Tangaroa
1. (personal name) atua of the sea and fish, he was one of the offspring of Rangi-nui and Papa-tū-ā-nuku and fled to the sea when his parents were separated. Sometimes known as Tangaroa-whaiariki.
(Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 40-42;)
Ko te māoritanga o ngā ingoa o ēnei tamariki a Rangi rāua ko Papa: Ko Tangaroa, he ika; ko Rongo-mā-tāne, ko te kūmara; ko Haumia-tiketike, ko te aruhe; ko Tāne-mahuta, ko te rākau, ko te manu; ko Tāwhiri-mātea, ko te hau; ko Tū-mata-uenga, ko te tangata (KO 16/9/1886:6). / The explanation of the names of these children of Rangi and Papa is: Tangaroa is fish; Rongo-mā-tāne is kūmara; Haumia-tiketike is fernroot; Tāne-mahuta is trees and birds; Tāwhiri-mātea is wind; Tū-mata-uenga is humans.
See also atua
2. (noun) general name for the seven nights of the lunar month from the eighth to the fourteenth nights after the full moon - these are generally good days for planting fishing and eeling.
Ko te kōrero whakamutunga anō mō te tino āhua o ngā Tangaroa nei, tae noa ki te Ōmutu, ko tēnei te wā mōmona o te maramataka, e whitu rā te roa (WT 2013:32). / The final statement about the real nature of these Tangaroa nights, right until Ōmutu (the fourteenth night after the full moon), is that this is the productive time of the lunar calendar, and it is seven days long.
