Maramataka – living knowledge
This maramataka was shared and recorded by our Rongowhakaata kaumātua in the late 1990s and early 2000s during a series of hui where kaumātua came together to capture kōrero and evidence for our Treaty Settlement Claims. We are proud to bring this mātauranga forward again, making it accessible for whānau to wānanga, observe, and continue growing their own maramataka knowledge.
Visit our online store to purchase a printed maramataka poster, or contact us at communications@rongowhakaata.iwi.nz to receive a free digital copy.
Listen to kōrero below by Uncle Stan Pardoe, who shares his memories of those hui, as well as his lived experience of mahinga kai practices across Manutūkē.
Instructions for Using the Rongowhakaata Maramataka:
Tip: There are two starting points you can use to follow this maramataka.
Starting from the New Moon:
Wait until the new moon appears in the sky.
Begin following the maramataka from Whiro (day 1). According to our Rongowhakaata kaumātua, this is the day after the new moon.
Starting from the Full Moon:
Wait until the full moon appears in the sky.
Begin following the maramataka from Rākau-nui (day 15), which is the day after the full moon.
Begin on either of these days, then move clockwise through the maramataka, following the numbers in order.
Keep observing, listening, and learning. Let your own careful, ongoing observations guide you. Use this maramataka as a starting point, and grow your own local knowledge through what you see and experience in your own taiao.
Things to remember:
The maramataka is a lunar calendar that does not fit neatly into a Pākehā solar day.
For example, during the Tangaroa or Tamatea phases, the moon typically rises around midnight and sets around midday the next day. This lunar phase may cross over two solar days.
The following kōrero is taken from the ‘Rongowhakaata - Traditional History Report’ where kōrero from the Kaumātua Group hui Manutūkē, March 8 - 9, 2000 was recorded.
Rongowhakaata Mahinga Kai Practices
Rongowhakaata traditions ensured that all hunting and fishing were carried out according to strict tikanga. Whānau and hapū operated carefully within their own territories. Trespassing brought serious consequences. Birds, Kiore, and fish were protected under rāhui, especially during breeding and mating seasons to prevent depletion and ensure sustainability.
Kai from the land and forests included aruhe (fernroot), which thrived in land left fallow after kūmara growing. Hue were grown for food and for use as vessels. Kūmara was a prized taonga and required meticulous care. Strict tapu surrounded kūmara cultivation — wahine were not permitted near kūmara during their menstrual period, whether in the garden, storage, or seedbeds.
Birds such as kererū and kākā were hunted using traps. Kererū, thirsty from feeding on miro berries, were easily caught at water troughs or with hidden nooses. Kākā, with their strong beaks, were harder to trap and instead were decoyed and speared. Weka were hunted with dogs, and bats were smoked from trees. A smoky fire was lit at the lower part of the tree after which the stupefied bats would drop to the ground.
Kiore was a much-favoured delicacy. They lived in the forest feeding on small reptiles, young birds and eggs. They also fed on the fruit of the miro and tawa. When they sought new feeding grounds, they generally moved by night, usually in single file and along the top of ridges. The traps were then set on these rat-runs and great numbers were taken. They were plucked and singed and often preserved in their own fat.
Fish and shellfish were constantly gathered, in inland water areas there was whitebait to be netted, fresh water mussels, crayfish and eels to be caught. Eels were a favourite delicacy being caught either in hīnaki or by spearing. Specially built eel weirs were made in rivers, swamps or lagoons; they were guarded and rigorously defended by hapū.
Nets were made from knotted flax consisting of many sections, and family groups contributed by taking a section each and when completed, were joined together. Two heavy twine ropes made from twisted cabbage tree leaves were fastened to the top and bottom of the completed net. Stone sinkers were tied to the lower rope and floats of whau, wood lighter than cork, was fastened to the upper rope. Some of these nets were estimated to be 1000 metres long by 10 metres deep. The net was owned conjointly by those who helped in its construction. There was always among them, an expert who was in charge and on his instructions they would take the net, place it on a platform lashed between two canoes and take it out to sea. When a shoal of fish was sighted, under directions of the expert, the order would be given to lower the net. Afterwards, it would be slowly hauled in and the catch would be suitably shared to all the owners of the net. Coastal and inland hapū often exchanged kai — inland communities provided potted birds and berries, while coastal whānau shared dried seafood like hāpuka, shark, snapper, and moki. The bush, rivers, and wetlands were the food basket for all surrounding hapū.
