Pa5-39	Pa5-40	Pa5-41	Pa5-42

These four glyphs describe the 3rd period. In Pa5-39 we can see that the sun is still 'eating light' (i.e. growing in strength), in Pa5-40 we have a sharply bent branch (haga), in Pa5-41 a complex henua, and in Pa5-42 also this period ends with tapa mea, the 'red hue/count'.

I am using these words (haga, henua, tapa mea etc) as if the glyphs should be pronounced like that. But that is not the case. I am using these Polynesian (Easter Island) words because it is an efficient way of talking about and describing the glyphs.

What should be said when reading rongorongo is not exactly determined by the glyphs and, furthermore, the text may be read in different languages.

There were two different languages spoken on Easter Island at the time when rongorongo texts were incised on the wooden boards. One of the languages was certainly a variant of Polynesian, the other perhaps a language with roots in South America. Both these languages could be used when rongorongo texts were read.

In Pa5-39 the central disc is still small, the sun is not so hot yet. But he is quickly advancing upwards, that we can see when he is close to the horizon. Later his speed is not so immediately obvious. This fast movement up from the sea in the east is illustrated by the fish tail at the bottom. The sun is like a fish.

Heavenly bodies rising up from the horizon often are illustrated as fishes. The sky is blue like the ocean and therefore presumably there are fishes in the sky.

"The principal word for 'fish' in most Dravidian languages is min, which has an ancient homophone meaning 'star', both probably derivatives of the root min 'to glitter'."

"Fish are actually unable to close their eyes, and the fact that 'when the fish sleeps it does not close its eyes' was noticed by ancient Indians. The dot-in-a-circle similar to that occuring among the trefoils of the Harappan 'priest-king´s' robe is identical with the eye of the many small hare- and fish-shaped amulets discovered on the lower levels of Harappa." (Parpola)

The uplifted arm has a sharp bend and that is the same sign of a sharp bend (haga) as in Pa5-40. Here it might mean that the growth ('eating light') of the sun  is not steady (linear) but curved in its development. The heat from the sun is not increasing as fast as in the previous period, that's why the 'hand' is smaller in this glyph than in Pa5-35.

The glyph Pa5-40 is showing a branch which is not only bent (haga) but broken. It is to be read like that, as 'break' (not bend). The idea is the same as in 'daybreak'. The power of the night is broken.

The sharply bent elbow in Pa5-39 is similar in shape, telling the same story. Often in the rongorongo texts there is this kind of redundancy, where the same sign is located in more than one glyph. The experienced reader will therefore hardly miss the signs.

Pa5-41 tells about what is being broken: the shadows of the night. The left side of this double henua is very narrow, because there is not much light, the right side is broader and represents darkness. Hatchmarks across henua means darkness.

"The Polynesians mingle the time-indications based on the position of the sun with others which are derived from the life of men and nature. We are told that the Hawaiian day was divided into three general parts, 1, breaking the shadows, 2, the plain, full day, 3, the decline of the day... " (Nilsson)

There are 6 hatchmarks across henua, 3 leaning one way and 3 leaning the other way. Number 6 refers to the sun. In the same way as the year usually is seen as divided into two parts, half-years, the night is usually seen as divided by midnight into two parts. The night has 6 double-hours = 12 hours, exactly as the day.

In Pa5-42 tapa mea shows that the description of this period is now finished.

The shape of tapa mea is different from that in the previous periods, here we cannot see its full shape. A straight vertical line cuts away the left side. The sun came out already in the previous period, but part of him is still below the horizon.

In the two previous periods tapa mea is shown without any part having been cut off by the horizon like this. Then we saw him with our inner eye. Now that we can observe 'Ruddy Sun' directly the cut-off sign is a correct description.

However, there is more to it: a vertical straight line means 'middle', i.e. the same method as that used in the Chinese script, where

originally meant Zhongguo, the central kingdoms (ref. Lindqvist). The 3rd period is the middle period of the 5 up until noon.

The horizon may be seen as a line defining the middle between sky and underworld: "The East Building has mosaic elements reflecting the old war cult of Teotihuacan, where tradition had it that the sun was born; thus, this may also be Middleworld, the place of the rising sun ... " (The Maya)