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Home arrow Maori Astronomy arrow Lunar Months 04.02.2012

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Lunar Months

Lunar Months


By Kay Leather

Kay's links are to Atainga a Mahaki iwi and Mangatu Marae through her paternal grandfather. Her Maori family name is Te Puru.

The maramataka divided the traditional Māori year into 12 lunar months. The word marama means both the moon and the lunar month – a lunar month is the 29 and a half days between successive new moons, and normally straddles two calendar months.

Māori needed a system that matched lunar months with the solar year – a lunar year is around 11 days shorter. Some tribes listed 13 months in their lunar year, indicating that one month was occasionally added to account for the extra period of time. Those tribes which had only 12 months would have used a different system to account for the extra time.


Haratua (Twelfth Month)
Paenga-whawha (Eleventh Month)
Pou-tu-te-rangi (Tenth Month)
Hui-tanguru (Ninth Month)
Kohi-tatea (Eighth Month)
Hakihea (Seventh Month)
Whiringa-a-rangi (Sixth Month)
Whiringa-nuku(Fifth Month)
Here turi koka(Fourth Month)
Otoru (Third Month)
Maruroa (Second Month)
Pipiri (First Month)
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