How to start a Matariki tradition: 'Get together, get fat, sleep in, read a book'

Tuesday, 21 June 2022

Before the turn of this century, few people knew of Matariki or understood its significance. Now, some New Zealanders will celebrate Matariki for the first time on Friday, Aotearoa’s first Matariki public holiday. Mikaela Wilkes asks Māori educators, activists and astronomers how they mark the Māori New Year, and how those new to Matariki could celebrate it.

Award-winning journalist, photographer and activist Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Waiohua, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao, Cook Islands) has been celebrating Matariki with her whānau for the past decade.

“We’ve celebrated Matariki in lots of different ways over the years, big and small,” she says.

There have been dinners to mark the occasion with extended family, with whom Matata-Sipu lives on Ihumātao marae, in Tāmaki Makaurau, or more intimately with her husband Willie Sipu and 4-year-old daughter, Haeata te Kapua.

Last year was the first time Matata-Sipu’s family had a hautapu ceremony at dawn, and they plan to do the same this year.

“A hautapu ceremony is where you’re feeding the stars, and you cook kai that is connected to each of the whetū [stars] of Matariki. “Waitī and Waitā are our fresh and saltwater stars. So we might have trout, and a seafood chowder, or something that has kaimoana from the sea.”

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Matata-Sipu says the Tupuānuku star connects to vegetables such as kūmara.

“Tupuārangi connects to the birds that you might find in the trees, which we don’t really eat any more. You might just cook a chicken or have some berries,” she says.

“The simple idea is you cook the kai, then go outside in the very early morning before the light breaks, where you can see the Matariki star cluster. Then you lift the lid off the pot and the steam feeds the stars.”

Matariki is the Māori name used to describe the star cluster also known as Pleiades, which is generally acknowledged to have nine main stars. Its appearance heralds the Māori New Year.

Before sunrise during New Zealand’s winter, the cluster is visible as a faint sparkle of tiny dots when you look towards the northeast horizon.

Astronomer Dr Rangi Matamua (Ngāi Tūhoe), who in 2020 won the prestigious Prime Minister’s Science Communicator Award for his work raising awareness of Matariki, says when the Matariki stars cluster above our heads, “it is a reminder that we should be clustering with our loved ones here on Earth”.

Matariki is spiritual, as a time to remember those who have passed away, but also a cultural and social celebration.

Historically, Māori worked hard during harvest to fill their stores. Then, in the cold months, they would gather to share kai, relax and enjoy each other’s company.

“Matariki is a time to spend together. To acknowledge what’s happened in the previous year. But also to celebrate everything present that is wonderful, and look forward to summer and next year,” Matamua says.

To find the Matariki cluster, Matamua suggests looking east and, after spotting Orion’s Belt/Tautoru, cast your eyes a little to the left.

This year, Matata-Sipu is teaching her daughter a karakia they can say together at the hautapu ceremony.

“And of course, we all share the kai afterwards. It’s a really luscious breakfast.”

“In the past, my whānau used to have dinner together, but it’s more appropriate for us to have hautapu in the morning.”

Remembering loved ones who have died

Pōhutukawa is the star that connects Matariki to the dead. The legend is that when Matariki sets with the sun, it takes the dead to the underworld.

As people die throughout the year, their wairua gets caught up in the net of Taramainuku. “That’s where the spirits hang for a year,” Matamua says.

“Then when Matariki disappears we know that they’ve gone to be prepared, and we wait for their return in the eastern sky.

“When Matariki rises, we farewell the dead of the year. We call out their names, and we believe they travel into the cosmos to become stars for eternity.

“We weep for them one final time, and it’s a process of releasing the burdens of grief. We have farewelled them to the afterlife, and then we carry on.”

Matata-Sipu and her husband lost a baby last year, so as part of their hautapu they spoke his name.

“That was a really beautiful way to acknowledge that that had happened. Miscarriage isn’t something that people often talk about.

“For me, they don’t have to have passed away in that last year. I just love talking about those we’ve lost, sharing stories we remember of them.

“For us, it’s our grandparents. When my nan, who was a weaver, was still alive, she’d make whetū out of harakeke [flax].”

