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445. In order to secure our map of the C text we should now reiterate some of the basic steps. First - and like an axiom - was my assumption that the Full Moon gave the Easter Islanders an opportunity to use the heliacal calendar which once upon a time may have originated from somewhere north of the equator.

... In each of the Nakshatras there is a 'yoga', a key star that marks a station taken by the moon in its monthly (twenty-seven- or twenty-eight-day course) through the stars. (The sidereal period of the moon, twenty-seven days and a fraction , should be distinguished from the synodic, or phase-shift period of 29.5 days, which is the ultimate antecedent of our month.) In ancient times the priest-astronomers (Brahmans) determined the recurrence of the solstices and equinoxes by the use of the gnomon. Later they developed the Nakshatra system of star reference to determine the recurrence of the seasons, much as the Greeks used the heliacal rising of some star for the same purpose. An example of the operation of the Nakshatra system in antiquity can be seen in figure 6.9

 

Here we see that the spring equinox occurred when the sun was at its closest approach to the star Aldebaran (called Rohini by the Hindus) in our constellation Taurus. But, of course, the phenomenon would not have been visible because the star is too close to the sun for observation. The astronomers would have known, however, that the equinoctial point was at Aldebaran by observing the full moon falling near the expected date or near a point in the sky exactly opposite Aldebaran (since the full moon is 180º from the sun), that is, near the star Antares ...

Sirrah (α Andromedae) was at the time of rongorongo at 0h (March 21, day 80 counted from January 1). It was at a corner (zaniah) of the Pegasus Square and could be regarded as day zero for people living in the northern hemisphere. Half a year later an observer on Easter Island would see the Full Moon at the right ascension line of Sirrah, i.e. in day 80 + 183 = 263 (September 20). Although η Virginis (another corner) rose heliacally 185 days later at the September equinox.

The Sun was always at the opposite side of the year compared to the Full Moon and therefore his position should be in March 21 (263 - 183 = 80 = 265 - 185). When the Full Moon was at Sirrah the date shoud be March 21.

no glyph koia ki te hoea ki te henua te rima te hau tea haga i te mea ke ki te henua - tagata honui
Ca1-1 Ca1-2 Ca1-3 (121 - 118) Ca1-4 Ca1-5 Ca1-6
Sept 20 (263) 21 Equinox 23 24 (183) 25 (*5 + *183) 26 (185)
"Aug 10 (222) 11 12 (265 - 41) 13 (15 * 15) 14 (227 = 268 - 41) 16 (*148)
CLOSE TO THE FULL MOON:
March 21 (80) 22 23 24 25 (84) 26 27

Al Fargh al Thāni-25 (Rear Spout)

0h (365.25)

CAPH (Hand) = β Cassiopeiae, SIRRAH (Navel of the Horse) = α Andromedae (0.5), ε Phoenicis, γ³ Oct. (0.8)

Uttara Bhādrapadā-27 (2nd of the Blessed Feet) / Wall-14 (Porcupine)

ο Oct. (1.3), ALGENIB PEGASI = γ Pegasi (1.8)
χ Pegasi (2.1), θ Andromedae (2.7) σ Andromedae (3.0), ι Ceti (3.3), ζ Tucanae (3.5), ρ Andromedae, π Tucanae (3.7) no star listed (4) ANKAA = α Phoenicis, κ Phoenicis (5.0)

ALPHARD (α Hydrae)

λ Phoenicis (6.3), β Tucanae (6.4)
CLOSE TO THE SUN:
ALCHITA = α Corvi, MA WEI (Tail of the Horse) = δ Centauri (183.1), MINKAR = ε Corvi (183.7), ρ Centauri (183.9) PÁLIDA (Pale) = δ Crucis (184.6), MEGREZ (Root of the Tail) = δ Ursae Majoris (184.9)

Hasta-13 (Hand) / Chariot-28 (Worm)

GIENAH (Wing) = γ Corvi (185.1), ε Muscae (185.2), ζ Crucis (185.4), ZANIAH (Corner) = η Virginis (185.9)

*144.0 = *185.4 - *41.4

CHANG SHA (Long Sand-bank) = ζ Corvi (186.3) INTROMETIDA (Inserted) = ε Crucis (187.4), ACRUX = α Crucis (187.5)

*146.0 = *187.4 - *41.4

γ Com. Berenicis (188.0), σ Centauri (188.1), ALGORAB = δ Corvi (188.5), GACRUX = γ Crucis (188.7) γ Muscae (189.0), AVIS SATYRA (Bird of the Satyrs) = η Corvi (189.3), ASTERION (Starry) = β Canum Ven. (189.5), KRAZ = β Corvi, κ Draconis (189.7)

