Niu Ia
1. (loan) (noun) New Year.
I te ata o te Niu Ia nei ka kōhurutia e tētahi tangata o Ōtepoti, ko Galloway te ingoa, tana wahine (TP 1/1900:4). / On the morning of the New Year, a Dunedin man, named Galloway, murdered his wife.
Synonyms: Nū Ia
Nū Ia
1. (loan) (noun) New Year.
He wā pai te Kirihimete me te Nū Ia hei whakakākahutanga i tā koutou tamaiti ki ētahi kākahu whakapaipai (TTT 1/12/1923:1). / Christmas and the New Year are good times to dress your child with some nice clothes.
Synonyms: Niu Ia
Tātai-o-Matariki
1. (personal noun) Pleiades, Seven Sisters - an open cluster of many stars in the constellation Taurus, with at least six stars visible to the naked eye. First appearance before sunrise of Matariki in the north-eastern sky indicates the beginning of the Māori year - about the middle of June. According to some tribes, Matariki is the star of the old year and Puanga-rua the star of the new year.
See also Huihui-o-Matariki, Te
Synonyms: Huihui-o-Matariki, Te, Matariki
huamata
1. (noun) Ringatū planting rites - also the term used for the crops of the māra tautāne. The Ringatū ceremony is held on 1 June each year, but its origins come from the planting of this garden at the start of the Māori new year held when Matariki appears in the Tangaroa phase of the first month.
E rua anō ngā rā nui o te tau o te Ringatū i hiwaia e ia, arā, ko te huamata i te tahi o Hune me te pure i te tahi o Noema; he whakatō kai te tikanga o te huamata, ā, kia nui ai te hua o te kai i meinga ai te pure (TTR 1998:27). / There are two important days of the Ringatū faith that he focused on, namely the huamata on the first of June and the pure on the first of November; the huamata is when the planting rites are held, and the pure is so that the harvest is plentiful.
2. (noun) salad.
kererū
1. (noun) New Zealand pigeon, kererū, Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae - a large green, copper and white native bush pigeon which was eaten by Māori. Kererū were one of two foods harvested during the Māori new year.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 11; Te Pihinga Study Guide (Ed. 1): 1;)
2. (noun) New Zealand pigeon feather.
Ka pūhekitia ki te kererū (W 1971:319). / It was ornamented with New Zealand pigeon feathers.
Puangarua
1. (personal name) Rigel - when it rises in the new year. It is the seventh brightest star in the sky and seen above Tautoru (Orion's Belt) in the eastern sky in early morning. With some iwi Puangarua heralded the beginning of the Māori year.
Kei te whakaata mai a Puangarua i roto i te Kāhui o Tautoru mō te marangai kei a Haki-haratua, arā, kei a Mei (TTT 1/3/1930:2007). / Rigel appears in the constellation of Orion's Belt for the rain in the lunar month of Haki-haratua, that is, May.
Mō te marama o Hune, arā o Te Tahi o Pipiri o te Tau, 1922: Ko Matariki te whetū o te tau tawhito kei te arahi mai i a Puangarua, te whetū o te tau hou (TTT 1/6/1922:10). / For the month of June, that is the first lunar month of the year, 1922: The Pleiades is the star of the old year that heralds Rigel, the star of the new year.
Synonyms: Poaka
korokoro
1. (noun) lamprey, Geotria australis - an eel-like fish that has a sucker mouth with horny teeth and a rasping tongue. A highly valued food of Māori that was harvested at the beginning of the Māori new year Found around North, South, Stewart and Chatham Islands coasts, penetrating inland to 230 km.
Ka kitea a Matariki, ka rere te korokoro (NP 2001:162). / When Matariki is seen, the lamprey migrate. (A whakataukī referring to the lamprey migrating up rivers and streams at the start of the Māori new year, a time when they were caught.)
See also piharau
Synonyms: kanakana wairaki, kanakana, nganangana, pihapiharau, pipiharau, tuna korokoro, wairaki, waituere, pia, puhikorokoro, piharau
māra tautāne
1. (noun) ceremonial garden - the signal to plant this garden is when Matariki rises in the Māori new year. All the crops grown in this garden, called huamata, were offered to Rongo, atua of cultivated food, and Matariki.
I mua o te onoono i ngā kūmara ki te māra nui, ka whakatōhia te māra tautāne (Te Ara 2011). / Before planting the kūmara in the main garden, there was a ceremonial planting in the special kūmara garden.
Huihui-o-Matariki, Te
1. (personal name) Pleiades, Seven Sisters - a cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus, commonly spoken of as seven though only six are plain to the average naked eye. The first full moon after its appearance in the north-east horizon just before dawn in late May marks the time to celebrate the Māori new year.
Synonyms: Tātai-o-Matariki, Matariki
