TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

Number 314:

I have suggested that 314 means 100π, and I have no intention of changing my opinion. However, other interpretations are also possible, e.g. 31 * 4 = 124 days. Or 3 * 14 = 84 nigths.

We need to 'read' the glyphs in order to obtain a better view of what is meant by 314. In H we have an example. Day number 753 / 3 + 58 = 309 clearly is a day when a 'break in time' occurs, which also the texts of P and Q confirm:


Hb3-4	Hb3-5	Hb3-6 (753)
251 + 58 = 309

Pb5-10	Pb5-11	Pb5-12

Qb5-134	Qb5-135	Qb5-201

If we now change the beginning from the black 'mago mea ke' in Hb9-63 to a guessed winter solstice at the same time as in G, viz. 5 days earlier, we will reach day number 314 at the point where the glyphs define a 'break in time':

			56		...	...
Hb9-63	Hb9-64	Hb9-65 (1125)		Hb12-49	*Hb12-50	*Hb12-51 (1296)
day 6 = 1125 / 3 + 63 - 432				day 63


Hb3-4	Hb3-5	Hb3-6 (753)
251 + 63 = 314

So far we have only an interesting possibility, no 'proof' of anything. Next argument is to point at the table below which 'proves' that 63 is not the number to use, and that we should instead work with the much better 64 = 8 * 8, the square of the perfect number:

	61				50
Gb6-26 (1)	61	Gb8-29 (63)	Gb8-30 (64)	Gb8-30 (65)	50	Ga2-21 (116)
	56				55
Gb7-3 (1)	56	Gb8-29 (58)	Gb8-30 (59)	Gb8-30 (60)	55	Ga2-26 (116)

Similarly it is 59 = 2 * 29.5 we should use if we count from tamaiti (instead of from winter solstice). The text of G is 472 glyphs long (1 more than the number of glyphs on the tablet) and the natural glyph to count twice is Gb8-30. That enables the reader to count 4 dark months (4 * 29 = 116) from tamaiti (Gb7-3) to the beginning of the henua calendar (Rei at Ga2-27). And ariki at Ga2-21 marks the end of 4 dark months counted from honu at winter solstice:

	114		123
Gb6-26		Ga2-21 (52)		Ga7-6 (176)
*116 = 4 29**			*124 = 4 31**
*240 = 8 30**

The text of H is shorter (counted in days) than the text of G and it has an even number of days, 1296 / 3 = 432. Therefore we should not try to count twice at the end of side b of H.

52 = 4 * 13 and 176 = 8 * 22. The numbers reached by counting from Gb8-30 do also support, in a way, 4 respectively 8 months. Counting from tamaiti we reach 111 respectively 235, numbers which are not neutral, but what do they mean?

Next we realize that 314 must be considered as equal to 250 + 64 (not as the ugly 251 + 63):


Hb3-4	Hb3-5	Hb3-6 (753)
64 + 250 = 314

To accomplish this feat, where 100π is the sum of 8 squared and 10 times 5 squared (probably an irresistible equation for the number jugglers who created the rongorongo texts), we must find an extra day to add to those 63 (resulting from adding 5 to 58).

The natural place to search for the needed extra day is at the beginning of side a, and the glyphs there indeed support a reading where day 1 is beginning with Ha1-4:


Ha1-1	Ha1-2	Ha1-3	Ha1-4	Ha1-5	Ha1-6
0 (= day 64)			day 1

Ha1-7	Ha1-8	Ha1-9	Ha1-10	Ha1-11	Ha1-12
2			3

Ha1-13	Ha1-14	Ha1-15	Ha1-16	Ha1-17	Ha1-18
4			5

This way of reading the beginning of side a is placing Ha1-6, the 'midnight henua', in its proper position, as day number 1.

Here I have chosen to show the first 5 days of the cycle. There are 5 days from honu at Gb6-26 to tamaiti at Gb7-3. If the structure in H is the same as in G, it follows that day 1 beyond 64 - 5 = 59 must be equal to day 1 above (beyond 64). So that is not the reason why I show 5 days above.

The choice to show 5 days is quite arbitrary. There is no 'break' in the flow of glyphs beyond Ha1-18. We can, for instance, find a honu also at Ha1-22, a twin of Ha1-13:


Ha1-9	Ha1-13	Ha1-22

The link 'midnight henua' leads to the following page:


Aa1-42	Aa1-43	Aa1-44	Aa1-45

Aa1-43 was the first 'midnight henua' discovered:

Later we found other such glyphs, e.g. Ha7-10, a glyph we now can reinterpret:

			348
Ha1-1	Ha1-2	Ha1-3	348	Ha7-8	Ha7-9	Ha7-10 (354)
(354 - 3) / 3 + 64 = 181

Day 181 is one more than 180 (= half 360) and it is reasonable to identify the henua glyph in Ha7-10 as 'one more', meaning a new season is being born.

Henua ora in Ha7-8 is the 'recycling station' where the old one is going down.

348 = 12 * 29, also a way to indicate how the old season is ending. But then Ha1-1--3 cannot be counted.

I feel slightly uneasy with Ha7-10 (and then indirectly with Aa1-43), because I would like to see the 'baby' instead of the 'mother' ('midnight henua') at the beginning of the new season.

But the baby (or the birth, the opening) does not come until a little later, with tao in Aa1-45 respectively with tamaiti in day 182:

					...
Ha7-11	Ha7-12	Ha7-13	Ha7-14	Ha7-15	...
182			183

I cannot remember that 'the mother' has any role to play at new year. On the other hand, our culture may have tried to suppress 'the mother'. Of course such cannot be done. Mother and child will always survive: