Page:Maori Division of Time.djvu/23

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THE MAORI DIVISION OF TIME
19

In another list collected by Mr. White the name of Te Rua o Hongongoi is applied to the second month, while Whakakumu is given as a name for the seventh month, reminding us of Taylor's Te Wakumu applied to the sixth month. In this list White gives Ngahuru-tuma for the tenth month, a name that one would naturally expect to apply to the eleventh. The eleventh month appears as Haratua or Kahui-ruamahu, and the twelfth as Tapatapa-rere or Takurua hupe nui. This latter is an expression used to denote winter.

In yet another list of Mr. White's collection the thirteen months appear; the four last names are,—

10. Te Ngahuru.
11. Te Ngahuru hauhake kai The crop-lifting Tenth.
12. Paengawawa.
13. Te Tahi o Pipiri.

The First of Pipiri is a peculiar name for a thirteenth month; it is usually given as a name for the first month. It is quite possible that the Maori occasionally employed a thirteenth month in order to regulate the year, and so recover lost time. An interesting note given by White is as follows: "Ka tahia te marae i a Puanga ka puta i te ata, a tae noa ki te mamma tekau ma rua, a ma rua tuma" ("The plaza was swept when Rigel appeared in the morning, also in the twelfth month and the odd one"). This certainly looks like a thirteenth month. Williams gives Tuma as a name of the twelfth month, but this does not seem appropriate, as the word means "odd; in excess."

The name of Puwai-awatahi was applied to June by an old man of the Ngati-Kuia Tribe (Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 26, page 119).

The following appear in the Maori dictionaries of Messrs. Colenso and Williams:—

Ahikaea September First month of spring.
Ahimaru October Second month of spring.
Ahinui November Third month of spring.

This identifying of the months of the Maori year with ours is somewhat misleading. Williams also gives Kaiwaka as a name for the third month, Kahui-ruamahu for the twelfth, and Tahi-wehewehe as the last month of the year, presumably the twelfth. Mr. White in his budget of notes gives Whakaau [? Whakaahu] as July, Mangere as August, Rehua as the eighth month, and Matiti as March; also Iwa-iti and Iwa-nui (Little Ninth and Big Ninth) as names for February. Rehua is scarcely employed as a month-name, but as denoting summer and its heat. Taylor gives Mangere opposite August. Mr. White used some of Taylor's matter.

In a letter written by Titoko Waru to Wahanui he gave the following names to the first six months:—

  1. Pipiri.
  2. Whakaahu-rangi.
  3. Unuunu-hewa.
  4. Aroaro-a-manu.
  5. Hiringa-nuku.
  6. Hiringa-rangi.

Herein we see that 1, 5, and 6 agree with Tuhoe names, while 4 is a name employed in the Bay of Plenty, more as a season-