AstronomyNZ

One name for the tenth lunar month was Pou-tu-te-rangi (Post that lifted up the sky). “When the children of Te Ranginui (the Sky Father) and Papatuanuku (the Earth Mother) determined to push them apart the question was how was it to be done? Finally, Tane (god of the forests) lifted his father Rangi with a great pole called Pou-tu-te-rangi. This is the pole that now props up the ten heavens. It rests on Papatuanuku and although the Pakeha (European) with all his wisdom cannot see the pole the old tohungas could. There were only ten heavens and they extend beyond the stars and are suspended one from another, the bottom one being propped up from the earth. When Tane finished his great work he laid the pole across the last floor from north to south and hung the heavens below.” (1)

By the time of the dawn of the Autumn equinox (March 21) Te Ikaroa (the Milky Way) forms a great arch running from north to south passing directly overhead. Autahi (Canopus) is due south with Whanui (Vega) due north – they are opposite each other in the sky and have a similar altitude above the horizon. Between the two and overhead is Rehua (Antares). Te Punga (the Southern Cross) is to the west of the south celestial pole and Pou-tu-te-rangi (Altair) has risen in the north-east. This year brilliant Kopu (Venus), that outshines all other star-like objects in the sky, rises in the east (not shown on the charts) two hours before the Sun.

Whanui (Vega) rises in the north-eastern dawn in late February and culminates due north in the dawn of early April. It was said that Whanui was a great chief who sails from the north to warn the people to harvest the kumara, dry the crop, and store it in underground stores before the first frosts of winter.

Pou-tu-te-rangi (Altair) rises in the dawn of mid-February and culminates (reaches it highest point) due north in the dawn of mid-April. The kumara was left to grow until the star Poutu-te-rangi appeared and then it was inspected for maturity. (2)  

The tenth month was also called Ngahuru kai paenga (the food threshold of the tenth) because at this time, food was prepared on the border of the plantations, or Ngahuru hauhake kumara (the crop-lifting tenth) or simply Ngahuru, the tenth, the name given to Autumn.

“Ngahuru was harvest time and the Maori was happy then because there was abundance of good things to eat. At some times of the year he would get one meal a day, at others two, working up to Ngahuhu when he got ten a day if he wished them or could eat them.” (3)  Another name for this month was Tikotiko-iere, (which could be interpreted as - diarrhoea that sounds singing), so perhaps some people ate too much, too quickly.

In Maori star lore Autahi (Canopus) was a very tapu (sacred) man. He stands alone just outside of the Milky Way. From Aotearoa (New Zealand), Autahi never sets – it is the guardian star of the south. Autahi is like the hand on a great clock that, with the passing of the seasons, moves around the south celestial pole. The Kohi Autahi (the heavy rains of early winter) in April, were the sign for inanga (parent whitebait), one of Rehua’s children, to go to the sea and gave birth to their young. (4)

References

 1,3 James Herries Beattie, Traditional Lifeways of the Southern Maori James Herries Beattie, Tikao Talks

 2. Elsdon Best, Maori Agriculture

 3 Elsdon Best, Fishing Methods and Devices of the Maori

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