Matariki meaning

Matariki Day must remain our day, celebrated our way, the best way we see fit, and not just another commercial marketing opportunity, writes Peter Dunne.

We lack a defined national day, opting instead for Waitangi Day because of the significance of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. We commemorate our service personnel on Anzac Day, the advent of the 40-hour working week on Labour Day, and we still retain the forelock-tugging, anachronistic holiday to mark the British Sovereign’s birthday. In doing so, however, we must ensure that our unique flavour is promoted and enhanced – Matariki Day should not become any form of imitation, as some have suggested, of the way other nations mark days of national significance to them. New Zealand Day did not survive the change of government in 1975 – being renamed Waitangi Day in 1976 – but the journey towards a new sense of nationhood was underway. Over time, a new cohesive set of values and aspirations is emerging, that is a distinct reflection of what it means to be living in New Zealand today. The then Auckland and Northland provincial holiday on February 6 to mark the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi was made a national holiday to be known as New Zealand Day. At the first New Zealand Day celebration at Waitangi in 1974, Kirk pointedly told Queen Elizabeth II that Britain’s decision to join Europe had left New Zealand alone and free to develop its own values and nationhood. The Treaty of Waitangi was officially recognised in 1975 and the Waitangi Tribunal established.

Aotearoa's inaugural Matariki public holiday has been officially welcomed with an ancient and sacred hautapu ceremony, the first of its kind to be broadcast ...

“It’s unusual for us to take that opportunity to translate those words because they are from our culture, but Sir Pou said something the other day on television. "The cosmos is intrinsically interwoven, with what it means to be human. Mānawatia a Matariki." “I said to her, this is that moment, when we let go of the difficulties, we severe the bonds of the weight of some of the difficulties, the issues that we’ve had to deal with and we look to the promise of a bright future and she said that she was definitely going to do that. "This waypoint in our journey, offers us the chance to come together as families but also as a nation under the stars of a bright, optimistic and hopeful Matariki. A space where there is room for us all. "This is a moment where we have pulled tightly on the threads of our nationhood, bringing us all closer together, today is a moment in time.

Celebrations of the day are often centred on food and togetherness, with a strong focus on gratitude. Morrison also notes that the celebration of the return of ...

Morrison says a better way to go about it would be to have commercial activities focused on things like food, feasts and family coming together. Whereas, this is our winter and our winter sky to celebrate." Maybe this is part of our maturity as well. All of those things are relevant and universal to everybody." And what knowledge can we actually all engage in and be richer for it? "When we consider all knowledge, what knowledge have we left behind?

It is also is a step forward towards understanding what makes us unique as a country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

She said she had witnessed several special moments this week, as people prepared for Matariki, including during her visit yesterday to Wainouimata Intermediate School to watch tamariki stage a performance of the many stories of Matariki. "Today is a moment in time. "Especially for our children, who will not have to think twice about the significance or the meaning of Matariki as it will be entrenched into the hearts and minds of generations to come." "I can't think of a better moment in time for us to take up what Matariki has to offer us as individuals but also as a nation." "Matariki provides us with a chance to reflect; to think of those we have lost and to prepare and share a sense of hope and optimism for the future. "From today onwards we can annually embed into our calendars a national holiday that is unique to Aotearoa and is inclusive of all of our people."

As a special space to perform rituals, the Ātea-ā-Rangi will include a unique sculpture at its centre which will incorporate touch stones and a star compass, ...

And a Sailathon fundraiser this Saturday, at The Strand, from 12 noon-3pm. “People will touch the stone and add their life force into that, which also helps with enabling the people to feel a stronger affinity to the mountain itself,” says Jack. “The festival is inclusive – everybody’s welcome!” Also – thanks to a one-off National Jazz Festival being hosted on Matariki weekend – Jazz at the Mount at Porotakataka Park, Mount Maunganui’s urban space in the main shopping area, will allow people to soak up music from an outdoor stage of performances from 9.30am-5pm. The event will be open to all to enjoy the festivities, from flying kites, a special screening of short film ‘The Navigators’ and a scrumptious food market to fuel the fun. At dawn today, a new Ātea-ā-Rangi – a ritual space – will be opened on the summit of Mauao, signifying the start of Matariki – and the first ever public holiday in Aotearoa to celebrate the Māori New Year.

