| Maruroa (Second Month) |
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Maruroa The second lunar month: June-JulySecond lunar month is Maruroa, the time when the sun halts in its course northward along the horizon, and turns. Each day it rises a little further southward and each day the nights get a little shorter and the days a little longer.
Tawari (Ixerba brexiodes), Hinau, (Elaeocarpus dentatus), Tawiniwini (Gaultheria antipoda) and Kohia, (Passiflora tetrandra) while the Miro (Prumnopitys ferruginea) berries are ripening. Birds love these berries, especially the native parrot, the kaka, (also called kari and kariwhai) and the kereru (native pigeon), the two main game birds of the Maori. They became fat on the surfeit of food. He kaka tawari ki Hikurangi, he moki ki te moana (A kaka feeding on the - tawari berries of Hikuringi is as fat as the moki fish (red snapper) of the ocean) Kaka preferred raising their brood in hollow in a tree, laying the eggs in the debris at the bottom of a deep hole in November - December. Fowlers took the young birds from the nest when they were fat, and almost fully grown, but before they learned to fly. They were careful to leave one chick to "keep the nest in order," so it would not be abandoned but reused year after year. After raising their young, the adult kaka moult. They were then forced to seek food on the ground and were so fat that they were unable to fly. To escape danger, they had to walk to a tree and then up it, and were easily taken by hand – usually by grasping the wings. In the South Island both Kaka and Tui were sometimes caught by hand especially if there was a spell of wet and blusterous weather to drench and chill them. Then they abandoned the swaying branches of the taller trees to roost in small trees and shrubs that were sheltered from the wind. The birds could then be shaken them from their perches, and would fall helplessly to the ground. Often, if they weren’t taken by hand, they were speared. The rivers, the headwaters and the lakes were stocked with a great variety and diversity of eel. In some areas, some species were migratory and there are accounts of up to five different and separate migrations to and from the sea. In June and July, in The Rangitaiki River, great numbers of eel fry were to be found migrating up river. They wriggled up the rock-faces where it was wet and moss-grown, away from the falling waters. Large numbers could be found any small pools above the falls, possibly resting after their arduous climb. The young eels are about 3 in. in length. To catch the fry, quantities of fern (Pteris) material was bundled into the pools. The fry took cover in the tangled mats which were then removed and shaken. References: Elsdon Best: Forest Lore of the Maori, Pages 195, 198, Esldon Best: Fishing Methods and Devices of the Maori, page 94 Elsdon Best: Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori, page 42
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