4th Matariki Month - Mahuru (2nd Year)

Te Marama o Matariki He Maramataka Māori - Mahuru

4th Month of the Māori Year - September/October

Ka hoki mai te Pīpīwharauroa i tōnā rerenga ki tawhiti nui ki tawhitiroa. Kua hoki mai ki tōna wähi whānautanga, ki te whānau i ōna hēki. E pūāwai ana te Kōwhai, te Puawānanga me te Rangiora. Kua aata ara mai a Papatūānuku i tōnā moenga roa o te Hōtoke. Ka tīmata ngā mahi ki te whakatikatika i ngā māra kai.  

Shining Cuckoo return from their migration to lay eggs in the place of their birth. Kōwhai, Clematis and Bushmans Friend are now in flower. Earth slowly wakes from a long winter sleep and the ground is prepared for gardens.

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Te Tohu o Kaupeka - Puawānanga

Sign of the Season - Clematis, Clematis paniculata

‘Tama tū, tama ora; tama moe, tama mate kai.’

‘He who works survives; he who is idle perishes.’

This whakatauākī (proverb) is a reference to the message brought by the arrival of Puawānanga (Clematis) and the Koekoeä (Shining Cuckoo) in the forests ‘Kia mataara! Awake!’

When the beautiful star shaped flowers of Puawānanga open in Mahuru (4th Matariki month), spring has arrived and it is time to prepare for planting.

Puawānanga, part of the ranunculaceae family is endemic to New Zealand and naturalized on Chatham Island. It can be found growing wild in both coastal and mountainous regions of the North, South and Stewart Islands. Flowers growing on vines further inland are usually larger than those on the coast and the male flowers are found on different plants and are larger in size than female flowers. The distinguished six-sepaled white unisexual flowers tumble over the tops of their host trees in clusters of 100 or more blossoms on  vigorous evergreen woody vines. The broad oblong shaped leathery leaves of  Puawānanga are quite smooth and dark green on top, with paler green undersides  that are thinly coated in a layer of tiny white hairs. 

Puawānanga, known also as Pōānanga, is an extremely sacred flower and as all beautiful flowers was borne of Rehua (Antares in Scorpio) and Puanga (Rigel in Orion), two eminent stars of the heavens. 

The flowering of Puawānanga in spring also signals the upstream migration of tuna, elvers or young eels who are also the children of Rehua.

4th Matariki Month - Mahuru

Te Marama o Matariki He Maramataka Mäori - Mahuru

4th Month of the Mäori Year - September/October

Ka hoki mai te Pïpïwharauroa i tönä rerenga ki tawhiti nui ki tawhitiroa. Kua hoki mai ki töna wähi whänautanga, ki te whanau i öna hëki. E püäwai ana te Köwhai, te Puawananga me te Rangiora. Kua aata ara mai a Papatüänuku i tönä moenga roa o te Hötoke. Ka tïmata ngä mahi ki te whakatikatika i ngä mära kai.

Shining Cuckoo return from their migration to lay eggs in the place of their birth. Köwhai, Clematis and Bushmans Friend are now in flower. Earth slowly wakes from a long winter sleep and the ground is prepared for gardens.

Te Tohu o Kaupeka - Rangiora

Sign of the Season - Bushmans Friend

(Brachyglottis repanda)

‘Me te rau Rangiora’

‘Like Rangiora leaves’

This whakatauäkï (proverb) is a reference to the colour of clouds, snow, the crest of the oceans waves, and breast feathers of some birds being likened to the white undersides of the Rangiora leaf.

The underside of the leaves were used as pages for writing on, hence the term Pukapuka, or book

When Rangiora bursts into flower the life force returns to the earth and gardens are prepared for planting.

Rangiora, a native of New Zealand, can be found growing with one or more thin trunks as a small shrub, or tree to 7m tall from sea level to 750m in the North and upper South Island forests, regenerating bush, lowlands and coastal regions.

Rangiora, known also as Pukapuka, Aorangi, Whärangi and Raurëkau, is covered profusely in clusters of tiny cream coloured sweet-scented florets from Mahuru (4th Matariki month) through to Whiringa-ä-rangi (6th Matariki month). Its has broad dark green leathery wavy-edged leaves with soft, deeply membraneous white felt undersides.

The leaves of Rangiora were sacred to Mäori. They were used in ceremonies to clothe the souls of the dead for their journey to the place of departure and babies were wrapped in the leaves upon birth. Mäori also used them for clothing and rites for appeasing the Atua. Leaves were upturned and placed along paths for hunters to see in the night. They were used to line kete for pua bread made from the pollen of raupö and to wrap food in for hangi. Rangiora was also used as rongoa, traditional medicine, though should never be swallowed as all parts of the plant are poisonous, particularly the flowers and sap.