Orongonui, Maurea, and Mutu, are omitted, because a new moon has appeared."
It is a noteworthy fact that all names of nights of the moon's age are preceded by the indefinite article he, "a," or "an." If you ask a native what night of the moon it is he will reply, "He Tirea" (A Tirea), or "He Otane" (An Otane), or whatever it may be.
In connection with the above list may be mentioned a peculiar circumstance. It is well known that in former times the Maori regulated his pursuits in a very singular manner. Thus he planted his kumara crop only on certain days of the moon, or nights as he termed them. In like manner certain fish were taken, or certain methods of fishing practised, only on certain days or nights. Now Mita, who communicated the above calendar to Metera, employed certain symbols to represent different modes of taking fish, and these symbols he marked opposite the names of the nights of the moon on his marama taka or calendar. Presumably this arrangement of symbols would differ as in different months; this point was not made clear. One symbol represented line fishing, another fishing by torchlight, and so on. One sign represented luckless days on which no manner of fishing would be successful; this appears opposite four nights, the Huna, Atua, Korekore, and Korekore-turua. In several cases nights have but one symbol opposite them, several have two, some have three, and one has as many as seven. These symbols number ten, one being a round dot, another a straight horizontal line, another a cross. Three are segments of a circle, in different positions; another a straight horizontal line with a short transverse stroke at one end; while another is of similar form, but the transverse stroke is at the opposite end. One is the roman letter L, and the tenth is the letter e.
As to the origin of this usage one can only suimise that Mita had examined a European almanac and had noted the use of symbols. An explanation of their use might have given him the idea of formulating a series pertaining to his own craft, and utilizing it in connection with the lunar month. He must have been an ingenious and adaptive person.
Names of nights of the moon differ to some extent in different districts, as also does the order in which the names occur. Quite possibly the latter peculiarity is due to forgetfulness on the part of contributors of data, for it is long since the Maori system of time-division was abandoned. In the following list, given by a member of the Tuhoe Tribe, such a difference is noted. The nights marked with an asterisk (*) are good fishing nights for taking eels and kokopu; the other nights are not so. The Tuhoe folk were not sea fishers, as they have no seaboard.
| No. 2. | ||
| 1. | Whiro* | New moon, but not seen. |
| 2. | Tirea* | Feeble radiance of moon seen. |
| 3. | Hoata* | Moon clearly seen. |
| 4. | Oue.* | |
| 5. | Okoro | Fish are restless. |
| 6. | Tamatea-tutahi. | |
| 7. | Tamatea-a-ngana. | |
| 8. | Tamatea-aio. | |
| 9. | Tamatea-kai-ariki-whakapa. | |
