next page

previous page

up

home

In the middle of the night

the 'fishes' swim 180^o away from 'noon'. To see them as in ordinary daylight we have to turn them around (as above). Although sideway assymmetries still tell us that something is 'wrong'.

The direction 'right' is right. The direction 'left' is wrong.

"left .. side opposite to the right ... Kentish left 'inanis'; the primary sense of 'weak' worthless' ... " (English Etymology)

"wrong ... crooked, twisted ... deviating from equity or the right ... incorrect, erroneous ... awry, unjust ... sour, tart ... bitter, hostile ... acid ... " (English Etymology)

That which is 'wrong' is that we have turned the glyphs upside down. Presumably these glyphs are to be viewed with the 'fishes' swimming straight down and with the appendages at right:

'Fishes' swimming upwards on the other side of the world should be seen as swimming downwards from our side of the world, and the force of gravitation works upwards (as seen from our view) on the other side of the world

Having stated this, we may better understand why experts do not turn the rongorongo tablets around for each other line. What instead happens is that such experts so to say travel around the world; for each other line they are viewing our world as it looks from a point of view on the other side of earth.

Experts easily - I presume - will also see where glyphs are in halfway station, where they are oriented at the 'edges' between our world and the other side of the earth, e.g. in

Glyphs which show an image which has been turned 90^o around from the (correctly) horizontal direction are still positioned in the earth, not in our sky (upwards) nor in the sky of the world below (downwards).

Given such a model of how glyphs are to be viewed, we realize that we should turn Pa5-27--31 around so that the 'fishes' swim in the opposite direction, because they will soon surface in the east.

This gives a more balanced picture, and we may suddenly realize that the  appendices in Pa5-30 and Pa5-31 show what is due to happen. The bough at right (haga) may describe the bent path of the sky and our world, which will surface and rise.

The 'male' 1 also takes on a new meaning: it becomes the dorsal fin, a kind of affirmation that we are looking at these glyphs in the right way.

From now on I will not turn any more glyphs around like this, we will try to read like the experts. However, each other line should have the glyphs upside down and that will not be so here. It would be too timeconsuming for me to turn half of all the glyphs back into their original upside down position.

The kuhane of Hau Maka made a circuit around Easter Island. It was a travel that went northeast up towards the 'noon' at Poike and then northwest following the sun. Easter Island is triangular in shape, but the model developed above suggests a rectangular world, perhaps a quadratic one.

The kuhane had mountains marking the 'cross segments' of her journey:

"If one traces this path on a special map of Easter Island, the following pattern emerges, based on the direction in which the dream soul travels: eight pairs of names make up the stretch from west to east; one pair marks the segment from south to north; two pairs indicate the path from east to west; and, finally, another pair marks a second segment from south to north. In both cases, the (relative) 'cross segments' (17 and 18, and 23 and 24) are pairs of mountains." (Barthel 2)

Her journey is neither triangular nor rectangular, but its shape has 4 sides, only the 'cross segments' of which are equal in length: 16 + 2 + 4 + 2 = 24. (Though here the 4 'extra' stations are not considered. If we take also them into account, we get: 16 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 28.)

With 'a perfect model' of the kuhane's circuit around Easter Island I only mean that the two structures can be interpreted as congruent. As to the contents of the two structures we have so far only investigated the day side (and there found some similarities - which is no wonder as both structures follow the sun):

Here we first should notice that Tama (13) and Hanga Hoonu (21) 'belonged to the moon', points where beams are broken, where support is needed.

This interpretation disturbs the suggestion that there are 2 'black' periods in the day calendar (at its beginning and end - due to the mark 2 in the sun glyphs). Maybe there are 4 'black' periods?

A break there must be also at 'noon', where there is a 'cross segment' (17-18). Is that point different in kind from Tama and Hanga Hoonu? And shouldn't there be a 'cross segment' at 'midnight' too?

There are 12 stations before Tama. All these (and of course also Tama) should be regarded as 'belonging to the moon'. Roto Ire Are (12) corresponds to a sun glyph which signals 2.

Let us now make a table comparing the 10 periods in the night calendar with the first 10 stations on the voyage of the kuhane, and perhaps we should backwards:

Hua Reva and Akahanga surely must belong together, both at the end of the life of the king and both also with the subject of fresh water. Water and life (thereby also death) belong together, cfr hakaunuora = water (to give life).

In the calendar of the year Hua Reva and Akahanga are connected with Hora Iti (August) according to Barthel. In August we have not yet reached spring equinox, the equivalent of dawn. We are therefore still in the watery region ('kohe').

The rule of water - symbolized by the 'bamboo leg' - breaks at dawn (daybreak). The wife of Hotu Matu'a accordingly also 'dies' there:

"As for Vakai [the queen who gave the king his first male child, Tuu Maheke], she continues to follow the island king until her death (TP:52). The last place is Akahanga, where she becomes ill and dies." (Barthel 2)

The 'setting moon' seems to be a fitting description for the stations 9-10. But doesn't that make Hotu Matu'a equivalent to the moon? Is he both sun and moon?

I can observe that the moon is moving slower than the sun and therefore the moon seems to be 'rising' in the west and 'setting' in the east, while sun seems to be 'rising' in the east and 'setting' in the west. Both 'risnings' and 'settings', though, are illusions due to the rotation of the earth.

But on Easter Island this must mean that the moon is perceived as moving towards right, a male type of movement. The kuhane also moved from west to east until she reached Poike.

Due to the orientation (towards east) and Poike as equivalent to 'noon' the path of the sun half the time is moving towards right and half the time towards left.