Shellfish like pāua, pipi, kina, and karengo were valued for their nutritional and medicinal benefits. Karengo, gathered from Muriwai, was used to cleanse the blood and treat asthma. Kina was prized for its iodine content. According to Rongowhakaata kaumātua, kina and crayfish have only recently been depleted at places like Kaiti Beach. Rich fishing grounds like Te Toka-ā-Ahuru (Aerial Reef) were accessed by waka on Tangaroa days.
Our tīpuna carefully observed the skies and the taiao to guide their fishing and harvesting.
“They always said that if you go out at midnight and there was a dew, you’d always get a fine day with a sea breeze and a breeze always comes in about 11 o’clock. So you had eight to 11 to come in and when that breeze started you hoist the sail and come back in.”
The Ārai River and surrounding wetlands were a rich mahinga kai — our tūpuna swam, fished, and collected kai here. The river provided clean drinking water and was central to daily life. Usually, there was an exchange of food-giving between tribes living on the sea coast and inland, Those inland would share gifts of potted birds, berries and the coastal hapū would reply with seafood, usually dried hāpuka, shark, snapper and moki. The bush was the food bowl for all the surrounding hapū. An abundant supply of eels in the streams and swamps, weka, pūkeko, kererū, kiore and fern root, the centre bulb of the leaves of the kouka or cabbage tree. All the trees had berries and most were edible. The mahinga kai and the waterways are remembered by Rongowhakaata kaumātua:
“I must have been the last generation of kids – and up at Whatatuna, because it was still a swamp at the top end of Ōpou then Rākaukākā. The old people used that little bush. .... When the eels used to run and get the so-called big worms, we used to call them glow worms, with flax and make the (bombs) and fish all along the Ārai. Te Arāi was a source of food for us. We used to bucket water to a 600 gallon tank and we got all our drinking and washing water from the Ārai River, it was a beautiful river. We swam in it, fished in it, eeled in it, caught herrings, only at certain times of the year especially with the mullet and the flounders we used to go right down to the mouth of the Waipaoa. I can still remember when they diverted the river and put the big cut in. I can still remember one time we went right down to the Waipaoa Bridge catching flounders.
At Pīpiwhakao we used to do a lot of eeling, and get morihana and whitebait – they were a little fish, we used to put in sheets of iron just to block the creek. Didn’t have the proper mesh and we’d catch the young swans and young ducks too. Ngāi Tawhiri, Ngāi te Kete and Ngāti Maru were the hapu of this time. The bush was the food bowl for all the surrounding hapū. The most famous of the food was the kiekie "tāwhara" berry. It was a delicacy to everyone. When the kiekie was ripe, people from all over the land came to pick the berry.”
In Tūranganui there was even a kaitieki caterpillar on a kūmara.
"My grandfather had a big kūmara plot. Whenever he found one he was excited and brought it in to us. He really treated it well, told us not harm it. When we had finished touching it, and patting it, he'd pick it up and take it to where it came from.
He was saying,when you see those caterpillars,you always have a very good crop. You had to look after it and he treated it well and you have to put it back where you got it.”
An abundant supply of eels in the streams and swamps, weka, pūkeko, kererū, kiore and fern root, the centre bulb of the leaves of the kouka or cabbage tree, all the trees had berries and most were edible. Each one of the hapū had a rāhui or claim, and they were very protective of them. The trees for snaring birds were named, the kiore traps and eel weirs and also the place where they dug for fem root.
This knowledge is living. The maramataka and mahinga kai practices connect us to our whenua, our wai, and our whakapapa — guiding how we interact with and protect our taiao.
Listen to kōrero below by Uncle Stan Pardoe, who shares his memories of who attended the hui, as well as his lived experience of mahinga kai practices across Manutūkē.
Visit our online store to purchase a printed maramataka poster, or contact us at communications@rongowhakaata.iwi.nz to receive a free digital copy. Double sided A3 poster in both te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā.
