Matariki: The Stars That Became a Nation’s New Year
Matariki is one of the most recognised groups of stars in the night sky, known internationally as the Pleiades. Observed by cultures around the world for thousands of years, these stars became the centre of Aotearoa New Zealand’s modern Māori New Year celebrations and eventually a national public holiday.
Explore how Matariki evolved from a seasonal star cluster observed around the world into Aotearoa New Zealand’s modern Māori New Year and national holiday.
In 2005, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori — the Māori Language Commission — was spearheading a campaign to elevate Matariki, or the Māori New Year, into an iconic national event in New Zealand (Scoop NZ, press release by the Māori Language Commission, 2005). The initiative was part of a nationwide programme called “Korero Māori” (Speak Māori), which was launched by the Commission with support from the New Zealand Government.
What started in 2001 as a campaign to reclaim Matariki as an important focus for Māori language regeneration, with the help of the Ministry of Education and the National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, is today a fully-fledged festival — the Māori New Year.
The press release from 2005 announced presentations at the then-National Observatory of New Zealand, Carter Observatory, sponsored by the Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia and the Commission, who considered them to “showcase the traditional concept of Matariki — a time to remember, share, learn and prepare as well as celebrate our unique identity”.
“The kaupapa has great potential to achieve not only language outcomes but also to become a driving catalyst for all New Zealanders to engage and ultimately celebrate in the culture of this country.”
Minister Horomia
“The rise of Matariki has gained momentum over the past few years as whânau, hapû and iwi as well as various groups acknowledge the sighting and the sense of new beginnings for the year ahead. In our view, Matariki is much more than a festival-type event that welcomes in the New Year — we believe it is a way of thinking and planning leading up to the sighting of the stars followed by the next new moon.”
Mâori Language Commissioner Patu Hôhepa, 2005
Fast forward fifteen years, celebrations were held across the country, more people were planning crops by the phases of the Moon, and Laura O’Connell Rapira from Action Station had set up yet another petition. She urged the government to make Matariki a holiday after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was considering more public holidays to encourage domestic tourism. (Petition launched to make Matariki a public holiday, Radio NZ, May 2020).
While the Prime Minister was open to a range of options, she also noted that there were pros and cons but said New Zealand should be open about the issue.
“I would be interested to hear the view of some small businesses who would be positively affected, and others who would find it hard. So I am still interested in hearing those different views as we look at those options.”
Fast forward again to today, Matariki is a New Zealand National Holiday (#whattookyousolong?).
What are Matariki?
Everyone around the world who can see the Sun and the Moon can see these stars, except people in Antarctica.
M45, Melotte 22, the Seven Sisters, Pleiades, as they are one degree from the ecliptic, the path of the Sun. One degree is your pinky held at arm’s length. Māori have a few names depending on the season they are observed; in June in the morning, marking the Māori New Year, they are called Matariki.
They are a fabulous bunch of stars; some of the most spectacular images have been taken about the Pleiades. They are young, hot and blue and dance around their galactic neighbourhood, which includes our solar system.
The Pleiades, a star cluster, are visible in the night sky from June until April. However, due to their position on the Zodiacal Band, a region in the sky that includes the zodiacal constellations and is visually 8 degrees on each side of the ecliptic, they are not visible for a couple of months a year. In the Zodiacal Band, the Pleiades are part of the constellation Taurus, the Bull.
Matariki Around the World
Many cultures have traditions related to the reappearance of the Pleiades in the night sky, even their culmination (climbing to the highest point in the sky), such as the pagans’ Black Sabbath tradition, continued by All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween. (Plotner T, The Night Sky Companion: A Yearly Guide to Sky-Watching 2009). Their achronycal rising (at nightfall) marked mourning in ancient Europe, as all nature dies in November. For the Norse tradition, they were Freya’s hens and continue to be chickens and hens across Germany and Romania. In the Sahara, they predict the dry season when they set with the Sun and the rainy season when they rise with the Sun. (Bernus and ag-Sidiyene,1989. Étoiles et constellations chez les nomades), For other cultures, such as the Greeks, a pleiad meant “plenty”.
The setting Pleiades. Photo: Me
The Pleiades have been the subject of diverse cultural interpretations. Jewish astronomers, for instance, believed their number to be as high as a few hundred, while Islamic scholars recorded as many as 12 visible to the naked eye. In modern Europe, the constellation is symbolised by’ a pleiad’, a term used to describe a group of usually seven illustrious or brilliant persons or things (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
Sometimes, they can be a beautiful woman, such as Thurayya in the Middle East, a lot of beautiful women in North America, or a chocolate. The famous Turkish chocolate Ülker bears the name of the Pleiades; alas, the name means ‘military ambush’. Not just the Turks think of them as a group of men; some North American tribes do as well: they can be men, brothers, and boys, as well as dogs and coyotes. They symbolised abundance for the Andeans and Aztecs, who associated them with harvesting and marketplaces (Aveni, A., 1980, Skywatchers).
