Lekcija za razred · Festival · 🇳🇿 New Zealand

Matariki - the Māori new year

When a cluster of stars rises in the winter sky

The bright stars of the Pleiades cluster - known to Māori as Matariki

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

Što je to?

Matariki is the Māori name for a cluster of stars that you might also know as the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. When Matariki rises in the New Zealand winter sky (June or July), Māori celebrate the start of a new year. It is a time for family, food, music and looking up.

Reci mi više

If you look at Matariki with just your eyes, you can usually see six or seven sparkling stars huddled close together. With a telescope you can see many more - the whole cluster has hundreds of young stars all born around the same time. To Māori, the cluster is a whānau (family).

Each of the brightest stars has a name and a meaning. Matariki herself is the mother. Other stars include Waitī (linked to fresh water), Waitā (linked to the sea), Tupuānuku (linked to food grown in the ground) and Tupuārangi (linked to food in the trees). Together they look after different parts of the natural world.

Traditionally, Matariki has been a time to look back, look forward, and look after each other. Families gather, share kai (food), sing songs and welcome the year ahead. In 2022, Matariki became New Zealand's newest official public holiday - a national day of celebration that follows the stars.

Schools across New Zealand mark Matariki in their own ways: kapa haka performances, planting trees, sharing food, telling stories, looking at the night sky together. It is one of the few holidays in the world that is decided by what you can see in the heavens, not what's printed on a calendar.

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Poticaji za raspravu

01What does your family or culture do to mark a new year?
02Matariki is one of the few holidays decided by the stars, not the calendar. Why might that be a lovely way to choose a date?
03Each Matariki star is linked to something natural - water, food, trees, the sea. If you could give a star a job to look after, what would it be?

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Aktivnost za razred

Each pupil draws a star and writes inside it one thing they are thankful for from this year, and one thing they hope for next year. Stick the stars on dark paper to make a class 'Matariki' cluster on the classroom wall.

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