I am used to regard the sun as moving from left (east) to right (west), then no more thoughts. I do not reflect on the path of the sun under the earth in order to reappear in the east next morning. The Easter Islanders seem to have been more aware than me of that part of the sun's path.

A true map of the sun's path must contain both movements, both towards west and towards east. As sun appears to be born in the east, then he must be in the womb of his mother before that. He follows his mother towards the east.

But even after being born (dawn / spring equinox) he continues in the direction of his mother. Not until noon / midsummer does he gain full control of his movements.

In this model the first half of the 'day' (from midnight to midday) - when sun is at his strongest and also (from dawn / spring equinox) delivers vai ora to all living beings in our world - in a way belongs to Mother Nature. Conscius control and culture appear not until noon / midsummer, after which everything declines.

The bent bough (the appendix of the 'fish' moving eastward) in Pa5-31

presumably depicts the path of the sun as seen from dawn up to noon, where the path changes direction, and then sweeping back from east to disappearance in the west (the hand 'waving goodbye').

As I for the moment understand it, the form of Pa5-31 corresponds to two of the three sides of the triangular outline of Easter Island. The bottom part has been shortened and the top part lengthened (while on the other hand the number of stations of the kuhane tells the opposite story). Poike is at the 'elbow' in the east and the invisible third side of the triangle should correspond to the 4 glyphs for the 'true night' (Pa5-22--25).

The 'fish' part of the glyph describes the period before dawn. Maybe this 'fish' has two parts, front and back, corresponding to the egg-like outline of the new sun's orbit respectively the old sun's carcass. The new sun needs his father.

"carcase, carcass ...  (dead) body of man or beast ... spherical shell or bomb ... sp. carcase may be due to 'case', which was applied to the body or its skin ..." (English Etymology)

"case ... receptacle, holder ... protective covering ... chest ... frame ... L. capsa, box ... f. base of capere hold ..." (English Etymology)

The 'dorsal fin' of the 'father' part may be the remains of his 'thumb'; we can see the similarity between the 'dorsal fin' and the thumb of the open hand at dusk. Maybe the 3 fingers of the open hand 'deteriorates' into 4 strokes in the tail of the 'fish'. 3 would then signify tapu, while 4 would signify noa.

Why does Hotu Matu'a die at sunrise? I guess the answer is that he was born at that time; it would allot him a lifetime expressable as a whole number of 'years'.

"When Hotu's canoe had reached Taharoa [station 19 of the voyage of the kuhane of Hau Maka], the vaginal fluid (of Hotu's pregnant wife) appeared. They sailed toward Hanga Hoonu [station 20], where the mucus (kovare seems to refer to the amniotic sac in this case) appeared. They sailed on and came to Rangi Meamea [station 21], where the amniotic fluid ran out and the contractions began.

They anchored the canoe in the front part of the bay, in Hanga Rau. The canoe of Ava Rei Pua also arrived and anchored. After Hotu's canoe had anchored, the child of Vakai and Hotu appeared. It was Tuu Maheke, son of Hotu, a boy. After the canoe of Ava Rei Pua had also arrived and anchored, the child of Ava Rei Pua was born. It was a girl named Ava Rei Pua Poki.

Honga asked the people on board the canoe of Ava Rei Pua, 'What kind of child was born?' They replied, 'A girl was born.' This is how Honga replied to the news - he shouted in a loud voice, 'Let the queen land in the left side in the direction of Te Tahua! Leave the bay to the royal son, to Tuu Maheke!'

The final phase of the immigration reaches its dramatic climax in the imminent delivery of Hotu Matua's wife (Vakai) on one hand and Hotu Matua's sister (Ava Rei Pua) on the other.

Anyone familiar with the importance the Polynesians attach to the order of birth and the effect this has on rank can readily appreciate the struggle to give birth to the first-born. The first-born (of the royal family) in the new land must have held the highest position in all succeeding genealogies of aristocratic Easter Islanders.

The various stages of his birth are described with clinical precision, based, it seems, on knowledge gained from the activities of obstetricians and masters in charge of cutting the umbilical cord.

The canoe sailed toward the beach and King Hotu, Vakai, and Tuu Maheke went on land. The assistant of the king acted as a midwife (?) for the pregnant woman (hanau tama is, in this case, more likely to mean mother of the child).

The canoe of the royal boy arrived landed, and the assistant who acted as a midwife (?) took care of Queen Vakai. The child came down into the freshwater and was laid into a basin (taheta). The assistant who acted as a midwife (?) pressed out (of the body) the mucus (kovare, in this case amniotic membranes) and the coagulated blood (hatu kai), until the coagulated blood (i.e., the afterbirth) was all pressed out.

They picked up the queen and the royal child and climbed up and moved on. They reached Oromanga (corrected for 'Oro Ngatu') and left the royal personages there." (Barthel 2)

'Protected by the heights of Peke Tau O Hiti, today called Cerro Puharoa, and Hau Epe (see NA I:277), the final goal of the dream voyage turns out to be the best landing site and the finest beach on Easter Island. Oromanga is the eastern part of the beach of Anakena; the bay of Moria One is the western part.'

It was Tuu Maheke who was born at Anakena (July), not Hotu Matu'a. Therefore I continue to guess that his father Hotu Matu'a was born later, close before 'dawn' / 'spring equinox' (Hora Nui), i.e. that he could have been born in Hora Iti (August). But the timing is close between the birth of Tuu Maheke and the death of Hotu Matu'a: