In 2022 New Zealanders gained a new mid-winter public holiday to celebrate Matariki, named after the star cluster that rises on the winter horizon and heralds the Māori New Year.
The Matariki cluster, also known as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, is visible across the world and has significance to people globally, being mentioned in the Bible and the Koran, and known as Subaru in Japan.
In traditional Māori culture, its first appearance in the early morning sky marked the end of harvest and was a time for people to come together for feasting, as well as to reflect on the past year and plan for the future. Now, all of New Zealand’s people can share in this important Māori tradition with a holiday that this year fell on Friday, 20 June.
Learning about Matariki holds a special meaning at Triquestra, a proudly diverse New Zealand company. In the past, we’ve held events celebrating Eid-al-Fitr, Diwali and Chinese New Year, and in the spirit of inclusion we saw last week as a chance for everyone to learn about New Zealand’s Indigenous culture.
Our guides on this journey were Trev Teau and Kauri Wharewera from Kulture Ink, a tattoo studio that specialises in Māori and Polynesian design, to explain the history and meaning of Matariki. They introduced us to the nine stars that comprise the Matariki cluster, explaining that together with other surrounding stars they form the shape of a waka, or canoe, with Matariki at the prow and Orion’s Belt at the stern.
Trevor Teau & Kauri Wharewera from Kulture Ink
Each star within the Matariki cluster has its own meaning, including Pōhutukawa, which connects us to those who have passed on, and Tipuānuku, which has a connection to the food that comes from the earth.
The most important part of the Matariki celebration is Hauptapu, which involves feeding the stars with a sacred offering of food harvested from the earth, water and sky. During hautapu, loved ones who have passed away in the previous years are remembered and mourned, and the food is cooked before Matariki rises. The ceremony ends with the rising of the sun.
Kauri explained that Matariki is a time to harvest not just food but also the lessons that have been learned in the past year, while planting the seeds for the coming year until Matariki rises again.
Afterwards we enjoyed a feast of our own, including fried bread fresh from the oven. Sharing food also gave us a chance to reflect on the similarities between Matariki and Eid, as well as Easter, which are connected to the lunar calendar and have a focus on feasting, and the ways that people across the world find similar ways to come together and celebrate with a feeling of renewal.