... Raven gazed up and down the beach. It was pretty, but lifeless. There was no one about to upset, or play tricks upon. Raven sighed. He crossed his wings behind him and strutted up and down the sand, his shiny head cocked, his sharp eyes and ears alert for any unusual sight or sound. The mountains and the sea, the sky now ablaze with the sun by day and the moon and stars he had placed there, it was all pretty, but lifeless. Finally Raven cried out to the empty sky with a loud exasperated cry. And before the echoes of his cry faded from the shore, he heard a muffled squeak. He looked up and down the beach for its source and saw nothing. He strutted back and and forth, once, twice, three times and still saw nothing. Then he spied a flash of white in the sand. There, half buried in the sand was a giant clamshell. As his shadow fell upon it, he heard another muffled squeak. Peering down into the opening between the halves of the shell, he saw it was full of tiny creatures, cowering in fear at his shadow ...

I have also assumed each glyph should correspond to a right ascension day - my invention for translating the diurnal right ascension hours, minutes, and seconds, into a pattern more suitable for the cycle of the year. This means there will be 392 (side a of the C tablet) + 348 (side b) = 740 right ascension days covered by the glyphs. Which could be explained for instance as 392 = 365 + 27 (the precessional depth down to Julius Caesar) with 348 = 364 - 16 (the minimum number of days before a star would return to visibility after its close encounter with the Sun).

... Dieffenbach, in his 'Travels in New Zealand', mentions that a title or appellation of the chiefs there was Taki o te Wenua, and explains it to mean 'the root of the land'. As the New Zealanders also came from the Samoan group, it seems as if what once was a national appellation, in course of time became the title of a chief. If Diffenbach's interpretation of the title is correct, it corresponds to the Hawiian Kumu-honua, the name of the first man. The same author also mentions, p. 67, a place where chiefs go after death, and says it is called Taki-wana ... when a chief dies he first goes to Taki-wana, where his left eye remains and becomes a star ...

... The eye is the symbolic site of subjection. Valeri observes that: 'The two sentiments that permit the transcendence of the self are, according to Hawaiians, desire and respect. One and the other are called kau ka maka, literally, 'to set one's eyes on' ... 'To see' (ike) in Hawaiian (as in French or English) is 'to understand', but it is also 'to know sexually'. Witness to the order, the world of forms generated by the chief, the eye, is the sacrifice of those who violate that order. The left eye of the slain tabu-transgressors is swallowed by Kahoali'i, ceremonial double of the king and living god of his sacrificial rites. Like the sun, chiefs of the highest tabus - those who are called 'gods', 'fire', 'heat', and 'raging blazes' - cannot be gazed directly upon without injury. The lowly commoner prostrates before them face to the ground, the position assumed by victims on the platforms of human sacrifice. Such a one is called makawela, 'burnt eyes' ...

From my assumed beginning of the text in September 21 (264 = 364 - 100) to te maitaki (good) according to Metoro Tau'a Ure at Ca3-22, we should therefore arrive at Cujam marking the Club of Hercules in right ascension day *183 (Alchita) + *73 = *256 = December 2 (336 = 80 + 256 = 4 * 84 = 48 weeks).

JAN 31 FEBR 1 (32 = 73 - 41) 2 3 4 (115 - 80)
Ca3-21 (→ March 21 → Gregorian equinox) Ca3-22 (73) Ca3-23 Ca3-24 Ca3-25 (→ March 25→ Julian equinox)
tagata tuu rima ki ruga te maitaki te henua Rei hata ia tagata rogo

