Matariki bonfires along Marine Parade in Napier on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Matariki bonfires along Marine Parade in Napier on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor
The whole of the Napier-Hastings coast alight – it sounded like a nightmare but it went like a dream.
A “chuffed” Matariki Mahuika co-organiser Neill Gordon was glowing himself on Sunday.
It was the morning after a stunning 60 kilometres of cyclone driftwood fires lit up Hawke’s Bay’s beaches, creating a new Matariki tradition for the region that will be hard to stop happening again next year.
The event went ahead after the stars aligned and Fire and Emergency NZ and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council gave rare permission for the fires.
It cost just $210 to put together – a few printed pamphlets to get the word out – but it drew (at a conservative estimate) 25,000 people to watch it.
There were 100 Kahungunu-organised fires from Māhia to Te Awanga, but hundreds more families and friends came out to build their own on Saturday night.
Bernice Tevaga, 7, of Kimi Ora School, at the fires. Photo / Warren Buckland
It created a line of fire, in some places two-deep on Marine Parade Beach and beyond, that was reminiscent of Guy Fawkes nights of old, but on an even grander scale.
Ngāti Kahungunu iwi promotions manager Te Rangi Huata, who worked with Gordon on the spectacle, said there were four times as many fires as he had seen on Guy Fawkes before beach fires were banned.
Visitors to Hawke’s Bay reported being able to see the glow from the Titiokura summit of the Napier-Taupō Rd, such was the scale.
Neill Gordon and Rik Huata, who helped organise the Matariki beach burn-up, delight in their creation. Photo / Paul Taylor
Concerns were raised beforehand about the potential environmental and health impacts of the inaugural event, but the calm night with a slight offshore wind provided what appeared to be ideal conditions.
Gordon said air quality readings in Napier’s airshed were higher on Thursday than Saturday night, and the Napier fire service had received just one callout about the blazes.
“Hawke’s Bay was Middle Earth last night – the shire and Mordor all rolled into one – which to be honest is what the Bay has felt like since Cyclone Gabrielle.
“It has felt like we were inventing Christmas. Working with Te Rangi Huata on this project it really felt just right to us – we shared the certainty that Kiwis would fall in love with celebrating Matariki around a fire on the beach.
The burning of the fishhook of Māui, Te Matau a Māui. Photo / Warren Buckland
“It seems inevitable to us, regardless of what efforts we make, that this idea will take hold right around Aotearoa.”
Gordon described it as a low-budget love letter to his hometown.
“I challenge you to put on a public event of any kind for thousands of people for less.
“Where I was with my whānau near the National Aquarium the sound ringing in my ears all night was children laughing. We had said that one of the reasons for holding Matariki Mahuika was that at Guy Fawkes it’s not dark till after young children are asleep and they miss all the fun.
“Last night I saw families heading home with toddlers in tow, having had the time of their lives, and it was only 7.30.
Fires on a scale never seen on Matariki burn on Marine Parade Beach. Photo / Warren Buckland
“The happiest people I saw all night, other than myself, were grandmothers. I’d heard from so many nanas who’d said they were bringing their mokos down and they were there in big numbers and loving it.”
It was a hugely satisfying weekend for Huata as well, who has been organising Matariki events in Hawke’s Bay for 23 years.
They’ve always been successful, but with a public holiday behind them, they’re now on another level.
Cynthia Fameitau and daughter Mayana Fameitau, from Flaxmere, at the Hakari Matariki event at the Showgrounds in Hastings on Friday. Photo / Paul Taylor
He estimated 10,000 people packed into the Tomoana Showgrounds in Hastings on Friday night for a free Matariki concert and fireworks, with performances from the HB Soul Choir, Cook Island representatives, and local kapa haka groups going down a treat.
At the Atea ā Rangi star compass where it all began in June, all five shows a night were booked out over the weekend.
More events are scheduled – Dannevirke’s celebrations are still to come on August 4 and Waipukurau is having its on August 11 – and Huata can feel the momentum growing.
He was stunned when none of the $3 million set aside for Matariki events in 2023 by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage was given to Hawke’s Bay, and plans to raise it in coming weeks.
Juanita Crawford with her work, Whāia te iti kahurangi, in the Matariki Aroha exhibition at the Hastings Community Arts Centre. Photo / Paul Taylor
But the fires, and the Matariki vibe, showcased just how much the region loved the events being put on, he said.
“You could say the stars aligned for us this year.
“This holiday is really a Hawke’s Bay tradition. We’ve always loved Matariki, people here have always been really on to it, from farmers and the orchardists and the grape growers to everyone.
“This time around, the people have spoken in their thousands.”
Chris Hyde is the editor of Hawke’s Bay Today. He has a decade of experience in regional newsrooms, and a particular interest in the region’s recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle.
