11th Month of the Māori Year - April/May (2nd Year)

Te Marama o Matariki He Maramataka Māori - Paenga-whāwhā

11th Month of the Māori Year - April/May

E puāwai ana te Maire Tawake. E tipu ana te Harore ki runga ki ngā rākau i ngā wāhi māku. Ka whānau hēki hoki ngā Wētā. Kei te kohikohia ngā Kūmara ki ngā taha o ngā māra hei mau ki ngā whata, ngā pātaka me ngā hāpuke. He iti noa te kaha o Tama nui te Rā. Kei te āhua kōpeke a Paptūānuku.
Swamp Maire are now in flower. Turkey Tails grow on trees in damp places. Weta begin laying eggs. Sweet Potato are stacked by the edge of the field in preparation for storage. Day light is shorter and Earth is much cooler.

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Te Tohu o Kaupeka - Tītī

Sign of the Season - Mutton Bird (Puffinus griseus)

‘Manawa tītī.’

‘The heart of a muttonbird.’

This whakatauākī (proverb) refers to the tenacity of the muttonbird to stay aloft for long 

periods of time while out at sea. A reflection that resolve such as this will be rewarded.

When the young chicks of Tïtï are ready for harvest during Paenga-whäwhä (11th Matariki month) kümara are being cured on the edge of the fields in preparation for storing, daylight is shorter and earth is much cooler. 

Tītī, known also as Sooty Shearwater and part of the petrel family, is an impressive medium-large chocolate-brown seabird found throughout the worlds oceans. They grow to 50cm in length and have a wingspans between 90-110cm. They have silver-grey strips on their underwings and webbed lilac feet with brown markings. Their upper bill is curved with a sharp hook on the end.

Although they belong to a huge global migrating community of around 60 million members, they lay only one egg in a season and return to the same burrows each year. Tītī will only breed  in the temperate and subantartic regions of the southern oceans. The largest known colony, estimated at 2 million breeding pairs, lies 100 km to the south of Rakiura (Stewart Is.).

They depart on a solitary long-distance migration at the end of the nesting season. Muttonbirding (harvesting of young chicks) takes place over two consecutive stages, Nano, where chicks are taken by day from their underground burrows and Rama, where chicks are captured above ground on windy dark wet moonless nights. Birds were traditionally preserved in their own fat and stored in tītī-poha, inflated blades of hollowed bull kelp.

10th Matariki Month - Poutū-te-rangi (2nd Year)

Te Marama o Matariki He Maramataka Māori - Poutū-te-rangi

10th Month of the Māori Year - March/April

Ki te kitea a Poutū-te-Rangi e maranga mai ana i te Rāwhiti, he tohu tēnei mo te wā Hauhake. Tïmata i te wā o te maranga o Whānui e kitea ana ki te tahatū o te rangi o te Raki ki te Rāwhiti. Kei te whai huarākau te Kaikōmako te Māhoe me te Karaka. He wā ngahuru ka taka ngā huruhuru o ngā manu. He wā rerenga atu o te Koekoeā, ka timata tōnā haere ki te whenua o Papua New Guinea, me te rere hoki o te Pīpīwharauroa ki ngā moutere te taha Rāwhiti o Fiji. 

When Altair is seen rising in the east, prepare for the harvest. It is time to begin when Vega is seen rising in the northeast. White Wood, Kaikōmako and NZ Laurel are fruiting. Birds lose their feathers. Long-tailed Cuckoo leave for Papua New Guinea and the Shining Cuckoo fly to the islands east of Fiji.

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Te Tohu o Kaupeka - 

Whānui

Sign of the Season -  Vega, 

Alpha Lyrae

'Ko Whānui e! Ko Whānui!’ 

‘Here is Vega! Here is Vega!’

This karanga (call) was heard when Whānui was first seen rising before dawn on the horizon.

When Whānui appears before dawn on the north eastern horizon at the time of fullmoon during Poutū-te-rangi (10th Matariki month), kūmara are lifted.

Whānui, known also as Alpha Lyrae, is a rapidly rotating navigational star 25.3ly from Earth in the constellation of Lyra and the 5th brightest star of the heavens. Whānui served as the North Celestial Pole Star from between 12’000 to 10’000 B.C. and will do so again in another 10’000 years.

Whānui descended from Rangi and Papa through Urutengangana (the God of Stars) and is the celestial parent of Kūmara (sweet potato), Ānuhe (caterpillar), Tūpoupou, Hīhue (kūmara moth), Toronū (caterpillar) and Moko (caterpillar). Kūmara was brought to the world as a food source by Rongo-māui, younger brother of Whānui, who concealed some kōpura (kūmara tubers) in his maro (loin cloth) after visiting Whānui in the celestial realms. On returning to the world he impregnated Pani-tinaku his wife who gave birth to kūmara on earth. Whānui was so angered by the deception of Rongo-māui he sent forth Ānuhe, Toronū and Moko to the world where they continue to ravage and wreak havoc on kūmara leaves to this day. Pani-tinaku was so disturbed by the infestation of caterpillars on her offspring she fled underground to cultivate the plants from below.

