted from winter solstice, but counted from the dark mago it is day 236, as if to say that the 2nd 36 (waning sun) is beginning here:
At left in pare will now be the sun and at right a hipu, or the seed of next sun. In Ha10-32 it is said by both the numbers (10 months à 32 days are over) and by the appearance of another mata to the right of the 'measuring staff'. The comes the rain (ua) and the vision of the carver fails in the encroaching darkness. |