Page:Maori Division of Time.djvu/41

Rh possibly there existed some local usage of that nature. Such a usage would eventually resolve itself into a month of three weeks.

A writer in the little Maori paper called Te Toa Takitini, of the 1st May, 1922, shows that the new year commences with the new moon on the 27th May, 1922, which is the Whiro night of the month of Pipiri. He also gives four names that seem to represent four phases of the moon during the lunar month; each has seven nights pertaining to it. These four names are Maukahau, Tara-rau-atea, Papa-whakatangitangi, and Titore-mahutu. We have no particulars of this institution.

The Maori relied on the heavenly bodies with regard to the passing of the hours of darkness. The Milky Way is his principal harbinger of dawn; according to its position he knew the approach of day. When day and night were first separated the sun was appointed to control the day, while the night was assigned to the moon, to Te Ikaroa (the Milky Way), and their younger relatives, the ra ririki, or little suns, the stars that gleam on high when Hine-aotea has departed.

The cry of the pakura or swamp-hen is said to have marked the passing hours of night; it is said to utter its cry three times during the night. The writer is not aware as to whether this statement is accurate or not, or whether any regularity pertains to such cries; it seems somewhat doubtful. The little riroriro bird is said to have called the Maori to work in the third month in connection with preparing the ground for crops. In like manner Mahuru, the personified form of spring, is said to have sent the cuckoo to tell the Maori folk that the planting season had arrived.

The third month was styled Hupe-nui, Upoko-papa, Torukai-tangata, and Tahutahu-ahi on account of the cold weather then experienced. Otoru and Toruhere o Pipiri are also applied to it in the Bay of Plenty district. Aroaro-a-manu is a name for the fourth month; Waru-patote was applied to the eighth month, and Te Iwa-kai-paeke to the ninth.

The following expressions were used to denote various periods of the day and night, but Nos. 1, 3, and 6 are often replaced by other forms:

The term ahiahi is also used to denote afternoon, the later part of the same; it is personified in Hine-ahiahi, the Evening Maid. Hine-titama is the Dawn Maid, a creature of peerless charms. Hine-ata is the Morning Maid, and Hine-aotea the Day or Daylight Maid.

The expression tu a ahiahi denotes early evening; nehe, nehera, and whakapata denote olden times, also neha. Ra and rangi both denote a day. Time was expressed by the position of the sun, thus "ka tauhinga te ra" is a phrase denoting the