Celebrating our 1st national Matariki...

 

Today (24 June 2022), marks the first day in the history of NZ of celebrating an indigenous marker of the Maori new year through a holiday named Matariki.

Over the last few years, I've taught about Matariki in my tikanga (Maori protocols and customs) classes and it's been such a joy in watching the developing interest in Matariki to now be celebrated nationally throughout NZ.

Although many mainstream NZ'ers won't know of it's origin, it's really interesting to note that the Pacific people who first immigrated to Aotearoa, NZ those my centuries ago (circa 1100s?) upon vast voyaging canoes were highly observant sky watchers and were masterful navigators and star watchers. 

The Matariki stars cluster is known throughout the world by the name 'Pleiades' as with Greek mythology and the story of the 7 sisters. It's interesting to note that when Matariki was first discussed in education circles, in NZ, that stories circulated around about Matariki being the 7 sisters but we've since known that that story was not of the Maori creation stories but instead brought about through the Greek version.

In fact, the early Maori were well observant in viewing star clusters and Matariki which is a 7 star or 9 star (depending on where you are viewing them from) is one such star cluster that the early Maori were able to use to assist them with their planting and harvesting annual cycles.

To add to that, each of the whetū (stars) were named and had associated eco-system links i.e.

1. Matariki - is known as the guardian of all the stars or mother star. It is also the name given to the star cluster. For some there is an emphasis on healing.
2. Waiti - bodies of fresh water and the life sources that they sustain i.e. fresh water lakes, drinking waters, eels etc.
3. waitā - bodies of salt water the the life sources that they sustain in the oceans and seas teeming with fish and sealife
4. Tipu-a-nuku - cultivated soils teeming with foods
5. Tupu-a-rangi - lush and bountiful forests and life sources they sustain 
6. Ururangi - great winds and passive winds
7. Waipuna-a-rangi - rains that falls from the sky including drizzles etc.
8. Pohutakawa - a star that is associated with the passing away of dearly beloved ones during the year. A journey into the stars.
9. Hiwa-i-te-rangi - also known as the wishing star for the future.

Last year there was a debate that was started by comments of so-called European academics, at a University, questioning whether the 'science' of matauranga Maori (indigenous Maori knowledge systems) if it could sustain scientific thinking.

I found the debate quite interesting because it told me of the ignorance of the academics of knowing so little of a knowledge system that spans far deeper and wider than they could ever imagine. Suffice to say that they were shut down by many who were indeed aware but the arrogance of their not knowing was not acceptable before making their comments.

It made me realise that indeed as a nation we had come so far in knowing my own predominantly hegemonic educational background of being brought up in the western social science discipline but then discover since that we have got so much more to learn about the indigenous sciences systems that our Pasifika ancestors learned and traversed the expanse of the Pacific oceans way before the Americas or Europeans had crafted their sailing vessels. 

We do indeed hail from traditions of scientific thought and experiences of our early Pasifika ancestors with knowledge systems that have long since been forgotten by many but still sheds a light on the symbiotic relationships between those ancestors and the environments that they discovered those many centuries ago and are only just coming to light for many...