Maramataka Māori

The marama (moon) is a great marker of time, being aware of our environment, seasons and special signs (tohu) helps us to plan for a more harmonious future of abundance! 

Our ancestors didn’t just jump on a waka and arrive in Aotearoa!  It took meticulous planning!  As part of colonisation, we have often assumed a “go with the flow” attitude, but where are we actually going? And whos flow are we really on?

In our quest for Tinorangatiratanga, community interdependence and Māori sovereignty we have successfully used maramataka to firstly feed ourselves! Yes, organic food from the land and sea grown with the moon’s energies. We run a couple of charities and businesses and have built off grid quality housing (whareuku) and continue to educate our tamariki (children) in an alternative environmental school that uses maramataka as its main foundation for learning.  Miharo! (awesome!

We use the maramataka of our grandfather Ihaka Poata.

Check out some of his recordings on the Nga Taonga Korero sound archives. He even quotes our whanau whakapapa (genealogy) to Hina, the moon!

Regional maramataka

There are many different maramataka, however all whakapapa to Hawaiiki and the names of each moon are ancient.  When our tupuna first arrived here they needed to survive, the moon phases are used as an indicator to match what is happening on the land.  There are slight variations to moon names, however if we are looking at a full moon in Te Taitokerau (Northland) it is the same full moon in Te Waipounamu! (Southland).  What is of course different per area and indeed per whanau even. Such a unique micro climates we live in!  The city is a micro climate, river people are different to mountain people, west coast different to east but maramataka is not to divide us just like waiting to sight Matariki is not a competition! 

The traditional tribal maramataka nationwide made no reference to human energy cycles or activities outside of fishing and gardening.  We have added on to the manuscripts of Ihaka’s with decades of observations and research on the influence of the marama and tangata.  This mahi (work) helped us translate this ancient knowledge into maramataka planning wananga (workshops) and our colour coded maramataka wall planners.  It is important to not just get affected by the marama, but to plan the right actions in alignment with the energy!

Are you living in sync with the natural environment, seasons and marama?

Get your maramataka wall planner 2021/2022 to align your activites throughout year with moon phases.

The moon phases

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