Museum Notebook: The Matariki constellation and its different names around the world

Every country has its own name and its own myths and stories about these stars. Photo / Stephen Chadwick

Tāwhirimatea, guardian spirit of winds and storms raged at his brothers. How dare they separate his parents after he had told them not to. In his fury he ripped his eyes from his face, shattered them into 1000 pieces and threw them into the sky, creating the star cluster we call Matariki.

Matariki is a shortened version of Mata (eyes) ariki (god) Tāwhirimātea. This special little cluster of stars has enthralled humans for millennia. Every country has its own name and its own myths and stories about these stars.

In Japan they are known as Subaru; you will have noticed the six stars on the back of the Subaru cars. The ancients Greeks called them Pleides, the Seven Sisters. To save them from the hunter Orion, the great god Zeus transformed them into stars. They are featured in the major arcana tarot card, the Star.

One of the biggest myths that I've encountered is that they cannot be seen in Whanganui. They can. Puanga or Rigel rises earlier. We see Puanga first but once we see Puanga we know that Matariki will be following closely behind.

Lisa Reweti is programmes presenter at Whanganui Regional Museum. Photo / Bevan Conley

A Maōri tradition is that Matariki is a mother and the other stars are her children. A star cluster is different to a constellation. A constellation is an imaginary dot-to-dot picture in the sky. A star cluster is linked by gravity. There are more than 1000 stars in the Matariki cluster. Some people can see seven stars, some can see nine and others with really amazing eyesight can see 12. I just see a blur!

In the Northen Hemisphere, Matariki is the shoulder of Taurus the bull. Māori have three-D constellations too. Te Waka, or Rangi, is the sky waka. Matariki is the prow of the waka and the triangle (also known as Hyades) is the sail. Tautoru (Orion's belt, also known as the pot) is the taurapa or the back of the waka. The captain is Taramainuku. He sails through the night sky collecting the souls of those who have passed away during the year. He keeps them safe in his waka. When the Matariki stars rise in the early morning at the winter solstice, he turns them into stars and releases them into the sky.

Many years ago I was walking with my grandmother, Maudie Reweti and my Aunty Rangi Takarangi. We had been at the marae for a tangi. One of our own, a child from Pūtiki, had been killed in a terrible road accident. I was 7-years-old. It was devastating. I asked Aunty Rangi if Nevine was okay. Aunty turned to me and said, "Ah yes. Nevine is a star now and where ever you are in the world she will always shine down on you."

It felt very comforting. I looked up at Aunty Rangi and asked, "How is it that you know so much?" She smiled and her eyes twinkled. "I'm old", she said. "I'm so old that I've seen Haley's Comet twice!"

Lisa Reweti is programmes presenter at Whanganui Regional Museum.