Elsdon Best

“ A lunar crescent surmounting a linga was the symbol of Ira, the eel-god of India, where the phallic eel was also nearly concerned with reproduction, as it is in Maori myth. Now, the old symbol of the moon-god, the lunar crescent, reappears here at the end of the earth in the whakamarama or whakaaurei (both moon-names) , which is the crescent carved on the upper end of the old Maori ko, or digging-implement.
Early man ever turned to the moon for help in the matter of the division of time, inasmuch as its phases are more apparent than those of the sun. ”

“ Thomson gives us the best account of the Maori system of time-division in his Story of New Zealand, and also of the regulating agents employed: "Although time passes away among them like a shadow, the unrecorded year is divided into thirteen moons, and each moon is distinguished by the rising of stars, the flowering of plants, and the arrival of two migratory birds. June is the first month of the year, and it is recognized by the appearance of the Puanga star in the morning. July is marked by the stars Kopu and Tautoru and the flowering of the karaka tree. ”

“ The moon is ever connected with water, hence, perhaps, the association of the name of Tangaroa, an ocean being, with the moon. We have seen that several nights of the moon are named Tangaroa, while Tangaroa and Rona are said to be the "tide-controllers," hence their secondary names of Whakamau-tai. When Hina-uri (the darkened moon) crossed the ocean to a far land she was taken to wife by Tinirau, son of Tangaroa.
A quaint old myth shows how Raumati (summer) mated with Raro, the lower world, their offspring being Puanga, Takurua, and Matariki (Rigel, Sirius, and the Pleiades) . ”

“ In the far north of our North Island the commencement of the Rigel year was marked by a three-days festival. In the districts where the Pleiades year was followed a similar festival was held when that group appeared on the eastern horizon in the early morn, and such appearance was greeted by women with song and tears. The Rev. R. Taylor, whose book Te Ika a Maui contains much matter collected in the far North, wrote: "The year commences with the first new moon after the star Puanga is seen in the morning, which is in June"—or May, as he states in his little Maori-English dictionary. ”

“ In later times two more months were added.
When an uncultured folk adopted agriculture it would be found that a more careful division of time than that pertaining to savagery was necessary—that the recurring seasons must be noted more closely. In order to effect this, barbaric man has ever turned to the heavenly bodies for assistance, hence their connection with the art of agriculture. S. Baring Gould has written as follows: "The march of the sun in its annual revolution, and the phases of the moon, formed the rough distribution of time to a rude people. ”

“ Curiously enough, this usage reappears at the Hawaiian Isles in the northern Pacific, where the five intercalated days were devoted to exactly the same purpose.
Inasmuch as the Polynesian division of time was based on the movements of the moon, it behoves us to pay some little attention to that luminary, one of the leading members of what the Maori calls the Whanau Marama, or Children of Light. In some ancient mythological systems pertaining to barbaric folk the moon is masculine, on account of its supposed superior importance, while the sun-god is feminine. ”

“ It is a noteworthy fact that the Orion year was followed by tribes most closely connected with the original people of the land, and the Pleiades year by the later-coming Takitumu migrants. The natives of the Takitumu district of the east coast were noted by Cook and his companions as being of superior culture to those of the far North and those of the South Island.
We are told that the primitive Aryan folk reckoned the years as winters divided into moons and nights, not into months and days, and that they made no attempt to reconcile solar and lunar time. ”

“ The fixing of the solar year with precision was too difficult a task for him, hence he employed various devices in order to bring the lunar year into agreement with the solar year—that is to say, with recurring seasons. The lunar month would be one of the first mediums for division of time to be recognized by uncultured man, so apparent are its limits. Many peoples have advanced so far as to recognize a year of twelve months, each of thirty days. ”

“ The weak point of the thirty-day month appears to lie in the fact that it exceeds the period of lunar revolution, and this would soon make itself apparent, and call for remedy. The Maori gives the names of thirty nights of the moon in the great majority of cases, as also do natives of the various isles of Polynesia. It is quite possible that two systems were practised, one marked by a thirteen-month year, and the other by one of twelve months accompanied by some method of regulating that has not been explained. ”

“ A generation may be shortened or lengthened; two persons descended from a common ancestor of 250 years ago may count, the one ten generations from that ancestor to himself, the other possibly but eight. This imperfect system of chronology cannot be termed a satisfactory one, but it is the only one that can be utilized in dealing with the traditional history of the Maori. In order to introduce uniformity the Polynesian Society has fixed upon twenty-five years as representing the Maori and Polynesian generation. ”

“ Dwelling in small communities in isles of small area, cut off from communion with more advanced peoples, the Polynesians must have lived for many centuries in much the same stage of culture as they had been when they first entered the Pacific.
The Maori of New Zealand followed in the footsteps of many other divisions of mankind with regard to the commencement of the year. ”

“ Names of thirteen months were also collected at Tahiti. Nor do all peoples who adopt the lunar year appear to employ an extra month. The Hawaiians, for example, had their system of twelve lunar months of thirty days each, to which were added five extra days, as already explained. This would leave very little leeway to make up, and that could be managed by manipulation of the nights of the moon, a practice that was certainly followed by our Maori folk. ”

“ And even as his women turned ever to Pale Hina in their hour of trouble, so did the Maori rely on Kongo of the great waters and Tane of the heavens to measure out the fleeting year.
The above figure and the one on the title page represent what is usually termed the "double manaia," a well-known device in Maori carving. Manaia is the name given by natives to the grotesque bird-headed creature shown above. It often appears singly; when the double form is employed, then one is situated on either side of an equally grotesque human figure. The positions are peculiar ”

