Lets learn about Maramataka(moon phases)

W.A.L.T understand the traditional Maori calendar and moon phases.

What is Maramataka?

Maramataka is the traditional Maori lunar calendar. Maori used the moon phases and stars to tell the time and tell when seasons, months, days and years started and ended.To this day we use a calendar called the Gregorian calendar which is a calendar that tells the days of the week and the months of the year and it is based off the sun not the moon.

When the Europeans arrived in NZ they brought the Gregorian calendar and influenced the Maori to change the way they told time from using a lunar calendar to a Gregorian calendar. Maori  translated the days of the week into the Maori language  Example: Monday turned into māne,so they didn't translate by meaning they translated by the sound.Then in 1990s Maori started translating the days of the week into the real meaning so Monday turned into Rahine meaning the day to celebrate the moon.

Thought flow........

I think it is very important for me to learn the way my ancestor lived and how they told the time.The evaluation of the time  is a very important part of history.How did your ancestors tell time?