TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

We will finish with an example from the text of H, viz. the rau hei glyph which is leaning forward in Sunday (Hb9-17--21):

glyph numbers and days are counted from Ha1-4

Hb9-12	Hb9-13	Hb9-14	Hb9-15	Hb9-16	Hb9-17
357			358

Hb9-18	Hb9-19 (1076)	Hb9-20
359

Hb9-21 (1078)	Hb9-22	Hb9-23	Hb9-24	Hb9-25	Hb9-26
360			361

The sign of leaning forward seems to mean 'on the point of falling on his face'. We remember the expression from the Hawaiian myth about Ulu and Mokuola:

... you should hear noises as of falling leaves and flowers, and afterward as of heavy fruit dropping to the ground, you will know that my prayer has been granted: the life of our little boy will be saved.' And having said that, Ulu fell on his face and died ...

The leaning forward sign is used also e.g. on the hau tea glyphs flanking tamaiti, where the sign probably indicates the 'death' of the old 413-night long lunar cycle (at Gb7-2). We can perceive how the new 'person' (cycle) is 'indebted for his life' to the old one who has given up his:


Gb7-1	Gb7-2	Gb7-3	Gb7-4

Sunday has been given 5 glyphs (as if to allude to 'fire'), but Hb9-17 belongs to day 358 and Hb9-21 to day 360:

glyph numbers and days are counted from Ha1-4

Hb9-17 (1074)	Hb9-18	Hb9-19	Hb9-20 (1077)	Hb9-21 (1078)
358	1077 / 3 = 359			360

The central figure is rau hei in Hb9-19. The use of rau hei - and the numbers 9, 19 - in Sunday can only be understood by reflecting on what sun is doing during the night (the week is the domain of the moon). Like the other planets he is sailing across the sky -though not on the part we can observe.

Sun must cross the sky under the earth and in a direction which is contrary to his travel during daytime. Because he must reach the horizon in the east before morning. Moe in Hb9-28 indicates the light of the morning sun before he is rising.

The nighttime canoe of the sun can be imagined in Hb9-18, a tao glyph with signs which makes it look like a vai glyph. It possibly means the beginning, the first part, of the Sunday night. Towards midnight the old day will move away to make room for next day. Manu rere has the position of the beginning of the new day. Rau hei indicates the time whan the old day will disappear, 'fall on his face'.

Sunday is an important day in the text of H. To begin with we should notice that there are 216 glyphs to the end of side b, counted beyond manu rere:

glyph numbers and days are counted from Ha1-4

Hb9-17	Hb9-18	Hb9-19	Hb9-20 (1077)	Hb9-21
358	359			360

3 (Ha1-1--3) + 1077 + 216 = 1296, which means that from moe in Hb9-21 there are 216 / 3 = 72 days to the end of side b. But there are 216 days both on side a and on side b. 216 days is equal to 3 * 72 days. We can therefore understand 1296 glyphs as equal to 6 * 72 days. 6 * 72 = 432 = 12 * 36 = 18 * 24 = 9 * 48 = 3 * 144 = 8 * 54 = 16 * 27.

Next, we should search for the effects of rau hei at Hb9-19. Given the pattern from G we can hope to find a tao glyph (or similar) 243 days later. 72 of those days are at the end of side b, which leaves 243 - 72 = 171 (= 9 * 19, cfr Hb9-19) days to the beginning of side a.

3 * 171 = 513 glyphs, and glyph number 513, counted from Ha1-1, is Ha10-11 - and indeed it is a tao glyph:

glyph numbers and day numbers are counted from Ha1-4
			216	510
Hb9-18	Hb9-19	Hb9-20 (1077)	216	510	Ha10-9	Ha10-10	Ha10-11 (510)
243					510 / 3 = 170

The honui glyph in Ha10-9 has a ragi head, possibly meaning it is the beginning of 'nighttime'. Which it ought to be because rau hei in Hb9-19 is a nighttime 'sacrifice' - there is room for a new one of the same general type. (The 'sacrifice' of Ulu produced primarily the breadfruit, ulu, I suppose, the other plants could be later additions.)

513 = 9 * 57 resembles 531 = 9 * 59:

	415		627
Pa3-3		Pa10-1
115		531
*416 = 16 26**		628 = 200π

In H the parallel 'vanishing pare' glyph is Ha10-31. Its ordinal number counted from Ha1-4 is 510 (Ha10-11) + 20 = 530. Counted from Ha1-1 the ordinal number will be 530 + 3 = 533.

The P text cannot be structured as the H text, and we notice this already at the beginning:


Ha1-1	Ha1-2	Ha1-3	Ha1-4	Ha1-5	Ha1-6
432			1

Pa1-1		Pa1-2	Pa1-3	Pa1-4	Pa1-5

The summary page:

Rau hei glyphs indicate the beginning of a 'dark season', measured as 243 days long, for examples:

	242
Ga6-25		Gb6-26 (1)
		winter solstice
	242
Gb1-25		Ga1-25 (90)
		spring equinox

Rau hei means 'mimosa branch', and when Metoro said rau hei he presumably referred to the curious behaviour of the mimosa plant: '... In the evening the leaflets will fold together and the whole leaf droops downward. It then re-opens at sunrise ...'

The glyphs which come 'at sunrise' (243 days after a rau hei) can apparently always be characterized as indicating a 'rebirth' (of the type of 'light' which vanished 9 * 27 days earlier).