Indians had them symbolise fire, stubbornness and anger, and in Indonesia, they marked the beginning of the planting season (Yamani A, 2011. Footsteps of Astronomy in Indonesia).
The Seven Sisters
Probably the most famous and recognisable name for both New Zealanders and Europeans is the Seven Sisters. In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, pursued by the hunter Orion. Similarly, Indigenous Australian stories describe the Pleiades as seven sisters chased by a hunter.
But today we can only typically see six stars in the cluster with our eyes.
A fascinating study suggests the story of the Pleiades, known as the Seven Sisters, might be one of the oldest myths, tracing back 100,000 years. This tale, shared across Greek and Indigenous Australian cultures, hints at a common origin as early humans spread from Africa. The hypothesis of the study proposes that one star, Pleione, was more visible in ancient times, possibly explaining the “seven” stars myth.
Ray Norris, an astrophysicist from Western Sydney University, notes that these narratives might stem from ancient observations when the stars Pleione and Atlas were more distinct. Despite some scepticism, this hypothesis highlights the incredible potential for ancient stories to travel and transform across continents.
How many stars in Matariki?
The interpretation of Matariki and the number of stars traditionally associated with it can vary across different iwi and regions.
Post-colonial influences and the arrival of missionaries introduced new narratives and interpretations that could have altered or influenced traditional stories and knowledge. In some iwi, there are traditions that identify different numbers of stars, and the inclusion of additional stars, such as Pōhutukawa and Hiwa-i-te-rangi, represents efforts to restore and acknowledge broader aspects of the traditional knowledge.
For example, some iwi traditionally recognise six stars:
1. Matariki
2. Tupu-ā-rangi
3. Tupu-ā-nuku
4. Waitī
5. Waitā
6. Ururangi
However, one thing remains the same: for modern Māori, Matariki is a time to remember the dead, spend family time, and share stories. They observe the Pleiades to understand what the growing season will be like. According to ethnographer Eldson Best, who recorded Māori customs at the beginning of the last century, Matariki was among the four stars closely observed by the men in connection with the cultivation of the kumara, the sweet potato. Matariki (the Pleiades), Tautoru (three bright stars in the Belt of Orion), Puanga (Rigel), and Whakaahu (Castor). If the signs of the rising of these stars predicted a good season, then the seed tubers were planted in September; if not, the planting was postponed for a month (Eldson B, 1929, Maori Agriculture).
Matariki is visible to the unaided eye in the pre-dawn sky from mid to late June each year, and it is the heliacal rising of the cluster around the winter solstice combined with a specific phase of the Moon that gives the signal for the Māori New Year. But just as with Ramadan, Easter, Chinese New Year, and Indian New Year, the date is a moving target.
Maramataka — A calendar led by the Moon
Like many other cultures, the Māori have a lunar calendar. But it is not your usual lunar calendar, as every day in the Maramataka comes with an instruction. This calendar has a name for each phase of the Moon. Matariki — Te Tau Hou (the New Year) is observed by the cycle of the Moon, which does not align with the months in the Gregorian Calendar. Hence, the date for Matariki changes every year. In the 2000’s, the established view in New Zealand was that the New Year is marked by the heliacal rising of Matariki just after the New Moon — Whiro.
Other interpretations surfaced, such as the observance of the New Year by the sighting of the heliacal rising of Matariki around the Last Quarter — (or Tangaroa) Moon (Mataamua R, Matariki, the star of the year, 2017). Other stars used by different tribes across New Zealand serve as substitutes for the Pleiades as a New Year herald in winter. Some West Coast tribes cannot see the cluster because of the mountain range to the east, and they use Rigel, a blue giant star in Orion.
By 2020, there was no consensus on which phase of the Moon was used to determine Matariki, even though other stars’ heliacal rising is used to mark the New Year, but the group of Māori experts who supported the Government’s kaupapa settled on a date. 20 years after the Māori Language Commission’s initiative, Matariki was institutionalised across New Zealand as a brilliant example of what can be achieved with government support.
From 2022, Matariki has been a public holiday as agreed by the Matariki Advisory Committee. The Committee adopted, not without some debating, the last quarter Moon as the signal for Matariki.
But don’t wait for the fireworks.
In recent years, several councils and organisers in Wellington and elsewhere have moved away from fireworks for Matariki celebrations, replacing them with things like light shows, projections, performances, drones, kapa haka, and cultural events. Wellington specifically dropped its Matariki fireworks in 2023 after feedback that fireworks conflicted with the reflective, star-focused nature of Matariki (NZ Herald).