“ From whatever region the ancestors of the Maori may have wandered in long past centuries, it is clear that their knowledge of arts and sciences must have been but elementary when they settled in the isles of the Pacific. ”

“ In the following list of month-names we note some that we are already acquainted with, and two new ones:—
Pipiri. Kua pipiri te kin o nga mea katoa, rakau, tangata, ngarara, otaota. The skin of all things now contracts, of trees, persons, insects, herbage. Pakawera. Ka haere memenge nga rau o nga mea katoa i te huka. The leaves of all things become shrivelled by frost. Kauawhi. Ka nui te huka; ka patua te kaha o nga w,ea katoa i konei. Frost has become severe; the strength of all things wanes. Mahuru-matawai. Ka whakaniho nga msa katoa o te whenua i konei. All things of the earth now sprout. ”

“ The Mutuwhenua is a very good night for taking kokopu; they sleep until sunrise. The number of Korekore nights differ in the above lists, and the Maurea night of No. 1 becomes Mauri in No. 2. Of No. 2 list Tutakangahau remarked: "These are the nights of the moon, thirty in number. The moon disappears on the Mutuwhenua night; it acquires form on the Whiro night and its radiance is seen; it is actually seen on the Tirea night, and becomes round on the Ohua night. ”

“ The reason they give for this is that during two months between autumn and winter they have nothing to do in the way of cultivation; their time, consequently, is then occupied in comparative idleness. They are generally very correct in their time, and take their season for planting by the blossoms which appear upon some of the early shrubs." This writer adds concerning the two unnamed months: "These two months are not in their calendar; they do not reckon them, nor are they in any way accounted for."
Now, the above remarks do not describe a genuine ten-months year ”

“ March should probably be March–April. Upokopapa is a name applied to cold winter weather. It is an error to make the months of the Maori year coincide with our own.
The names of Oipiri and Oipiriwhea probably pertain to the stars called Pipiri, a word that means "close together." These stars are said to appear about the same time as the Pleiades. At the isle of Mangaia Opipiri seems to be applied to some form of cloud. ”

“ It is worthy of note that the so-called "hands" of these manaia are termed haohao, or claws, by the Maori. The three fingers that appear on the hands of old carved representations of the human figure in Maori work is a usage so ancient that its origin is lost. ”

“ Ka hauhake te kai i konei; ka ruhi te tipu o nga wea katoa. Crops are now lifted; all growth becomes flaccid. In this list we have but ten month-names, and a supplementary note explains the omission by stating that the other two months are negligible. At the same time the natives who employed the above list assuredly had terms to denote the other two months; that much is certain. This is a very different thing to a ten-months year. Of the period of July we are told that "the year has now turned; this is Whakaahu." Now, this Whakaahu is a star-name, and is used in connection with summer ”

“ Fruits have now set, and man eats of the new food products of the season. Hui-tanguru. Kua tau te waewae o Ruhi kai te whenua. The foot of Ruhi now rests upon the earth. Poutu-te-rangi. Kua hauhake te kai. The crops are now taken up. Paenga-whawha. Kua putu nga tupu o nga kai i nga paenga o nga mara. All haulm is now stacked at the borders of the plantations. Haratua. Kua uru nga kai kai te rua, kua mutu nga mahi a te tangata. Crops have now been stored in the store-pits. The tasks of man are finished. This list was given by old Tutakangahau, of Maunga-pohatu. ”

“ Ari also has become a reduplicate, and includes two nights. This list closes with the Omutu night, and a note runs as follows: "Each day had its own special name, even until the disappearance of the moon. There are certain meanings in this list of names concerning the taking of fish, the fruits of the earth, and the slaying of enemies." The Orongonui is omitted in this list, and the last name is Omutu. Williams gives Omutu and Mutuwhenua as being both names for the 30th night, yet in some lists we find Omutu given as the 29th night, and Mutuwhenua as the 3oth. ”

“ The twelve months were the twelve kaupeka or branches of the year.
In common with other tribes the Tuhoe folk commonly used the terms The First, The Second, &c., in order to designate the months, but the proper names of them are as follows:—
Pipiri. Kua piri nga mea katoa i te whenua i te matao, me te tangata. All things on earth cohere owing to the cold; likewise man. Hongonui. Kua tino matao te tangata, me te tahutahu ahi, ka painaina. Man is now extremely cold, and so kindles fires before which he basks. Hereturi-koka. Kua kitea te kainga a te ahi i nga turi o te tangata. ”

“ Hina, Sina, and Kongo. Moon older than sun. Rongo-ma-Tane. Moon and reproduction. The eel and reproduction. How time was expressed. Months of Polynesian year. The ten-months year. The Pleiades and agriculture. Stars as regulators. The lunar year. Seasons regulated by flowers and migratory birds. Star-names as month-names. Names of nights of moon. Widespread knowledge of these names. Phases of moon. Certain phases favourable to fishing and planting. Moon myths. Seasons. Personifications of time-marking phenomena. Rona and the moon. Maori division of time a crude system. ”

“ Tamatea-akaoti. Korekore. Korekore-akaoti. Ovari. Cf. Maori Ari. Una. Maori Huna. Ma'aru. Maori Mawharu. Ua. Maori Hua. Atua. Otu. Maori Hotu. Mararigi. Oturu. Rakau. Rakau-roto. Rakau-akaoti. Korekore. ”