What is Matariki?

Learn more about Matariki from the Matariki Advisory Group.

Transcript

What is Matariki

[Image of morning sky over a bay]

[Jack Fletcher sitting in the marae at Te Papa]

Jack Thatcher

Well Matariki is a one of those Pinnacle celebrations.

[Time-lapse of sun setting over a body of water, with the shadow of trees, and the stars of Matariki labelled overtop]

Voice over

Matariki is known by many names around the world. Pleiades, Seven Sisters, Subaru. There are nine stars in Matariki: Waiti, Waita, Tupuanuku, Tupuarangi, Ururangi, Waipunarangi, Hiwaiterangi, Pohutakawa and of course Matariki herself.

[Dr. Pauline Harris sitting in the marae at Te Papa, moving to time-lapse of a night sky with a lighthouse and body of water]

Dr Pauline Harris

So Matariki, for me, as well is a large group of stars, known also to many people as the Pleiades. And it has well over 500 stars. It's a very hot region of stars that is a star forming area. And it's around about 410 to 400 and or 450 light years away.

[Image of child on IPad looking at stars in night sky, moving to image of a man and young girl sitting in the back of a Ute in the sunset]

Voice over

Matariki is a group of stars that signals that the beginning of the Maori New Year is near.

[Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua sitting in marae at Te Papa]

Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua

The pre-dawn rising of Matariki and the correct lunar phase of the correct lunar month heralds the beginning of the Māori New Year.

[Outdoor fire and kai, cabbages]

Voice over

Matariki is acknowledged all around the Pacific in rituals and practices.

[Jack Fletcher sitting in the marae at Te Papa]

Jack Thatcher

But in the Pacific, most of our indigenous peoples celebrate Matariki, Makali’i, Mata Ariki, all sorts of other names all come to the same star cluster.

[Time lapse of sun rising over body of water, moving to a net it in water, person walking along a beach, aerial view of a community garden, kumara, leaves on a bush, time lapse of clouds moving over a beach, a group of people standing together, man and girl sitting in the back of a Ute, time lapse of night sky, person walking at night time and looking at the night sky]

Voice over

The stars in Matariki represent kai and elements in different realms. Waiti is associated with fresh water (fish), Waita the Oceans (paua, kina), Tupuanuku the ground (kumara, potatoes), Tupuarangi the kai found in the tops of the trees ( Birds and berries), Ururangi associated with the winds, Pohutakawa to those that have passed on, Hiwa-i-te-rangi our aspirations and hopes for the coming year, and Matariki signifies our connection to the environment, our hopes, dreams, wellbeing and signifies reflection.

[Victoria Campbell sitting in the marae at Te Papa, moving to image of people digging in a field, view of a community garden, shot of a beach, man and young girl walking through the bush]

Victoria Campbell

Matariki is a star cluster of many that illustrate our kōrero tuku iho. Matariki in particular, for me is associated with mahika kai, our food procurement practices. It's part of an intricate timekeeping system that our tūpuna followed. It's also a time to remember the past, think about the future and plan for that.

[Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr sitting in the marae at Te Papa]

Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr

It's important to celebrate it because in many ways, it's that chance to find a symbolic start to everything that's going to happen over the next 12 months or so.

[Time lapse of night sky over a rock pool]

Voice over

Other stars are used to mark the new year.

[Image of Dr. Pauline Harris sitting in the marae at Te Papa]

Dr Pauline Harris

Matariki represents the Māori New Year as well as other stars such as Puanga, which is a very important star to many other iwi in New Zealand.

[Dr. Ruakere Hond standing in community garden, moving to footage of Dr. Hond walking through the community garden]

Dr Ruakere Hond

We know that Puanga was recognised widely within Taranaki as the signal for the new year and Matariki wasn’t so much a signal for the new year, but a signal in terms of what the year would hold.

[Rereata Makiha sitting in the marae at Te Papa, moving to a time lapse of the sun and clouds moving over a mountain and body of water, Rereata Makiha sitting in the marae at Te Papa]

Rereata Makiha

I didn't know a lot about Matariki, because we were brought up to recognise a different way of marking the New Year. So there are two stars that we use. One is Rehua setting in the west, and Puanga rising in the east, and so in Hokianga, there's not a lot of knowledge around the cluster of stars known as Matariki.

[Image of Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua sitting in the marae at Te Papa, moving to a time lapse of people standing around an outdoor fire at nighttime, images of cabbages and kai in a basket, the basket of kai being placed in hangi, back to a time lapse of people standing around an outdoor fire at nighttime, then to Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua sitting in the marae at Te Papa, to images of steaming kai covered cloth, a close up of fire, people working on the fire, a shot of a young girl, back to Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua sitting in the marae at Te Papa, to an image of a woman standing on the top of a mountain looking at the sun, and finally back to Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua sitting in the marae at Te Papa]

Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua

Māori tribes have various approaches to just about everything. But for a large majority, Matariki or large group anyway, Matariki was the sign that denoted the beginning of the New Year, the change of the season. It's a feast to come together. Matariki is built around really crucial values, like remembering those people that are no longer with us and we farewell them at this period. Celebrating the present with food with coming together, unity, collectivity and planning for the future. And one of the things that Matariki was central in, apart from our very unique and diverse systems of time, is Matariki helped to reaffirm identity and to reaffirm bonds that we have with each other. Those that have passed, those that are still with us and those that are still to come. So it's this very important celebration and period of time, that really helps to embed those central values within us and within our communities.

[End shot: time lapse of a night sky over a marae]