Maori new year legally recognised for first time, prompting excitement and debate over how best to mark the day.

For Karena-Lockyer, there was also excitement associated with seeing the holiday come to the fore – and an opportunity for all New Zealanders to learn more about te ao Māori – the Indigenous culture and worldview. Some business owners, in turn, have said that the addition of another public holiday to the calendar is too great a burden for shops and eateries already struggling with high inflation and low tourism. The holiday centres on three principles: remembrance of those who have died, celebrating the present with family and friends; and looking to the future promise of a new year. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, people have been gathering this week in pre-dawn mornings and icy winter nights to honour Matariki, the Māori new year. At Takaparawhau, overlooking Auckland, 1000 people gathered at dawn for the cracking open of an earth oven, to watch the steam and smoke rise into the dark sky in an offering to the stars. On the volcanic peak of Maungakiekie, astronomers and stargazers huddled in the freezing early morning to see the constellations of the new year rising.

This year Aotearoa New Zealand is celebrating what may be the world's first reintroduced indigenous holiday anywhere in the world, according to Dr. Rangi ...

This is a place to see the full majesty of the night sky. He adds that all people on the planet descend from people who have used stars to tell time, or to navigate, or to know when to hunt and harvest, and when Matariki appears, the celebration therein creates unity. The Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights, are also visible this time of year, making stargazing all that more spectacular. This year Aotearoa New Zealand is celebrating what may be the world’s first reintroduced indigenous holiday anywhere in the world, according to Dr. Rangi Matamua, an indigenous studies and Māori cultural astronomy academic of Tūhoe descent. “All the stuff that you carry with you, wherever you are in the world, you take that home and it gets blown away.” “We have a saying: ‘e hoki ki ō maunga kia purea ai e ngā hau o Tāwhirimātea,’ which means ‘return to your homelands and let your spirit be cleansed by the winds of your home.’” At Matariki, you become cleansed and healed, revived and regenerated.

We certainly don't need cookbooks to tell us we have culinary traditions, but they're useful. Cookbooks have long been used to establish cuisines and cement ...

He’s excited about the fact that so many of the resources available to Māori thousands of years ago are still here, including “19 types of indigenous pūha”. Beyond food media, and perhaps far more significantly, the knowledge of kai Māori resides in memories that are passed down. Perhaps the best reflection of how our kai has been excluded from our national food identity is the history of food media in Aotearoa. We certainly don’t need cookbooks to tell us we have culinary traditions, but they’re useful. Cooking shows on Māori Television and even social media pages like Kai Māori on Facebook have helped to fill in the gaps. Matariki traditions are derived from differing perspectives and relationships with the environment, and the meaning of Matariki differs from place to place – in some parts of the country you can’t even see the cluster. Ngāi Tūhoe filmmaker and lecturer Robert Pouwhare told me about how kererū would have been harvested by his people around this time of year in Te Urewera. “There were special ceremonies and rituals and certain people were allowed to go and harvest,” he said. And it would be remiss not to mention that for many Māori, inequality has meant that getting any kai on the table – traditional or not – has been made challenging. Land alienation, urbanisation and the destruction of ecosystems have meant that it can be extremely impractical for us to go and gather kai using traditional practices. After conversations with multiple researchers and historians this week, rather than create some codified Matariki menu, I’ve been inspired to instead approach Matariki as a signal to go beyond what I know about the food of Aotearoa. It is a time of year that marks changes in our environment – a change of seasons. We often talk about food in terms of identity and relationships, as a way into cultures – both our own and of others. That means while this year’s Matariki might be a continuation of tradition for some, for others it will be about finding a way to reconnect.