Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

As the Māori New Year rolls around, it’s time to celebrate Matariki once again.  As Matariki (the Pleiades) has re-appeared in the pre-dawn sky, it’s just a matter of waiting for the next new moon to begin the celebrations. This year Matariki celebrations kick off on 24 June.

I probably enjoy the revitalised traditions that go with Matariki more than finding the star cluster itself. Last year’s Matariki we got together as a whānau and ate traditional and not-so-traditional foods placed in kono (a small flax food basket ) woven by my daughters.  Nice food, warm fire, and inside.  On the other hand, the Matariki star-gazing show is beset by the twin problems of early mornings and freezing (ok, very cold) temperatures to deal with.  While my daughters are able to pick out the individual stars, I can only just make out a blurry shape, which is helped by looking at it slightly askance.

If you’re interested in early mornings and being very cold, then have a look at last year’s Matariki blog, which tells you how to find Matariki in the sky.

If you have an interesting story about how you - as an individual, whānau, family, organisation or tribe - have celebrated Matariki, we could be interested in incorporating it into our entry. You could send it to us, preferably with a photo, or leave a comment.

The North Island is in the north, the South Island is in the south. Simple, easy, and apparently unofficial.

The New Zealand Geographic Board is looking to make them official, and possibly add in alternative Māori names to go with them. They are going to canvass iwi about what the options might be. These islands have already been through a few name changes since James Cook first recorded the names ‘Aeheino mouwe’ for the North Island and ‘Tovy-poenammu’ for the South Island.

Captain Cook considers potential names

How did we get North Island, South Island and Stewart Island?

In 1840 the islands commonly known as ‘Northern Island’, ‘Middle Island’ and ‘Stewart’s Island’ were given the official names of ‘New Ulster’ (for the North Island), ‘New Munster’ (for the South Island), and ‘New Leinster’ (for Stewart Island).  It will be no surprise to find that these names did not stick.

An 1852 map shows the North Island as, ‘New Ulster or North Island’; the South Island as ‘New Munster or Middle Island’; and Stewart Island/Rakiura as ‘New Leinster or Stewart Island or South Island’. Yep, Stewart Island was once known as the South Island. North, middle, south. It makes sense. Around 1907 the minister of lands decided it was time to lose the ‘Middle Island’ title, and just have North Island, South Island and Stewart Island.

What are the possible Māori names?

The most likely names are: Te Ika a Māui (Māui’s fish) for the North Island and Te Waipounamu (greenstone waters) for the South Island. These names are frequently used in an informal capacity.

Cook’s record

James Cook, after speaking to a kaumātua in Queen Charlotte Sound, recorded that the North Island was known as ‘Aeheino mouwe’. There is speculation about what this actually means; possibilities are: fished up by Māui ( hī nō Māui), fire of Māui (ahi nō Māui), breastbone of Māui (ahei nō Māui). The South Island was recorded as Tovy-poenammu, or Te Wai Pounamu (The Greenstone Waters).

Māui and his fish

In tradition, the demigod Māui fished up the North Island – sometimes characterised as a stingray. A suite of Māori names for our shaky isles come from this act:

The North Island is his fish (ika) – Te Ika a Māui
The South Island is his canoe (waka) – Te Waka a Māui
Stewart Island is his anchor stone (punga) – Te Punga a Te Waka a Māui.

Māui fishes up the North Island

However, Stewart Island is out of the equation as it is already known as Stewart Island/Rakiura.  Rakiura is short for Te Ura a Te Rakitamau (The glow of Te Rakitamau). Te Rakitamau, whose name is shorted to Raki, came to court a woman.  When he arrived she had left with her husband and he glowed (ura) with embarrassment.

Aotearoa

Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu were in use historically to mean the North Island and South Island. However, Aotearoa was also used to mean New Zealand, at least from the 1870s, and probably earlier.  The Māori translation of the national anthem was done in the 1870s and was called ‘Aotearoa’, meaning New Zealand.

Is this Tūī a viral marketeer?

A tūī in Inglewood has apparently been singing the Pizza Hut jingle. Is this a genuine case of a tūī performance, or a new marketing ploy? Have a listen for yourself.

