18 Facts About Matariki

Matariki was first celebrated as an official public holiday in New Zealand on 24 June 2022.

Historically Matariki was usually celebrated for a period of days during the last quarter of the moon of the lunar month Pipiri.

Celebration of Matariki declined during the 20th century, but beginning in the early 1990s it underwent a revival.

Matariki is the Maori name for the cluster of stars known to Western astronomers as the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus.

Matariki is sometimes incorrectly translated as a mistake originating in the work of Elsdon Best and continued by others.

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The emblem of the Kingitanga or Maori King movement, Te Paki o Matariki, includes the star Matariki flanked by three stars on each side.

Manuscript of Rawiri Te Kokau passed on to Rangi Matamua recognised nine stars in Matariki, adding Pohutukawa and Hiwa-i-te-Rangi to make a total of eight children, five of which were female and three male.

The father of Matariki's children was Rehua, paramount chief of the heavens, identified by Maori as the star Antares.

Time in midsummer when Matariki is overhead in the night sky is referred to as, i e the calm weather of summer – a phrase meaning good weather and good fortune.

In Maori historical recollection, the Tainui canoe was instructed to leave the homeland of Hawaiki for Aotearoa in summer, when Matariki was overhead: this being a direct, ancient historical reference to Maori use of star navigation, for long sea voyaging.

In Maori tradition the stars Puanga and Matariki were rivals, with Puanga beautifying herself every winter, attempting to be the star beside which the sun rises and signals the New Year, but being eternally frustrated when each year the Sun rose beside Matariki.

Matariki was an occasion to mourn the deceased, celebrate the present, and prepare the ground for the coming year.

When Matariki reappeared, Maori would look to its stars for a forecast of the coming season's prosperity: if they shone clear and bright, the remaining winter would be warm, but hazy or twinkling stars predicted bad weather in the season ahead.

The colour, brightness, and distinctiveness of each star in Matariki would be assessed, and forecasts made according to each of their associations: for example, if Tupu-a-rangi did not shine clearly then hunters would expect a poor catch of birds in the coming season.

Matariki ceremony was followed by days of festivities – song, dance, and feasting – known as, celebrating prosperity, life, and the promise of the year to come.

Some aspects of Matariki were incorporated into new religious traditions such as the Ringatu church, but its traditional celebration had almost ceased by the early 20th century.

Revival of the celebration of Matariki can be traced to the early 1990s, sparked by various Maori iwi and organisations such as the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Matariki was first observed as a public holiday on June 24 2022, including a pre-dawn live broadcast of a hautapu ceremony.