TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

The crack in the carapace is 58 nights long. Counting by the moon covers 14 * 29.5 = 413 nights. 58 + 413 = 471.

2 + 4 + 8 = 14 and 2 * 4 * 8 = 64. 14 is the number of nights in 2 weeks and 64 the number of squares on 2 chessboards. But 58 nights do not belong there.

236 is equal to 8 lunar months. Counting from the beginning of light (both moon and sun) at Gb8-30, we come to Gb1-6:


Gb1-1 (231)	Gb1-2	Gb1-3	Gb1-4	Gb1-5	Gb1-6 (236)	Gb1-7

8 is more than half 14, which means that the central part of the light season must be in the past. Only 6 lunar months remain.

Counted from tamaiti at Gb7-3 (instead of from Gb8-30) the ordinal number is not 236 but 236 + 58 = 294. Counted from honu at Gb6-26 the ordinal number is 294 + 5 = 299. 294 is the last number before 10 * 29.5 and 299 the last number before 10 * 30:


Gb6-17	Gb6-18	Gb6-19	Gb6-20	Gb6-21	Gb6-22	Gb6-23	Gb6-24

Gb6-25	Gb6-26 (409)	Gb6-27	Gb6-28	Gb7-1	Gb7-2	Gb7-3 (414)	Gb7-4

Therefore, I suggest, the counting should be done from the midpoint between Gb6-26 and Gb7-3, with moa at Gb7-1 as the first glyph on the way to Gb1-6. Its number will then be (294 + 299) / 2 = 296.5 and Te Pou will get ordinal number 265.5 + (296.5 - 236) = 326, a much better number than the odd 265.5, for instance because 32 * 6 = 192.

Gb6-26 at winter solstice and Ga1-26 together measure out 64 (= 472 - 408) + 26 = 90 days, a quarter, or if we count Gb8-30 twice 91 days:


Ga1-26	Ga1-27	Ga1-28	Ga1-29	Ga1-30

An even better solution could be 2 * 354 = 708 = 24 * 29.5:

			57
Gb7-1	Gb7-2	Gb7-3 (414)	57	Gb8-30 (473)	Ga1-1	Gb1-6 (708)
2		58		236
295

This is established by going twice around the text. We begin with Gb8-30 as day number 1, add 235 to reach Gb1-6 for the first time, then move on to the lunar 'winter solstice', marked by hau tea. Tamaiti is the first glyph of those 58 dark nights.

Tamaiti stands at position 414 (counted from Gb8-30), a nice and balanced number and 'one more' than 14 * 29.5 = 413. By way of its digits it indicates a balance between past and front, similar to the double eyes in the preceding hau tea.

When we arrive at Gb8-30 the 2nd time we must give it ordinal number 471 + 1 + 1 = 473 because there must be a correction with 1 glyph for each cycle.

We can now appreciate that Gb1-6 is not marking month number 8, it is instead the 10th lunar month since 'creation'. The 'seed' of the preceding cycle is represented by Gb7-1--2.

Two cycles is 2 * 472 = 944. The difference between 944 and 2 * 354 = 708 is 236. Counting by the moon we cannot stop with 14, that is only half the visible moon nights in a month.

4 days earlier than the moon 'winter solstice' stands honu at Gb6-26 (numbers which indicate we now should think of sun):


Gb6-26 (409)	Gb6-27	Gb6-28	Gb7-1	Gb7-2 (413)	Gb7-3

Counting 4 extra days would give Gb1-6 (evidently a sun number) ordinal number 236 + 4 = 240. The way to accomplish it is by beginning to count from Gb8-26:


Gb8-25	Gb8-26	Gb8-27	Gb8-28	Gb8-29	Gb8-30

In Gb8-25 (where 8 * 25 = 200) manu rere indeed seems to indicate the final of a season.

Even better, though, is to add 236 + 64 = 300.

The patterns imply spring sun is finished at Gb1-6, where 10 * 24 = 240. Here we can return to H:

			57	177
Hb9-63	Hb9-64	Hb9-65 (1125)			Ha10-30	Ha10-31	Ha10-32 (534)
1					236 = 58 + 178

The vanishing spring sun is seen in Ha10-31. In H we do not need to count any glyphs twice, because the solution instead depends on using 1 of 3 glyphs as an adjustment.

The day when spring sun is vanishing must be, if counted from Ha1-27, 236 - 58 - 9 = 169 = 13 * 13:


Ha1-25	Ha1-26	Ha1-27	Ha1-28	Ha1-29	Ha1-30
Ha1-25	Ha1-26	⅓	1

Ha1-31	Ha1-32	Ha1-33	Ha1-34	Ha1-35	Ha1-36
2			3

Counted from Ha1-1 the day will be 534 / 3 = 178 = 169 + 9, and the already vanished sun in pare agrees with this reckoning, because 178 is 1 more than 6 * 29.5 = 177.

What was said regarding 236 at tahana? We must look again:

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)

Here we have counted with glyphs equal to days. We recognize the type of glyph in Ha7-34, it is the same figure as in Ha1-27, and it seems to have the same value (⅓ of a day):

	25		349
Ha1-1		Ha1-27		Ha7-33 (377)	Ha7-34
26 = 8⅔		⅓	*350 = 3 116⅔**		⅓
378 / 3 = 126


Ha7-35	Ha7-36 (380)	Ha7-37	Ha7-38	Ha7-39	Ha7-40 (384)
381 / 3 = 127			*384 = 2 192**

A reversed tapa mea in Ha7-39 says sun light has gone. It is day number 128 (= 4 * 32) counted from Ha1-1, but the number of glyphs is 3 * 128 = 384, which suggest a reference to twice 192 (= 12 * 32). Indeed a year is ending.

And 128 + 58 (dark days at the beginning of the cycle) = 186, half a year.