** MAORI NEW YEAR**
Matariki
The star cluster that heralds the start of the Aotearoa Pacific New Year, is important to Māori and Pacific people and other cultures around the world. Matariki is visible to the naked eye on a clear winter evening after the full moon from early to late June each year.
There are many stories about its significance as a navigational star and also as a portent on whether the coming harvests will be plentiful. If the stars in the cluster are clear and bright, it is thought that the year ahead will be warm and productive. If they appear hazy and shimmering, a cold winter is in store for us, and all activities during the period of Matariki must take this into account.
Some say that Matariki is the mother surrounded by her six daughters, other stories suggest that Matariki is a male star. These are the Māori names that make up the other six prominent stars of the Matariki cluster Tupuanuku, Tupuarangi, Waitī, Waitā, Waipunarangi and Ururangi.
Matariki is celebrated at different times by different tribes. For some, feasts are held when it is first seen. For others, it is the full moon after it rises that is celebrated and for others, celebrations are centred on the dawn of the next new moon.
Astronomers generally refer to Matariki as the Pleiades. The cluster is a group of many hundreds of stars about 400 light years from Earth and has been recognised since ancient times. The brightest stars are quite easy to see with the unaided eye and in Greek legend bear the names of the Seven Sisters, the daughters of Atlas and Pleone, Alcyone, Merope, Asterope, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno and Electra.
For some tribes Puanga or Rigel is the star that signifies the beginning of the Māori New Year.
The star cluster that heralds the start of the Aotearoa Pacific New Year, is important to Māori and Pacific people and other cultures around the world. Matariki is visible to the naked eye on a clear winter evening after the full moon from early to late June each year.
There are many stories about its significance as a navigational star and also as a portent on whether the coming harvests will be plentiful. If the stars in the cluster are clear and bright, it is thought that the year ahead will be warm and productive. If they appear hazy and shimmering, a cold winter is in store for us, and all activities during the period of Matariki must take this into account.
Some say that Matariki is the mother surrounded by her six daughters, other stories suggest that Matariki is a male star. These are the Māori names that make up the other six prominent stars of the Matariki cluster Tupuanuku, Tupuarangi, Waitī, Waitā, Waipunarangi and Ururangi.
Matariki is celebrated at different times by different tribes. For some, feasts are held when it is first seen. For others, it is the full moon after it rises that is celebrated and for others, celebrations are centred on the dawn of the next new moon.
Astronomers generally refer to Matariki as the Pleiades. The cluster is a group of many hundreds of stars about 400 light years from Earth and has been recognised since ancient times. The brightest stars are quite easy to see with the unaided eye and in Greek legend bear the names of the Seven Sisters, the daughters of Atlas and Pleone, Alcyone, Merope, Asterope, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno and Electra.
For some tribes Puanga or Rigel is the star that signifies the beginning of the Māori New Year.