Matariki’s Message For The Pacific: ‘We Need Each Other More Than We Understand’

Tiana
Haxton RNZ Pacific journalist/presenter

As New
Zealanders celebrate Matariki, a renowned Māori astronomer
says the stars are reminding the Pacific region to
unite.

As conflicts and division dominate news
headlines around the world, Professor Rangi Mātāmua
(Tūhoe), said Matariki sends this message:

“Like the
ocean connects us, the sky connects us, and we are connected
to each other. And these are unusual, difficult times for
many of us, we need each other more than we probably
understand. We are all related, we come from the same place,
and we actually come from the stars.”

Matariki is the
Māori name for the entire Pleiades cluster as well as its
brightest star.

In New Zealand, the rising of the
Matariki cluster in mid-winter marks the beginning of the
new year for many iwi, for others, the star Pūanga or Rigel
is the marker of the new year.

It has now been five
years since Matariki became a public holiday in New Zealand
– this year it fell on Friday, 10 July.

The theme for
this year’s Matariki celebrations is ‘Matariki Herenga
Waka – Matariki For Everyone’.

There are three
elements to Matariki; remembering those who are no longer
with us, celebrating who we are today, and then looking to
the future.

But what does Matariki mean to the rest of
the Pacific?

For the chief advisor Mātauranga
Matariki, Matariki has always been bigger than New
Zealand.

Professor Mātāmua said the star cluster has
connected Pacific people long before modern political
borders existed.

“Matariki is found right throughout
Polynesia, right throughout the Pacific. Those group of
stars are the oldest, best recorded group of stars in human
history, and many celebrations from around the world are
connected to the visibility of those stars.”

Although
New Zealand’s Matariki holiday has attracted international
attention as a unique public holiday, Mātāmua is quick to
point out that Matariki does not belong to any one
nation.

He credits cultural leaders in Hawaii for
inspiring many aspects of New Zealands current
traditions.

“But it’d be wrong to think that it
belongs to Aotearoa. In fact, much of the ceremony that we
enact today, we got the courage to do that by going and
observing our relations in Hawaii, and when they celebrate
Makahiki. In fact, what occurred and became a holiday, much
of its origin is is back into our relations across
Polynesia.”

Rather than encouraging Pacific Nations to
copy New Zealand’s approach, Mātāmua believes Pacific
neighbours should rediscover their own stories and
traditions.

“Because the diversity in our culture is
not a weakness, it’s a strength, and it gives the beautiful
flavours and colours, and the principles are the same, about
people gathering and feasting and celebrating in the new
year, but the way that it’s done is slightly different, and
that gives it a richness that connects people to that
place.”

Mātāmua has travelled all across the
Pacific, helping communities strengthen their own Matariki
traditions.

He said the island’s individual Matariki
traditions began to fade away as colonisation, Christianity
and political borders shifted the regions
dynamics.

But he is proud to see a growing interest in
Matariki across the Pacific, as communities revive their own
celebrations.

Last November, he was in Tahiti where
they marked Matariki with an official public holiday for the
very first time.

“One of the wonderful things that I
learned from from Tahiti is the element of celebration. They
have the ceremony but they came together to celebrate!
Dancing, singing, music, feasting, spending time
together.”

He says Tahiti reminded him that while
traditional ceremonies and reflecting on the past is
important, celebration is equally essential.

“People
say Matariki is a sombre time where we just remember the
dead, we stay tapu, but no, no, that’s not the case. In
fact, quite the opposite, we remember the dead for that
early morning rise, and then from there on we
celebrate.”

While New Zealand and Tahiti are the only
countries that mark Matariki with a public holiday,
Mātāmua shared that there is movement across the region
and he is dreaming of the day when the whole Pacific
officially commemorates Matariki.

For Mātāmua,
perhaps the greatest lesson Matariki offers today is one of
unity.

He points to the stars themselves, each star
has its own identity, representing different parts of the
natural world and different responsibilities.

But
every year in the morning of Matariki they rise together as
one cluster.

“Te Matariki hunga nui means the people
of Matariki – we are a cluster, even though we’re different,
we have all of these diverse elements to us, we come
together as a family and shine upon you and bring you
wellbeing, and we’re meant to respond as like; gather
together and rise as a whanau, as a collective.”

To
find Matariki, look to the eastern horizon before the sun
rises and find three bright stars in a line – this is
Orion’s belt, known to Māori as ‘Tautoru’.

Next,
trace a line to the left of Tautoru until you come to the
bright orange star Taumata-kuku – part of a group of stars
in the shape of a pyramid. From there, continue to the left
until you find a small cluster of stars. That’s
Matariki.

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