Traditionally, Māori measured time according to the nights rather than the days. Nightly cycles began with the new moon. Each night of a lunar month was named and described according to how favourable or unfavourable it was for fishing, eeling or planting. Te Matarēhua Wikiriwhi describes how Māori planted and fished according to the nights of the moon.
Transcript
Now trying to reconcile Whiro, the new moon time period and Rākaunui, the full moon time period with a modern 28-day 30-day, 31-day day calendar requires quite some adjustment. And so I work on the assumption that the only fixed periods are the periods of the new moon and the full moon. And there's no question that our ancestors studied the influence of the moon and on plant growth generally and they knew what times according to the phases of the moon were the most appropriate times for planting. No question and fishing and all these other activities with which they were concerned and connected with being in those days because having to live for and with nature.
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Reference: 44119
Image: Natural Sciences Image Library of New Zealand, Em0738LC8, by John Hunt
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