Looking to the heavens: Mānawatia a Matariki (Happy Māori New Year!)

The reappearance of the Matariki star cluster (aka Pleiades) in the
pre-dawn light to the east, in June-July, marks the Māori New Year

Craig every second Tuesday

Kia ora and gidday everyone,

So this week is a rather special one back in my homeland of Aotearoa New Zealand, with the rising of the Matariki cluster of stars (also known as Pleiades or 'the Seven Sisters' in Ancient Greece and still nowadays throughout Europe and elsewhere) in the winter sky and the associated celebration of the Māori New Year.

Traditionally for Māori, Matariki is a time for reflection, celebration, and preparation. It has been an important time of year for Māori for centuries, and in a landmark decision the previous New Zealand government made it an ongoing, annual nationwide public holiday from 2022 onwards. Just as it was when it became the first self-governing country in the world to legislate women had the right to vote (back in 1893, 27 years before suffragettes found success in the United States, and 35 years before the UK), New Zealand became a world leader in granting a national public holiday to a sacred indigenous event, rather than the raft of imported holidays brought by settlers.

(I note that National Indigenous Peoples Day is celebrated throughout Canada, and is a public holiday in a couple of provinces, but is not (yet) a national statutory holiday for everyone. Hopefully in future.)

A special light display at the Auckland Stardome and Observatory
to celebrate the first indigenous national public holiday in 2022

"Matariki will be our first public holiday that recognises Te Ao Māori and will be one that is uniquely New Zealand," said Acting Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Peeni Henare when the decision was announced in mid 2021. "Matariki is more than just a public holiday. Our celebration of the new public holiday will be informed by key values such as unity, sharing, feasting, coming together, and environmental awareness."

“I think it’s incredibly significant,” said Olive Karena-Lockyer (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Raukawa), an astronomy educator at Stardome observatory in Auckland. “It’s from here, from Aotearoa. It’s not imported, like Christmas or Easter or the Queen’s birthday. It’s for us and what is relevant to our environment.”

Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming, aka 'Bear Lodge' for the Kiowa
is the place from which legend has it the 'Seven Star Girls' went into the sky

The rising of the Matariki/Pleiades star cluster in the sky - bright in the sky given its closeness to the earth and ability to be seen with the naked eye not just telescopes etc - is an important event for many cultures throughout the world, and entwined with myths and legends dating back thousands of years. You can read more about some of those, from the Seven Sisters of Greek Mythology to Hindu and Aboriginal beliefs, to the Seven Star Girls of the Kiowa, in a post Lucinda Riley did here. 

While many of the stories relate to seven stars, or six (in Japan), or nine for Māori, the actual cluster is made up of hundreds of stars. As noted by Harvard University's Micro Observatory: 

"Galileo observed the stars of the Pleiades in 1610. Without a telescope, six stars are bright enough to seen, or at most nine if it is very dark and a person's eyesight is very good! (benefits of clearer skies in Aotearoa, perhaps?) Scattered between these six bright stars he counted [with a telescope] over forty fainter points of light, recording the positions of 36 stars in his sketch of the cluster.  Galileo drew outlines around the stars that had been known since ancient times."

So while the Matariki public holiday is something very Kiwi, it celebrates something that is shared by and has been entwined with many cultures throughout the world for hundreds and thousands of years. For millennia, we've all looked to 'the heavens' in awe, for guidance (and navigation), to tell stories, to seek to understand. In Hawaiian the star cluster is known as Makali’i, ‘eyes of royalty', and in Japan it is Subaru, meaning ‘gathered together’. 

Japanese car manufacturer Subaru uses a logo depicting
their six visible stars of the 'Matariki/Pleiades' cluster

The star cluster is visible at different times throughout the year around the world, and for Aotearoa New Zealand, it disappears for a while before reappearing or rising again in the pre-dawn light in the winter months (June-July). This year the official public holiday is Friday 28 June, in three days (the holiday will always be a Friday, to create a long weekend for people to spend time with their loved ones, and be different to the usual Monday holidays).

Watching Ngāti Rānana London Māori club perform
in celebration of Matariki on the weekend

In Aotearoa New Zealand, for many centuries for Māori and nowadays for all New Zealanders, Matariki is about reconnecting with your home and whānau (family). In terms of  Mātauranga Māori (ancestral knowledge and wisdom), Matariki is the beginning of a new season (and year) and is a time for;

• Remembrance (Matariki Hunga Nui) – Honouring those we have lost since the last rising of Matariki
• Celebrating the present (Matariki Ahunga Nui) – Gathering together to give thanks for what we have
• Looking to the future (Matariki Manako Nui) – Looking forward to the promise of a new year

This year, we began celebrating Matariki on Saturday, as Miss 9 and I attended a special event with Ngāti Rānana London Māori club near a wildlife reserve in the docklands of London. It was great to have a 'taste of home' and to be gathered with fellow Kiwis and others to mark the changing of the seasons. Even if we're in opposite seasons here in London, with sporadic sunshine and heat of midsommer more than the wintry clear skies of Matariki back home!

It was a busy Saturday, with parkrun, drama class, her school summer fair, Matariki celebrations, and our allotment neighbours' Swedish midsommer celebrations all packed into a single day! Lots going on, lots to be grateful for. 

I know for most of you reading this Matariki is likely a new or 'foreign' concept, but I hope you've enjoyed learning a little about this time of year, which has always been special for the indigenous people of my homeland, is now becoming something that brings all Kiwis together, and relates to something shared by many cultures. 

So from me and my little Kiwi to you, I hope you have a wonderful Matariki! Given it's about reconnecting with your home and whānau (family), and is celebrated by people coming together to remember their ancestors, share kai (food), sing songs, tell stories, and play music, I think that's the kind of celebration we can all get behind! 

Until next time. Ka kite anō.

Whakataukī of the fortnight: 

Inspired by Zoe and her 'word of the week', I'll be ending my fortnightly posts by sharing a whakataukī (Māori proverb), a pithy and poetic thought to mull on as we go through life.

“Tuia ki te rangi, Tuia ki te whenua, Tuia ki te moana, E rongo te po, E rongo te Ao”

(Look to the sky, the land, and the sea to understand the divisions between day and night)