TRANSLATIONS
The idea that Maui and his four brothers may be alluded to in the X-area texts cannot reasonably be applied to H and P (and Q has no X-area), because there is no continuity of action between the four glyphs which could be the four brothers and the X-area where Maui should be found. In H and P the X-area follows after the night and day time calendars, i.e. the X-area is far away from the 4 possible 'brothers'. But in A we can try and see what happens:
Aa1-10 has a head en face, which is understandable if we regard that glyph as equivalent to a 'pillar' holding up the sky at midsummer. In Aa1-12 we have an exceptionally big GD45 (ihe tau) and we should probably understand that to refer to a major period (the year?) - maybe the same dignity of period as that which is ending in Aa1-15. My earlier guess that Aa1-9--12 may represent the 4 seasons of Mother Earth (and therefore indicate females) is no longer acceptable. Instead we possibly may regard GD45 (in Aa1-11--12) as signifying 'tanit' (which is male). The tanit concept would point, I guess, to earthly affairs, whereas the 4 (5) sons of Taranga belong to the region of the sky. Therefore we may consider Aa1-5--8 as possible candidates for the 4 brothers and once again include also H, P and Q:
Evidently the two suns in Ha5-32, Pa5-14 and Qa5-22 signify that this 'pillar' is located where one year ends and the next will begin. The different creators have perceived the events differently. In H and Q the two suns are at the back (possibly indicating that the 'pillar' is standing at the beginning of the new year), whereas in P the two suns still seem to be ahead. In H the bigger of the two suns (presumably the stronger new year) is located at the break (koti) between the upper and lower 'limbs', possible meaning that new year is born during 'X-time'. In Qa5-22 we can observe a sign in the form of a big gaping mouth. But to infer from this that the H, P and Q texts talk about the myth of Maui as the 5th brother is out of the question - there is no continuity of action between the four 'pillars' and the X-area. We had another idea about 'Maui' too, that he was 'heu' (had a questionable descent):
The glyph type which Ca5-16 represents is maybe seen also just before midnight:
Metoro (at Aa1-41) said e tauru papagete, which does not lead us anywhere. At Aa1-66
he said ko te henua which we in a way may understand: 3 vertical night staffs in the middle (of the night). But what are the marks on both sides? Is it a feather-cloak? The 'pole' through the earth certainly must be seen both in the 'north' and in the 'south' and we can accept the idea that this 'pole' has 3 segments (just like a sedge stem). Easily we go astray by thinking of 'north' and 'south' as references in geographical space, but we must think of them as references in geographical time. All five brothers were named Maui - they are one and the same, just 'born' at different times. At Poike sun may be imagined as standing at 'noon' (including midsummer of course), at that point (in space) Easter Island is highest. We can think of that point as highest both in space and in time. It is as if there was a mountain at 'noon'. But there is a mountain also at its 'antipode', at 'midnight'. Where is that? At 'nighttime' there is no 'earth' visible at all - there is 'water' everywhere (frame of reference = the movement of the earth-sky during the year). In Egypt, at the beginning of their year when the waters of the Nile covered every bit of land, the fertile mound (a little mountain) appeared a bit later, when the waters had subsided somewhat. As I have tried to explain:
The primary mound may be low but that has nothing to do with its importance. Once again Wilkinson will come to our help:
This type of hieroglyph stands for the primary mound: "The eighth Egyptian district, with Thinis as capital, had very early a sign which consisted of an object formed like a hill on top of which were two feathers. The sign probably depicted the primordial mound rising from the water at the creation, which maybe be clear from the Egyptian name of the district, Ta-wer, 'The oldest land'. The appearance of the cult of Osiris, with its centre at Abydos in the same district, seems to be the reason why the sign was reinterpreted to be a shrine for the head of the god who had his residence at Abydos. The simple original sign, similar to a mound, this way became a much more complicated emblem, with many attributes associating to the god of the underworld."
"[This picture] shows a reconstruction of how the developed fetisch probably may have looked, based on pictures in the temple of Seti I in Abydos and other sources. The emblem is crowning a high pole and stands on a portable frame to enable carrying it in processions. Here, as in most of the pictures, the fetisch is not only adorned with the sun disc and feather plumes, but also with cobras, hairbands, and the decorative bands connected with them. These elements of the developed cult should all allude to the character of the fetisch as 'head' of the god." Ta-wer, 'the oldest land', must surely - I think - be the place of Taweret, which would imply that the 'beginning', the 'mound' and the 'hippopotamus' are close in thought. Remember Lockyer: The acient Egyptians observed the stars and the circumpolar stars they regarded as qualitatively different from the ordinary stars which arrived at the eastern horizon and later disappeard behind the western horizon. The circumpolar stars had a circular motion, whereas the ordinary ones went straight across the sky. The inscriptions relating to one of the very earliest of the illustrations refers to Horus, 'the great god, the light of the heavens, the lord of Edfû, the bright ray which appears on the horizon'.
The myth, therefore, I take it, simply means that the rising sun destroys the circumpolar stars. These stars are represented in the earliest forms of the myth either by the crocodile or the hippopotamus; of course they disappeared (or were killed) at sunrise. Horus, the bright ray on the horizon, is victorious by destroying the crocodile and the hippopotamus, which represent the powers of darkness. The primordial mound is not seen in the picture because, I think, that mound is personified by the hippopotamus (Taweret). The final -t in Taweret means that the hippo is a she, i.e. able to give birth. Of course we shouldn't expect to find a hippopotamus among the rongorongo glyphs (unless she is represented by niu). Possibly, though, we could find the constellation of the Thigh (numbered 5 above) and I have a candidate, the object in the left hand of the person in Pa5-69:
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