9th Matariki Month - Hui Tanguru (2nd Year)

Te Marama o Matariki He Maramataka Māori - Hui Tanguru 

9th Month of the Māori Year - February/March

Kua maranga mai a Rēhua ki te paerangi, te tahatū o Tonga ki te Rāwhiti. He tohu tēnei o te mutunga o te wā tupu o te huawhenua, huarākau. Kei te maoa mai ngā huarākau o te Ngaio me te Mokopapa, e kitea ana e inaina mai ana i roto i ngā ringa o Tama nui te Ra. Kei te tino wera me te tino maroke a Papatūānuku. 

Antares is seen rising on the southern horizon bringing the end of the growing season. Berries are ripening on the Ngaio and Skinks are seen basking in sun. Earth is now very hot and dry.

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Te Tohu o Kaupeka - Rēhua 

Sign of the Season -  Antares, Alpha Scorpii

‘Haere, e whai i ngā waewae o Rēhua.’ 

‘Go and follow in the footsteps of Rēhua.’

This whakatauākī (proverb) is a reference to Rēhua as a skilled and esteemed chief

and one who inspires great leadership qualities.


When Rēhua appears on the southern horizon during Hui Tanguru (9th Matariki month), it signals the end of the growing season. Earth is now very hot and quite dry. 

Rēhua, seen in the heavens as the bright heart of the Scorpio, is an important navigational star and red supergiant sometimes mistaken for Matawhero, the Red Planet, Mars. 

Rēhua is the eldest offspring of Rangi and Papa, tūpuna of Māui and parent of Kaitangata (eater-of-people, in name only), known also as Awa-nui-a-rangi (great river of heaven), husband  of  Whaitiri (thunder). The blood of Kaitangata  marks the red sky of the morning, warning of storms. 

Rēhua illuminated the sky as lightening before ascending the celestial realms as an extremely noble and sacred personage to live in Te-Putahi-nui-o-Rēhua in Rangi-tuarea, the tenth and highest of heavens. When his brother Tāne made the long journey to see him, Rēhua, on having nothing to feed him, unwound the knots in the top of his hair and released the tui that lived there. The birds were then caught and cooked carefully over a fire by the people of Rēhua before being placed in an elaborately carved large empty gourd and offered to Tāne for sustenance. Tāne declined as the birds had been living on lice from the sacred head of Rēhua and were tapu. Rēhua then taught his brother the art of bird snaring and gave Tāne live birds to return to the world with.  

8th Matariki Month - Kohi Tātea (2nd Year)

Te Marama o Matarik He Maramataka Māori - Kohi Tātea

8th Month of the Matariki Year - January/February

Kei te kai ngā manu i ngā huarākau o te Kōtukutuku kei te rongohia te waiata o te tātarakihi i te atatū. He maha ngā putiputi o te Rātā me te Kānuka. Kua reri ki te hauhake i ngā huawhenua tuatahi.

Birds feed on the fruit of the Fuchsia. The songs of Cicadas are heard in the first light. Northern Rata and large Teatree are covered in flowers and the first foods are ripe.

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Tātarakihi Cicada
Melampsalta cingulata

‘Te tātarakihi, te pihareinga; ko ngā manu ēnā o Rēhua.’
‘The cicada and the cricket are the song birds of Rehua.’

This whakatauākī (proverb) is a reference to the heat of the summer,
 when the sounds of cicadas and crickets are heard.

The days are long and hot and the first foods have ripened when the entrancing sounds of Tātarakihi are heard during Kohi Tātea.

 
Tātarakihi, known also as Tarakihi and Kihikihi, are large tropical cicadas found in grasslands and scrub, sand dunes and swamps from the coast to the subalpine regions of the North Island and some parts of the South Island of New Zealand. They appear from their dark underground burrows to mate during hot summer months.

They have four clear membranous wings attached to a tapering body with three sets of small legs and two bulbous eyes that protrude from the sides of its broad shaped blunt head. The large wings of the males quiver together to create clicking sounds heard at the end of each deafening chorus. It is only the males who are heard, females remain silent.

The eggs of Tātarakihi are laid on leaves of small shrubs and trees. On hatching, the lavae fall to the ground and tunnel into the earth where they feed on the root systems of trees. When the lavae mature they re-emerge from the earth  to climb up the bark on the trunks of the trees where they slip out from the backs of their brittle brown bodies. 

Tātarakihi are the offspring of Tūteāhuru and Hinepeke, who are the parents of all insects, vermin and lizards. Tātarakihi are known as the birds of Rēhua (Antares).