Page:Maori Division of Time.djvu/22

18 The balance of the months are represented by the ordinals in this list. 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.

In the following list of month-names we note some that we are already acquainted with, and two new ones:—

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; some state that it is Castor. The Rev. R. Taylor also gives the name in connection with June and July. The list given by this writer is not a clear one, but very confusing. He seems to apply the name of Te Kahui-ruamahu to April, that of Takapou-poto to August, and Takapou-tawahi to September.

The following list of month-names was collected by the late Mr. John White:—

Here we have thirteen month-names, obtained probably from South Island sources, for Pouaka, Poaka, and Puaka appear to be South Island variants of Puanga (Rigel in Orion).