Feathered impressionist

This is not that unlikely. Not only is the tūī a great singer, but it’s also a mimic. Tūī imitate the songs of other birds, and can also imitate people. Traditionally, they were trained by Māori to do mihi (greetings), karakia (charms) and recite proverbs. Anecdotally, they’ve been said to imitate car alarms, phones, alarm clocks and popular songs.

An ecstasy of tūī?

Not everybody loves the melodious tūī. While it’s been said that a group of tūī is known as an ecstasy of tūī, Wellingtonians were complaining last year about the agony of tūī. The success of the Karori Sanctuary has led to a significant increase in Wellington’s tūī population. Apparently some people started ringing the sanctuary to complain about the resultant noise, which sometimes started in the early hours of the morning. It’s got to be a small price to pay for revitalisation of our native bird population.

Top 10 searches on google.co.nz in 2008

Google has announced its top searches for New Zealand in 2008.

1. games
2. bebo
3. youtube
4. Trade Me
5. lyrics
6. google
7. map
8. hotmail
9. tv
10. weather

Google, at number 6, is the strangest one. Why would you search in Google for Google? And how many people doing that, when they get their result, think, ‘I was just here’, and do the same search again?

We can comfort ourselves with the thought that it was also the Aussies’ sixth highest search term. It certainly disproves the urban legend that if you type Google into Google you can break the internet.

Google’s top 10 hit parade made me wonder what the top 10 keywords that took searchers to Te Ara were this year.

Top 10 Te Ara searches for 2008

1. Te Ara
2. Matariki
3. Hone Heke
4. Blobfish
5. Apirana Ngata
6. Pounamu (Greenstone 11th top search)
7. Koru
8. Kupe
9. Largest ocean
10. Cabbage tree

Blobfish, aka Mr Blobby

Matariki, the Māori New Year, moved from 3rd in 2007 to 2nd in 2008. That’s not bad considering that over 70% of that traffic came in May and June. The Blobfish, or Mr Blobby as he is affectionaly known in-house, was the big mover. He went from 10th in 2007 to 4th this year.

Hone Heke and Sir Apirana Ngata were the top historical individuals once again. Deep sea frill shark was number 2 in 2007, but disappeared completely in 2008.

And, of course, Te Ara is still number 1.

Top 10 keywords last month

Āraiteuru, a taniwha

Over the past month the top 10 keywords have been the usual suspects with the exception of Holmglen, Erebus crash, and taniwha.

The Holmglen was a ship wrecked off the coast of Timaru in November 1959.  People were obviously trying to find out about the Holmglen after the tragic case of a diver who died in early November while diving to the wreck. The anniversary of another tragedy, the crash of an Air New Zealand DC10 on Mt Erebus, Antarctica, on 28 November 1979, saw an influx into the air crashes entry.

A large number of the taniwha searches are actually image searches, so a lot of you are wondering just what a taniwha looks like.

Common tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)

It’s the biggest comeback since Lazarus for New Zealand’s ‘living dinosaur‘, the tuatara. For the first time in around 200 years a tuatara nest has been found on mainland New Zealand.

The nest was found at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, a large sanctuary surround by a predator-proof fence, just minutes away from Wellington. The tuatara had become extinct on mainland New Zealand, and its re-population is thanks to the survival of tuatara (both Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri) on nearshore islands. In 2005 the sanctuary was gifted 70 tuatara from Stephens Island (Takapourewa) in the Marlborough Sounds by their kaitiaki (guardians) Ngāti Koata, with another 130 released in the sanctuary in 2007.

A land-based taniwha

It’s interesting that Ngāti Koata are kaitiaki (guardians) of the tuatara. The tuatara, with a Māori name meaning spiny back, were often used as kaitiaki themselves. They were sometimes released near burial caves to protect the dead. Tuatara, along with other reptiles, were often held in fear by Māori. And, like other reptiles, it was seen as descending from Punga, whose descendants were considered hideously ugly. It is also sometimes considered to be the model for the giant land-based taniwha in Māori tradition, such as Te Ngārara Huarau.

Tuatara hatchling

It’s not the first time this year these living descendants of the 250-million-year-old Sphenodontia order have been in the news. Harry the tuatara is the epitome of the term ‘living fossil‘ – at the sprightly age of 111 he became dad to 11 healthy eggs laid by a cradle-snatched 80-ish Mildred. In case you’re interested, we have footage of tuataras mating. It’s not Harry and Mildred, but they’re dead-ringers.