"The Maori recognized two main divisions of the year: winter or takurua, a name for Sirius which then shone as morning star, and summer, raumati or o-rongo-nui, 'of the great Rongo', god of agriculture.

They occasionally recognized spring as the digging season koanga, from ko, the digging stick or spade. The autumn or harvest season was usually spoken of as ngahuru, 'tenth' (month), although it was considered to include also the last two months of the year. Mahuru was the personification of spring." (Makemson)

"The Maori term o-rongo-nui was undoubtedly applied to summer as in phrases such as te ra roa o te marua-roa o te o-rongo-nui, 'the long days (ra, Sun) of the summer solstice'; but it was also extended to cover the months of spring and early summer as well as those of late summer and fall.

This is evident from such statements in the legends as: 'That bird is a cuckoo, and that is the bird of matahi o te tau o o-rongo-nui', i.e., of the first month of the summer season, although in New Zealand the cuckoo, like the robin in the north temperate zone, was the harbinger of spring.

Also, 'Hine-rau-wharangi' was born in the month Ao-nui (first light) of the o-rongo-nui'. Among the Takitumu tribe Ao-nui was the name for May-June, the first month of the year which belonged to late fall or early winter.

Rongo was the name for June in the Chatham Islands and began the Moriori year." (Makemson)