Maramataka: How three Bay of Plenty Māori lunar calendar users embrace ancient knowledge

Maramataka 1. (noun) almanac, Māori lunar calendar - a planting and fishing monthly almanac. For most tribes the lunar months began with the new moon, for some with the full moon (Rākaunui). The start of each month was aligned to the morning rising of particular stars. The maramataka names are similar for most tribes, but the order may vary from tribe to tribe. Source: Te Aka Māori Dictionary

For maramataka and rongoā Māori practitioner Mere Horopapera, observation is key. Observing the environment’s response to the ever-changing lunar cycle, and fluctuations in her clients’ energy levels has given her insight into ways she can best respond to ensure optimal results in gardening and healing practices.

“I started to observe how people were when they were on the [treatment] table and how the body was responding to different therapies and different moon phases.”

When her clients’ energy is low, Horopapera is quieter and plays less music. During phases when there’s more “emotional stuff” present, she will make sure she doesn’t “push them too far”.

Incorporating her knowledge of maramataka and how it can affect people helps the Te Puna local optimise her time and energy, as well as aiding the person coming in for healing.

Rongoā Māori practitioner Mere Horopapera uses her knowledge of maramataka to enhance her practice and her gardening. Photo / Alex Cairns

Horopapera explains how the incoming tides can affect a person’s energy: The incoming tide brings in nutrients and good energy, and the outgoing tide takes tired energy with it, she says.

With the two big tides of the full moon bringing good energy twice in one day, she said people can “harness that energy and knowledge” if they are aware of it.

“During the full moon the water table is high and you’ve got two high tides, with emotions just under the surface, so how do you balance water? With fire,” she said.

At these times, she uses more friction or deep tissue work in her practice and may change the strokes she uses in mirimiri to “balance fire and water”.

Horopapera emphasises the importance of people undertaking their own observations in relation to the lunar cycle, whether in gardening, fishing or their emotions, as that’s where “the magic happens”.

“It’s things like observing your plants and how they grow, and when they grow,” she said.

“It’s important to not just learn the individual phases [of maramataka] separate to each other — it’s about the cycle as a whole.”

Horopapera says the overarching principles of maramataka are the same regarding months, seasons and phases of the moon, “but what you do in those seasons and times differ depending on where you are [geographically]”. She describes it as a “living concept and a lifestyle”.

Connection to tūpuna

Rotorua’s Cushla Paice has been involved with the Ōhinemutu māra [garden] for around three years.

The lead gardener of the community plot says there has recently been a modernising and reviving of knowledge around maramataka and how it can be “worked into our lives”.

Paice says maramataka is about connection to whenua, plants, wildlife, and “everything in the ecosystems around us including the moon’s energy”.

“And really important is the connection to tūpuna [ancestors].”

Lead gardener at the Ōhinemutu community garden Cushla Paice says maramataka is about connection to the environment and to tūpuna. Photo / Andrew Warner

The full moon is a good time to sow seeds, as plants tend to germinate best then, according to Paice.

The Tangaroa phase, which occurs shortly before the Whiro [new moon] marks a new month, has “the most productive energy according to people who’ve done the research” and Paice says this is a good time to work in the garden planting and sowing.

“Plants seem to be sensitive to the changes in the moon and lunar cycle.

“Our tūpuna had those sensitivities to everything that was happening in the environment and it’s our role to develop that also.”

Awareness of the cycles of energy fluctuations within maramataka is key to working in harmony with them.

“It’s about going with the flow of the environment of energies and not trying to make every day exactly the same, because they’re not.”

Paice said the relationship between the moon, sun, and earth and how they line up impacts energy. She feels driven to recover this knowledge and pass it on to others.

For the tamariki

Welcome Bay Kindergarten teachers have made it a habit to consult their lunar calendar in their morning hui, using it to plan meetings, events and when to plant seedlings.

The calendar used colours to signify the moon phases, with blue, green, yellow, grey and red all having their own messages.

“A whero [red] day would tell us things don’t flow and the energies might be a little down or flat so we know it won’t be a good day to hold a celebration,” said teacher Larree Lesa.

A (kikorangi) blue day the week before would be better, with the moon phase making it the perfect day to plant, go on a journey and have a difficult conversation.

Larree Lesa, Daan-E Kim (4), Leo Koberstein (2) and Sophie Sohal (3) at Welcome Bay Kindy holding a maramataka calendar. Photo / Alex Cairns

Grey (kiwikiwi) days were slow and unproductive, and Lesa said pushing yourself on these days would be to work against the energy of the moon.

“If you have a problem to deal with, I would say to go for it on kōwhai [yellow] days, when the energy is really high and if you want to start something new, save it for a kākāriki [green] day.”

They have learnt lessons when they did not use maramataka, with Lesa recalling the Matariki celebrations last year held on a day not conducive to the moon.

“Our food didn’t end up being completely cooked so we reflected on that as a lesson learnt,” Lesa said.