From the MTG: Matariki marks new beginnings

The rising of Matariki signals the start of the Māori New Year. Photo / File

COMMENT:
In 2001, the Māori Language Commission, Taurawhiri i te Reo, moved to reclaim Matariki, Aotearoa Pacific New Year, as a tool and focus for the purpose of Māori language regeneration and normalisation.

Since then, Matariki celebrations have become common throughout the country.

Matariki is found low on the horizon in the north east of the sky toward the end of May and into the month of June.

It's an open cluster of stars in excess of 3000 best known as the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, these names originating from the ancient Greek.

The Pleiades were the seven daughters of a Titan called Atlas who was condemned to hold up the celestial heavens for eternity. Hence the term atlas has been used for the collection of maps since the 16th century and the Atlantic Ocean meaning the Sea of Atlas.

It is also known as Messier Object M45 by scientists and is part of the constellation Taurus (the bull). This cluster is about 400 years in distance away from Earth and about 13 years across. Usually to the naked eye one will see seven to nine stars, or fewer, but if conditions are crystal-clear, one can see up to 12 stars.

Matariki is a major sign post in the sky for many of Earth's older cultures as it is for Māori and signals the end of one lunar year and the beginning of the new year.

She, Matariki (Alcyone), is female and mother - the centre star amid the cluster.
Important for the predicting and planning the seasons, cultivating, hunting and gathering, wānanga (school), and navigation. It was how the 28 Māori Battalion navigated around the deserts of Africa and the mountains of Italy in World War II when engaging Rommel.

Matariki is positioned close to the ecliptic enabling it to be seen from both southern and northern latitudes.

These are the most common stars, Matariki's children, able to be seen by the naked eye.

Tupuārangi (Atlas) is the guardian to food that comes from above your head, birds and fruit.

Tapuānuku (Pleione) is guardian to the food grown inside our earth mother Papatuānuku.

Waitī (Maia) is guardian to food that comes from fresh water.

Waitā (Taygeta) is guardian to the food that comes from salt water.

Waipunarangi (Electra) is guardian of the rain.

Ururangi (Merope) is guarding of the wind.

Hiwaiterangi (Celaeno) is the potiki, last born, to whom you send your wishes

Pōhutukawa (Asterope) is the star that carries our dead.

The father of these is Rehua (Antares) but he is not part of the Matariki constellation. I have no idea where and WINZ has no forwarding address.

Matariki is the edited abbreviation of Ngā Mata ō te Ariki – the Eyes of God. This god is none other than Tāwhirimātea, he being the god of wind and weather.

When Papatuānuku, earth mother, and Ranginui, sky father, were separated by Tāwhirimatea's brother Tāne, Tawhirimātea took umbrage and tore his own eyes out.
With his eyes in pieces he gave them to the sky, his father Ranginui and they became Ngā Mata ō te Ariki – the Eyes of God. Still distraught to this day from his parents being separated Tāwhirimatea causes the wind and weather from all directions to arise as he feels his way blindly about the sky.

The position of these children in the night sky has relevance to their meanings and designation. Tupuārangi sits above Tupuānuku simply because the sky is above the earth. Waitī sits about Waitā because fresh water flows down to salt water. Waipunarangi with Ururangi sit above all their siblings because rain and wind come from above.

Pōhutukawa and Hiwaiterangi sit away from the rest of the other stars, their siblings to acknowledge their tapu status.

Matariki is a complete holistic lifestyle for everything. My father, for example, would study Matariki to see how to conduct himself for the year ahead. He would compare different parts of Matariki, reading the different combinations important for navigation and timing the seasons.

If certain stars shone more brightly, that would indicate a plentiful food source from that area, and that the weather would be good. On the other hand if a star was dull or sometimes even missing it would represent a low or non-harvest outcome with not so favourable weather for the coming year.

This is the lunar calendar, not the European. With all of this, just because Matariki is visible, it does not mean it is necessarily the correct time to read the stars. Matariki must be read when the moon is in Pipiri, the correct lunar phase and toward the end of the moon's third quarter, going into the last quarter - usually around June. It is after this that Matariki celebrations as we know it take place.

With all of this there is another canoe to be had, "Te Waka o Te Rangi".

Matariki is positioned at the front of this canoe "Te Waka o Te Rangi", another constellation, with Tautoru (Orion's Belt) positioned at the rear. Taramainuku, another star, is the captain.

Te Kupenga a Taramainuku is the net of Taramainuku. When this constellation is in the sky, Taramainuku casts his net to gather the spirits of the deceased carrying them in his waka to the underworld. When this constellation rises again Taramainuku releases the spirits of the deceased into the sky to become stars. This is where the saying comes from in whaikorero (speech making) to the dead, "kua wheturangitia koe" – "you have now become a star".

All in all Matariki is a time for new harvest, ceremonial festivities and offerings to the land based gods Rongo, Uenuku and Whiro to ensure good crops for the coming year.

Happy Matariki New Year everyone.

Te Hira Henderson is curator of taonga Māori at MTG.

WHAT'S ON
NZCT Chamber Music Contest – central regional final. An iconic secondary school musical event held annually throughout the country, this is the perfect opportunity for young musicians to compose and to perform chamber music. MTG Century Theatre, Saturday, June 22 at 11.30am and 4.30pm. $15 per adult with unlimited access to both sessions, door sales only. Free entry for children and school students.

Pork Pie Movie Night. Help send five Hawke's Bay teens to the US for a Junior Theatre Celebration. This 2017 comedy (a remake of the 1981 Goodbye Pork Pie) follows a trio of accidental outlaws travelling New Zealand in a stolen orange mini. MTG Century Theatre, Thursday, June 27 at 7.30pm. Tickets available through Eventfinda and includes complimentary wine and nibbles.

MTG Movie Club – Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen. It's time to celebrate Māori New Year and Matariki with pioneering filmmaker Merata, who was the first Māori woman to write and direct a narrative feature. MTG Century Theatre, Saturday, June 29 at 4pm. Discount for Friends. Tickets available through Eventfinda.

Te Hira Henderson is curator of taonga Māori at MTG.

Exhibition Talk. Join social history curator – Gail Pope for an insightful tour of House of Webb: A Victorian Family's Journey to Ormondville and learn more about the family and their lives. Tuesday, July 2 11am-12pm. All welcome, meet in MTG foyer. Free event.

Fools & Dreamers – FREE Short Film + Q&A. This 30-minute documentary tells the story of Hinewai Nature Reserve, on Canterbury's Banks Peninsula, and its kaitiaki/manager of 30 years, Hugh Wilson. We learn about the commitment of Wilson and the Maurice White Native Forest Trust to regenerate marginal, hilly farmland into native forest, using a minimal interference method that allows nature to do the work, giving life to more than 1500ha of native forest, waterways, and the creatures that live within them. The film will be followed by a Q&A with the directors and local guests. MTG Century Theatre, Sunday, July 7 at 5pm. Free event, please register online through Eventbrite.