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16
DOMINION MUSEUM MONOGRAPH NO. 4.
  1. Kohi-tatea. Kua makuru te kai; ka kai te tangata i nga kai hou o te tau. Fruits have now set, and man eats of the new food products of the season.
  2. Hui-tanguru. Kua tau te waewae o Ruhi kai te whenua. The foot of Ruhi now rests upon the earth.
  3. Poutu-te-rangi. Kua hauhake te kai. The crops are now taken up.
  4. Paenga-whawha. Kua putu nga tupu o nga kai i nga paenga o nga mara. All haulm is now stacked at the borders of the plantations.
  5. Haratua. Kua uru nga kai kai te rua, kua mutu nga mahi a te tangata. Crops have now been stored in the store-pits. The tasks of man are finished.

This list was given by old Tutakangahau, of Maunga-pohatu. The name of the first month, Pipiri, is that of a star, or rather of two stars apparently close together. Pipiri is one of the tokens of the new year and of early winter. Ruhi of the ninth month is a summer star situated near Rehua (Antares), whose wife she is in popular myth. The word ruhi, in vernacular speech, means "enervated," "languid," and she is said to cause man and vegetation to become so; she and Rehua personify the heat of summer. Her full name of Ruhi-te-rangi is employed by some tribes as a name for the ninth month. Poutu-te-rangi is the name of the star Altair. Such are the months of the Pleiades year as known to the Tuhoe Tribe.

Adjacent to and seaward of the tribal lands of Tuhoe lie those of the Ngati-Awa Tribe of the Bay of Plenty. The following names are those of the twelve months as known to the latter tribe, supplied by Himiona Tikitu:—

1. Te Tahi o Pipiri The First of Pipiri.
2. Te Rua o Takurua The Second of Takurua.
3. Te Toru o Hereturi-koka The Third of Hereturi-koka.
4. Te Wha o Mahuru The Fourth of Mahuru.
5. Te Rima o Kopu The Fifth of Kopu.
6. Whitianaunau.
7. Hakihea.
8. Kai-tatea.
9. Ruhi-te-rangi.
10. Poutu-te-rangi.
11. Paenga-whawha.
12. Haki-haratua.

Herein we have a number of the Tuhoe names, while some differ from the inland list. The first is an elaboration of the Tuhoe name. The second differs; Takurua is the name of the star Sirius, also the name for "winter." No. 3 is but a lengthened form again, as also is No. 4. No. 5 differs entirely; Kopu is the planet Venus. No. 6 also differs; Whitianaunau is an unidentified island in the western Pacific. No. 7 agrees with the former list; No. 8 differs somewhat; No. 9 differs; No. 10 agrees; No. 11 agrees; while No. 12 is partially changed.

We now turn to the month-names of the Kahungunu Tribe, which are apparently those of the Takitumu immigrants.

Ko nga kaupeka enei o te tau ki ta te Maori mohio. These are the months of the year according to the knowledge of the Maori:—

  1. Aonui.
  2. Te Aho-turuturu.
  3. Te Ihomatua.
  4. Tapere-wai.
  5. Tatau-urutahi.
  6. Tatau-uruora.
  7. Akaaka-nui.
  8. Ahuahu-mataora.
  9. Te Ihonui.
  10. Putoki-nui-o-tau.
  11. Tikaka-muturangi.
  12. Uruwhenua.