Hata. 1. Table, bureau. P Pau.: afata, a chest, box. Mgv.: avata, a box, case, trunk, coffin. Mq.: fata, hata, a piece of wood with several branches serving as a rack, space, to ramify, to branch; fataá, hataá, stage, step, shelf. Ta.: fata, scaffold, altar. 2. Hakahata, to disjoint; hakahatahata, to loosen, to stretch. P Pau.: vata, an interval, interstice. Mgv.: kohata, the space between two boards, to be badly joined; akakohata, to leave a space between two bodies badly joined; hakahata, to be large, broad, wide, spacious, far off. Mq.: hatahata, fatafata, having chinks, not tightly closed, disjointed. Ta.: fatafata, open. 3. Hatahata, calm, loose, prolix, vast. Mgv.: hatahara, broad, wide, spacious, at one's ease. Ta.: fatafata, free from care. Mq.: hatahata, empty, open. 4. Hatahata, tube, pipe, funnel. Churchill. Sa.: fata, a raised house in which to store yams, a shelf, a handbarrow, a bier, a litter, an altar, to carry on a litter; fatāmanu, a scaffold. To.: fata, a loft, a bier, a handbarrow, to carry on a bier; fataki, a platform. Fu.: fata, a barrow, a loft; fatataki, two sticks or canes attached to each other at each side of a house post to serve as a shelf. Niuē: fata, a cage, a handbarrow, a shelf, a stage, (sometimes) the upper story of a house. Uvea: fata, a barrow, a bier. Fotuna: fata, a stage. Ta.: fata, an altar, a scaffold, a piece of wood put up to hang baskets of food on; afata, a chest, a box, a coop, a raft, a scaffold. Pau.: fata, a heap; afata, a box, a chest. Ma.: whata, a platform or raised storehouse for food, an altar, to elevate, to support. Moriori: whata, a raft. Mq.: fata, hata, hataá, shelves. Rapanui: hata, a table. Ha.: haka, a ladder, an artificial henroost; alahaka, a ladder. Mg.: ata, a shelf; atamoa, a ladder; atarau, an altar. Mgv.: avata, a coffer, a box. Vi.: vata, a loft, a shelf; tāvata, a bier. The Samoan fata is a pair of light timbers pointed at the ends and tied across the center posts of the house, one in front, the other behind the line of posts; rolls of mats and bales of sennit may be laid across these timbers; baskets or reserved victuals may be hung on the ends. The litter and the barrow are two light poles with small slats lashed across at intervals. The Marquesan fata is a stout stem of a sapling with the stumps of several branches, a hat tree in shape, though found among a barehead folk. These illustrations are sufficient to show what is the common element in all these fata identifications, light cross-pieces spaced at intervals. With this for a primal signifaction it is easy to see how a ladder, a raft, a henroost, an altar come under the same stem for designation. Perhaps Samoan fatafata the breast obtains the name by reason of the ribs; it would be convincing were it not that the plumpness of most Samoans leaves the ribs a matter of anatomical inference. Churchill 2. ... Teke said to Oti, 'Go and take the hauhau tree, the paper mulberry tree, rushes, tavari plants, uku koko grass, riku ferns, ngaoho plants, the toromiro tree, hiki kioe plants (Cyperus vegetus), the sandalwood tree, harahara plants, pua nakonako plants, nehenehe ferns, hua taru grass, poporo plants, bottle gourds (ipu ngutu), kohe plants, kavakava atua ferns, fragrant tuere heu grass, tureme grass (Diochelachne sciurea), matie grass, and the two kinds of cockroaches makere and hata.' ... The division into quarters of a 28-series can be applied to the main phases of the moon during the visible period as was as to a (reflex of the old world?) sidereal month. The separate subgroup (29 makere - 30 hata) consists of the names of two types of cockroaches, but in related eastern Polynesian languages these names can also be explained on a different level. MAO. makere, among others, 'to die', and whata, among others, 'to be laid to rest on a platform', deserve special attention. The theme hinted at is one of death and burial. In our scheme they occur at just that time when the moon 'has died'! This lends further support to the lunar thesis. Barthel 2.

CLOSE TO THE FULL MOON:
June 1

π4 Orionis (72.1), ο¹ Orionis (72.4), π5 Orionis (72.8)

*31.0 = *72.4 - *41.4

2 (336 - 183 = 153)

π¹ Orionis (73.0), ο² Orionis (73.4), HASSALEH = ι Aurigae (73.6), π6 Orionis (73.9)

3

ALMAAZ (The Male Goat) = ε Aurigae (74.7), HAEDUS I = ζ Aurigae (74.8)

4

HAEDUS II = η Aurigae (75.9)

5

5h (76.1)

ε Leporis (76.0), CURSA = β Eridani (76.4), λ Eridani (76.7)

"April 21 22 (153 - 41 = 112) 23 24 25
CLOSE TO THE SUN:
Dec 1

Ophiuchi (255.3), GRAFIAS (Claws) = ζ Scorpii (255.4)

*214.0 = *255.4 - *41.4

2 (336 = 4 * 84)

κ Ophiuchi (256.2), ζ Arae (256.5), ε Arae (256.8), CUJAM (Club) = ε Herculi (256.9)

3

no star listed (257)

4

17h (258.7)

ARRAKIS = μ Draconis (258.7)

5

Mula-19 (The Root)

SABIK (The Preceding One) = η Ophiuchi (259.7), η Scorpii (259.9)
"Oct 21 22 (336 - 41 = 295) 23 24 25

The Full Moon would in December 2 be at the right ascension line half a year away from the Club, i.e. at the beginning of Auriga.

Since the time of Bharani (when this star had been at 0h) the precession had moved the Sun earlier in the year with *41.4 right ascension positions.

This means that at the time of Bharani the Club of Hercules (Cujam) would have risen together with the Sun in day 295 (= 10 lunar synodic months), viz. in "October 22, when the Full Moon would have been observed to be at the right ascension line of Hassaleh in Auriga.