TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

We have now reached ika hiku, the tail fish:

A few preliminary remarks and imaginations:

1. A fish (ika) may be a hanging victim (rau hei), in which case there evidently will be a rebirth 243 days later. The 'fish' is not really dead - like the mimosa leaves he will be revitalized with the return of the sun.

A tahana glyph also has a tail in the air and it seems to mark the end of a 'year':


rau hei	tahana	ika hiku

A caudal fin at the top of a glyph could mean 'the end'.

This statement can be more precise. In the Mamari 'moon calendar' we can see that a rising fish denotes the waxing phase, while an upside down fish means the waning phase.

The beginning of the waning phase (irrespective of which celestial body is represented by the 'fish') must be at the end of the waxing phase. Therefore ika hiku could indicate the end of the waxing phase.

Although the specimen which serves as a prototype for ika hiku happens to have its tail fin at the bottom rather than at the top.

The 'legs' often surrounding ika hiku glyphs are not 'feathers', as when such are used to illustrate subdued sun light:


*Ca14-23	*Ca14-14

But by the logic of contrast we then can conclude they should be ua signs.


ika hiku	ua

2. The word hiki seems to be in some way related to hiku. And hiki is

"To flex the knees lightly, as used to do the youths of both sexes when, after having stayed inside for a long period to get a fair complexion, they showed themselves off in dances called te hikiga haúga, parading on a footpath of smooth stones, with their faces painted, lightly flexing their knees with each step." (Vanaga)

Sun light is finally allowed to reach these youths and there is a footpath of smooth stones for them to walk on. This flat stone surface is probably hinted at also in the '2nd list of place names':

"hanga maihiku a papa hakakiva

This large bay is located southeast of Cerro Toatoa. The additional name mentions a flat rock, which is either 'smoothed out' or 'kept secret'." (Barthel 2)

This is the 33rd station on the list and according to Barthel it is connected with some night in the interval 7 - 9 nights counted from new moon.

The smooth rock and the flexing of the knees suggests that the dance te hikiga haúga was taking place at a solstice, when sun neither is waxing nor waning, and when sun should be induced to begin moving again. A flat smooth horizontal path lies waiting ahead and the youths illustrate how to get legs into motion.

A solstice located at the tail end of waxing must be summer solstice. But also a waning fish should have a tail. The youths had stayed inside for a long period, therefore winter solstice is a better guess than summer solstice. And they had painted their faces in hope of inducing sun to show also his face.

Suppose the 2nd list of place names is in parallel with the Mamari 'moon calendar'. Here we have a geographical point which lies to the east of Te Pei (where the moon new 'year' possibly is located).

With the week basically reflecting the whole sun year, the month could reflect the half year from Te Pei.

If we look for nights which could be those with number 7 - 9 we first can see that period number 1 has no proper marama night:


Ca6-17 (157)	Ca6-18	Ca6-19	Ca6-20	Ca6-21

Ca6-22	Ca6-23	Ca6-24 (164)

The nights (Ca6-22--24) are presumably referring to the dark new moon time. But the next period, number 2, is crystal clear. The new moon has been 'born' and there are 6 nights (Ca7-2--7) - as if reflecting 6 sun 'stations' - of growth ahead:


Ca6-25	Ca6-26	Ca6-27	Ca6-28	Ca7-1

Ca7-2	Ca7-3	Ca7-4	Ca7-5	Ca7-6	Ca7-7

They are 'kokore' nights, nights without any tabu. It is just to enjoy them. But then comes period number 3, in which complications arise beyond the first of the nights:


Ca7-8	Ca7-9	Ca7-10	Ca7-11	Ca7-12

Ca7-13	Ca7-14	Ca7-15	Ca7-16

The special Ca7-9 we have recently identified as located in day 177 counted from Ca1-1:

	174
Ca1-1 (1)	174	Ca7-8	Ca7-9 (177)	Ca7-10	Ca7-11	Ca7-12 (180)
				*177 = 6 29.5**
Ca7-13	Ca7-14 (182)	Ca7-15	Ca7-16 (184)	*177 = 6 29.5**	Ca13-19	Ca13-20 (363)

... The half-way mark lies in the 3rd period of the moon calendar. Ca1-1 contains a vero sign. At Ca7-9 time has reached 6 lunar months from that vero. The 2 first of the 9 glyphs of the 3rd period are at the end of these 177 days. And now we understand the reversed extra kai sign in Ca7-9. It means the season of growth has ended (here). A week is needed to reach to the beginning of next 6 lunar month period. 177 + 7 + 177 = 361, and then follow a vero influenced by Rogo ...

Ca7-13 is the central night of the week between the 6-month periods. The tapu breaks out in Ca7-14, where a hua is at left. Does it mean the midline (at Ca7-13) is a kind of hua? Or does it refer to the whole 'front side' from Ca1-1?

At any rate, Ca7-13 is exactly in the center of the counting of lunar months. It would not be wrong, I guess, to associate to setting the sun into motion, because the calendar evidently states 'here is a solstice'.

Hanga Mai Hiku is a large bay, and in such bays the canoe of the sun is taken ashore to give sun a little rest and recreation. The result of such recreations ought to be a new babies (tamaiti). Or should we say offspring, hua.

In night number 182 (Ca7-14) it is over, hua is in the past. On the map we can see Tama following upon Hanga Mai Hiku.

It would not be strange to find Tama here, mentioned in Ca7-14, given that Hanga Mai Hiku is located at Ca7-13. From the moon perspective, as written in the moon calendar of Mamari, the waxing moon season is over, and it is time for the moon to set new life into action. It will be the sun child, Tama. The moon can then 'die' (at One Tea). The southeast coast is running out.

We are used to thinking of Tama as kuhane station number 14, i.e. as day number 413 = 14 * 29.5. But in the Mamari moon calendar 14 is the ordinal number in the glyph line.

413 - 182 = 231, the 1st day on side b of G.

One Tea will be at Ca7-15, where haú (with 15 feathers) has an empty space where the 'foot' should be. The moon queen has died after giving birth.

But in the following Ca7-16 we can see the baby sun safely riding in his canoe.

The 4th period ends with full moon, Omotohi:


Ca7-17	Ca7-18	Ca7-19	Ca7-20

Ca7-21	Ca7-22	Ca7-23	Ca7-24 (192)

We are outside the kuhane list mapped in G and there is a hole instead of an eye in Ca7-17. But clearly Hanga Takaure could be at Ca7-16.

According to the 2nd list of place names number 40 is Hua Reva (possibly night number 12 from new moon), which would be fitting for the sign of koti inside the full moon oval, a sign which shows a break both horizontally and vertically. For the sun it means 192 days on the 'front side' is over, for the moon it is exactly the same - the waxing is over.

Maunga Teatea is the last kuhane station before the way down is beginning. The end of growing should be located at the (flat) top of a mountain.