"...when the new moon appeared women assembled and bewailed those who had died since the last one, uttering the following lament: 'Alas! O moon! Thou has returned to life, but our departed beloved ones have not. Thou has bathed in the waiora a Tane, and had thy life renewed, but there is no fount to restore life to our departed ones. Alas'..." (Makemson)

The astronomical meaning is clear: During the ca 2 nights when moon is dark it is because moon is passing between sun and earth. Moon is in other words bathing in the light from the sun.

The concept of death being necessary for birth is alluded to by lamenting over those who have died during the last month and which unlike the gods cannot be 'recycled' (return unchanged).