“As
a child I went into the chill of morning to greet a special group of stars to
welcome Te Matahi o te Tau, The Freshness of a New Beginning.” Haare Williams comments.
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| History of Matariki - www.matarikievents.co.nz |
Looking to Aotearoa New Zealand for
something special? Then look no
more. Instead, look up to the heavens
and you may be blessed by a sighting of the seven stars of Pleiades - Matariki.
When you discover them, you’ll find
something that is richly Aotearoa. Our country has changed more than some
realise and getting to know that this richness is a part of change. Many
corporate organisations including The Maritime Museum and The Auckland War
Memorial Museum will this year highlight this event. Why?
Not so long ago, many New Zealanders
used to cringe at some aspects of our cultural heritage, especially when it
came to stories like that of the taniwha, Patupaearehe and ngarara.
The
cosmic rising of Matariki set the start of the Maori New Year. Unlike the western calendar, the Maori year
was determined by the ‘Nights of the moon’ and not by the ‘Days of the
month’. The Maori seasons were read in
the stars, which began and ended with the heliacal rising (or setting) of
certain stars. Pleiades was the main determinant for the seasons here and in
Pasifika, India, Burma and South America.
In England the group is known as “The Seven Sisters”, in Japan it’s
“Subaru”. The Greeks referred to them as
Pleiades.
As
a kid, I joined my koro and kuia in the chill of dawn to celebrate the signs
(tohu) which heralded the Maori New Year.
When Puanga (Rigel) appeared in May, it signalled that Matariki would
soon follow. But it was the new moon
that followed Matariki that marked the beginning of the Maori year.
The
rising of Puanga (Rigel) heralded the start known as, Te Matahi o te Tau,” The gift of a fresh beginning.” The year’s beginning was not a fixed
time. It varied from year to year rather
like Easter, each ‘month’ determined precisely by the night of the new moon.
Besides the rising and setting of
certain constellations, there were other signs which signalled seasonal change,
amongst these the flowering of plants like the kowhai, sprouting of ferns, the
mating and moulting of birds’ feathers, singing of insects, and the arrival and
departure of two migratory birds.
The
first night was ‘Whiro’, not a good time for anything; the sixteenth was
‘Turu’, a good time for sea foods; the twenty-eighth night was ‘Whiro’, the
disappearance of the moon. After
twenty-eight nights the new moon started a new cycle.
The seasons were believed to have a
profound effect on the lives of people in their actions, moods, desires,
lovemaking, ovulation, conception, contraception, birth, and helped to shape
one’s destiny as in astrology. Maori too
could foretell and control weather, tides and seasons.
Each night is named according to a
particular phase of the moon and determined planting, harvesting, fishing and
other activities. The moon, ever connected with water has associations with
names like Tangaroa who is [1]kaitiaki
of tides. When Hinauri (The Dark Moon
and sister of Maui) crossed the ocean to a far away land (Aotearoa), she
married Tinirau, son of Tangaroa and made their home on Motutapu Island.
Summer and Winter solstices were
personified in Hineraumati (Summer Maid) and Hinetakurua (Winter Maid) the
seasonal lovers of Tamanui-te-Ra (the sun).
Daughters of Tangaroa, Winter Maid live out at sea, and Summer Maid on
land. Tamanui-te-Ra spends half the year
with Hineraumati the other with Hinetakurua.
We
now show less of the cultural cringe that once made us insist that England was
‘home’. Recent interest in the Maori
lunar year with the cosmic rising of Matariki has increased over the past five
years. John Campbell of TV3, ‘Campbell
Live’, attributed to the constellation as; “A more appropriate celebration than
Queen’s Birthday”. I note too that the Auckland Harbour Board Chair, Sir Bob
Harvey is signalling that Matariki should be accepted as a national event.
Piripi Haami, Far Northland leader says, “It’s time we had our own special
celebrations.” I go along with Campbell,
Sir Bob, and Haami.
Isn’t
it time we pensioned-off the tired old celebrations that had their roots in
another hemisphere and a heaven that few believe in. Pension-off Queen’s
Birthday, and instead celebrate the Maori New Year, an event indigenous to us,
which happens around the same time. Matariki speaks to us of home and of a
natural order and, unlike the monarchy, it’s readily accessible.
In
2003, the new moon rose on 20 June. In
2007 on Sunday 20 June and last year (2012) on Sunday 22 June coinciding
exactly with the winter solstice.
We
should all be honest and say that December 25 is no longer a Christian
festival. It is a riotous mid-summer
end-of-year commercial orgy. Of course
Christ should be in Christmas, but Christmas is out of place here in our
summer.
Our
society can be enriched by the stories of Matariki, taniwha and other deities
like Patupaearehe and Papatuanuku which sounds more like us in our own
landscape.
So,
let’s have a riotous southern hemisphere mid-winter-end-of-year fest without
the commercial trappings, one that sings with reminders of rebirth, spring,
growth and hope; let’s all have festivals that celebrate our place with the
vibrancy of spring life in our corner of Earth.
[1] Kaitiaki ‘a
watchful guardian, protection of the potentiality in all things, hence
Kaitiakitanga