Penny's Pen, Tahi, Term 2, 2021

Te Reo Māori Months of the Year and Days of the Week

I have recently been conducting some research regarding the use of the Māori months of the year and days of the week.
by Amy Millar

After seeking advice from several sources throughout Aotearoa and watching this video (from 50 minutes onwards) I have learned why we should be using the transliterations rather than the 'traditional' Māori words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77mDk4k8wuE&list=PLff7Uw2JJr5Lcp937_t0FcaEXyOQ-AUkg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?

For the days of the week the 'traditional' Māori words are not actually traditional. The Māori Commision created these words in the nineties. 

The traditional names for the months of the year are from Māori culture but they do not directly correlate to our months of the year. They follow a lunar pattern that is different to our months.

So in order to respect the Māori calendar at Ngā Puna Tapuwai we will use the days of the week: Mane, Turei, Wenerei, Taite, Paraire, Hatarei, Rātapu. These were the names created by Māori, when the early ancestors arrived, to correlate to the English days of the week.

The months of the year that we will use are:

January - Hanuere

February - Pēpuere

March - Maehe

April - Āperira

May - Mei

June - Hune

July - Hūrae

August - Ākuhata

September - Hepetma

October - Ōketopa

November - Noema

December - Tīhema

These names correlate with our months of the year rather than the luna Māori months.

You will begin to see posters around the school using these words from next week.

nga mihi

Amy