Of the Tongan system of time-division the Rev. T. West wrote in Ten Years in South Central Polynesia: "There obtained among the Tonguese [!] a regular division of time into months and years, these divisions being marked by the recurrence of sacred seasons and public feasts, which were observed with religious ceremony, and were under the sanction of the most rigorous laws. It is also remarkable that the Tonguese have some knowledge of an intercalary month, the use or disuse of which has led to many discussions among themselves."
In Turner's Samoa One Hundred Years Ago we read: "The moon was the timekeeper of the year. The year was divided into twelve lunar months, and each month was known by a name in common use all over the Group.… Among a people who had no fixed astronomical dates intercalation was easy, and the names of the twelve moons kept uniform.… The sun was the usual timekeeper of the day. The night was divided into three parts—midnight, and the first and second cock-crowing." The Samoan month-names are connected with food-supplies, &c. March is called Fakaafu, the Whakaahu of the Maori.
Months of the Maori Year.
An inquiry into the question of the months of the Maori year and their names soon reveals a somewhat puzzling fact—viz., that no common system of naming months existed. Several series of names were in use, even in the North Island. Each tribe recognized proper names for the months, but also, and apparently more commonly, employed a series of names consisting partially or entirely of ordinal numbers, as Te Tahi (The First), Te Rua (The Second), and so on. The remarkable point is that the proper names of the months did not agree. Two distinct series of such names were in use on the east coast of the North Island. Of the institutions of tribes of the western coast we know little; few cared to collect any data save that pertaining to the wretched intertribal wars.
The word marama denotes both the moon and the lunar month; this is the term in common use, but an old term for month was kaupeka, a word meaning "branch." The twelve months were the twelve kaupeka or branches of the year.
In common with other tribes the Tuhoe folk commonly used the terms The First, The Second, &c., in order to designate the months, but the proper names of them are as follows:—
- Pipiri. Kua piri nga mea katoa i te whenua i te matao, me te tangata. All things on earth cohere owing to the cold; likewise man.
- Hongonui. Kua tino matao te tangata, me te tahutahu ahi, ka painaina. Man is now extremely cold, and so kindles fires before which he basks.
- Hereturi-koka. Kua kitea te kainga a te ahi i nga turi o te tangata. The scorching effect of fire on the knees of man is seen.
- Mahuru. Kua pumahana te whenua, me nga otaota, me nga rakau. The earth has now acquired warmth, as also have herbage and trees.
- Whiringa-nuku. Kua tino mahana te whenua. The earth has now become quite warm.
- Whiringa-rangi. Kua raumati, kua kaha te ra. It has now become summer, and the sun has acquired strength.
- Hakihea. Kua noho nga manu kai roto i te kohanga. Birds are now sitting in their nests.
