1. The "Creation-chant" written down as a version of the Rapanui rongorongo record (Métraux 1940: 320-2) includes quite unclear sentences in its end. I have analyzed them and realized the beliefs of the Easter Islanders about development of the Universe (Rjabchikov 1996a: 5). As in other parts of the Polynesia, the natives thought that the initial condition of the world was Rumia (lit. Numia in the chant, and I have reconstructed it as Rumia taking into account alternations of the sounds). The blood of the placenta mentioned in the same text can be compared with Rapanui tiko 'menstruation' and means the god creator Tiki's name. The opinion is noteworthy that the main Rapanui deity, Makemake, is Tiki indeed (Métraux 1940: 315; Barthel 1957; Rjabchikov 1995: 6; Ayres and Ayres 1995: 108), and his symbol is the red/blood colour (Fedorova 1978; Ayres W.S.: personal communication, 6 June 1996). The vulvaform rongorongo glyphs are 1 [tiko 'menstruation', Tiki] and 64 [mea 'red']. These signs are depicted near birdman figures on the rocks of the island; sometimes such signs are engraved on the skulls. Since birdman cult and, in particular, the skulls are associated with Makemake (e.g., Métraux 1940: 313-4; Rjabchikov 1987: 364-5), we have an indirect evidence that vulva signs are Tiki's images (1).
The Santiago staff (I 12) contains the following glyphs (see figure 1; fragment 1): 18 4 44 72 64 4 (102) 4-33 47 12 (102) te atua Taha -- Manu Mea; atua: atua/ua Ava Ika, i.e. 'the deity 'The Frigate Bird -- The Red Bird (The Bird of Tiki)'; the deity: the deity/dwelling 'The Month/Full Moon -- Fish/Victim''. The deities' names are preserved in the Rapanui place names Ahu manu mea and Ava o iko (Barthel 1962: 103, 105) respectively. Fragment 2 preserved on the Paris Snuffbox corresponds to the second segment of fragment 1. It reads: 6-4 47 12 12 12 12 a atua Ava Ika, Ika, Ika, Ika 'the deity 'The Month/Full Moon -- four Fish/Victims (2)''. Fragment 3 of the same staff (I 12) reads: 60 4 (102) 4-33 64 Mata -- atua: atua/ua -- Mea 'The Face -- the deity:the deity/dwelling -- Genitals' (3), i.e. the place name Mataveri 'The Face -- the Menstruation (i.e. Tiki)' (Rjabchikov 1996b: 142).
Besides, makemake signifies 'light' in Rarotongan (Fedorova 1978: 20), and signs of the vulva and of the round (the sun) are used interchangeably in the Marquesan rock art (Millerstrom 1990: 97, fig. 34b and fig. 34a; 51: fig. 15g). I should like to offer such linguistic evidence: cf. Rapanui komari 'vulva', and Maori komaru 'the sun'. A sentence of the "Creation-chant" -- A ana kiho rou. 'Kiho-rou is shining'. -- contains the name of the Tuamotuan supreme deity Kiho or Kiho-te-vaiga-raurau 'Kiho-the-immanent-in-all-places' (Stimson 1933: 10). I think that Kiho (cf. Rapanui kio 'to win; to gain the upper hand'), Makemake and Tiki are the different names (characteristics) of the common god creator.
2. The Rapanui myth about the appearance of the birdman cult joints the two ideas: "beautiful youth" and "bird" (Englert 1948). Cf. Tuamotuan tavake-noho-papa 'elegance, beauty, superiority' (Stimson 1933: 124) and Rapanui tavake 'red-tailed tropic bird' as well. Using the methodology of the study of the Rapanui rock art (e.g., Rjabchikov 1996c), I read glyphs 35-35 Papa 'flat rock; the goddess Papa' depicted on the representation of a birdman (Lee 1992: 145, fig. 5.16) as a possible parallel with the Tuamotuan beliefs.
3. The Easter Island place names are the real source for the reconstruction of the ancient culture. So the place name Ahu nga nga timo (Barthel 1962: 103) signifies 'The stone platform 'The Shell (of the deity Tangaroa) -- The Grief', cf. Maori nganga 'shell'. The place name Pokopoko koreha (Barthel 1962: 106) can be interpreted as 'The Pit -- (the initial condition of the Universe) Kore', cf. Rapanui kore 'not; to be lacking; not to have; without', timo rara koreha 'person who dries corpse'. Glyphs 28 nga and 13 (132) koreha with the above-mention meanings are presented in the rongorongo cosmogony (Rjabchikov 1996b: 36-8).
1. The Easter Islanders interpreted the vulva sign as the "symbol of the great spirit Meke-Meke" (Makemake) in rongorongo inscriptions (Thomson 1891: 517).
2. Cf. also Rapanui iko 'to take away; to despoil; to seize food', Maori hiko 'to shine'. At last, the term ika or the expression ika, ika, ika, ika can denote the Milky Way, see my article "Rongorongo: The Milky Way and Antares". Glyph 7 tuu 'star' is inscribed after the expression ika, ika, ika, ika (fragment 2) on the Paris Snuffbox.
3. Cf. Samoan mea 'genitals' (Rjabchikov 1999: 15).
Ayres W.S. and G.S. Ayres, 1995. Geiseler's Easter Island Report: An 1880s Anthropological Account. Asian and Pacific Archaeology Series No. 12. Honolulu: Social Science Research Institute.
Barthel, T.S., 1957. Die Hauptgottheit der Osterinsulaner. Jahrbuch des Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig, 15: 60-82.
Barthel, T.S., 1962. Easter Island Place-Names. Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 18: 100-7.
Englert, S., 1948. La tierra de Hotu Matu'a historia, etnologia y lengua de la isla de Pascua. Padre Las Casas, Chile: Imprenta y editorial, "San Francisco".
Fedorova, I.K., 1978. Mify, predaniya i legendy ostrova Paskhi. Moscow: Nauka.
Lee, G., 1992. Rock Art of Easter Island. Symbols of Power, Prayers to the Gods. Los Angeles: The Institute of Archaeology.
Métraux, A., 1940. Ethnology of Easter Island. Bishop Museum Bulletin 160. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
Millerstrom, S., 1990. Rock Art of Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia: A Case Study of Hatiheu Valley, Nuku Hiva. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, San Francisco State University.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1987. Progress Report on the Decipherment of the Easter Island Writing System. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 96: 361-7.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1995. Tayny ostrova Paskhi. Vol. 4. Krasnodar: Ecoinvest.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1996a. Tayny ostrova Paskhi. Vol. 5. Krasnodar: Torgovo-promyshlennaya palata Krasnodarskogo kraya.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1996b. Toponimy ostrova Paskhi, svyazannye s kul'tom ptitsecheloveka. In: V.I. Tkhorik (ed.) Otnositel'nost' abstraktnykh realiy yazyka. Krasnodar: Kuban State University, pp. 141-4.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1996c. On an Easter Island Rock Drawing. Rapa Nui Journal, 10: 22.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1999. Tangaroa in the Inscription of the Chicago Fish Tablet. Rapa Nui Journal, 13: 14-5.
Stimson, J.F., 1933. Tuamotuan Religion. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 103. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press.
Thomson, W.J., 1891. Te Pito te Henua, or Easter Island. Report of the United States National Museum for the Year Ending June 30, 1889. Annual Reports of the Smithsonian Institution for 1889. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 447-552.
Copyright © 1999 by Sergei V. Rjabchikov. All Rights Reserved.