One of things Matata-Sipu does with her daughter during Matariki is to go through old photo albums. She will tell her who people were and what they did.

“Te ao Māori is a very oral culture. We pass on our traditions and mātauranga [knowledge] orally. Anybody can do that, regardless of ethnic or cultural background. Regardless of whether it’s blood or chosen family. You can sit together, go through photos and relive memories.”

During the Christmas holidays, Matata-Sipu heard Haeata te Kapua talking to someone outside their caravan at a holiday park. Worried her 4-year-old was with a stranger, she hurried outside.

“And she was looking up at the stars, and talking to her Uncle Jack who had recently passed away.

“Teaching our tamariki these things is a way to help them cope with loss because they can see stars.”

A star for every person

For Matariki this year, former Wiggles member Robert Rakete (of Ngāpuhi descent) is going to buy a native tree, “and every Matariki we’re going to put stars on that tree. A star for every person in our family,” including his mum who has died.

“We’re all going to get together that weekend and have kai, hang out, and fight over who gets to hold the baby, and just be together.

“And when I’m long gone, when Matariki rolls around, there’ll be a star on the tree for me. Just like the one for my mum.”

Reflecting on the last year and planning for the new one

In addition to remembering loved ones who have passed, Matariki is also about reflecting, and sharing future aspirations.

“We might also talk about achievements,” Matata-Sipu said.

“Our marae had a Matariki awards lunch one year. We awarded one whānau member who had become a New Zealand representative sports player, and another was always at the marae cleaning. We acknowledged them for their mahi.

“Matariki is all about whānau. It’s about coming together. This time of the year is for us to slow down, to spend time warming ourselves up. We do that [with] food, we do that by sitting inside. But we also do that by connecting with each other and warming up the aroha among us.

“It’s also a great opportunity, especially if you have teenagers who maybe don’t share their kōrero, to ask what some of the highlights and the hard things of the year were.”

New Year’s Eve resolutions to commit to a fitness regime or quit booze often don’t survive the holiday period. In Matata-Sipu’s household, they share hopes and aspirations for the whānau, such as wanting more experiences, or māra kai (gardening for food).

“I write down my personal dreams as well, but we talk about what we can achieve as a family. Because the only ads we get on TV since the borders have opened are for Rarotonga, I’m anticipating that’s going to be what my daughter wants to experience,” she says.

Not all these things have to be done on the Matariki public holiday, either. They can be done over the three- to four-week period of Matariki.

Matata-Sipu recalls interviewing a non-Māori architectural firm that would give its staff a day off before Matariki became a public holiday. The bosses would all prepare kai, then serve it to staff the next day to thank them for their mahi.

“It’s not about giving gifts,” she says. “It’s about giving time.”

Develop Manaakitanga

Auckland Stardome educator Olive Karena-Lockyer (Te Aupōuri; Ngāti Raukawa) will be working through the holiday, doing special Matariki presentations.

Her way of celebrating has been to learn about the astronomy of Matariki, and to share that knowledge with others.

“Matariki is a wonderful time to connect with te ao Māori in some way,” she says.

“Matariki is our first indigenous public holiday, so I think one of the best things we can do is develop manaakitanga – show hospitality, kindness, care, generosity and support for each other, and for the environment.”

Karena-Lockyer attended a dawn rising event yesterday (also the winter solstice), and is eating seasonal, shopping local, and has plans to dance with friends, and walk up a maunga to appreciate the view.

Doing Matariki your way

There aren’t hard and fast rules for a Matariki celebration, just three main principles, says Dr Matamua.

Remembrance: “Remember those we have lost and the lessons they have given us. However you choose to reflect on their legacy is up to you.”

Celebration: “Celebrate who we are, with feasting and merriment, music and entertainment. Spend time with whomever you call family, and wherever you call home. Do the things that make you happy, whether that is going for a walk, or singing and dancing.”

Looking ahead: “Share your hopes and aspirations for your collective, and for the environment. For example, this year, I hope that we get lots of fish from the ocean, so my family will be healthy and well. To ensure that, I’m going to take my family and clean up a beach of plastic and waste.”

Matamua always does a hautapu.

Often he will have chicken and muttonbirds from the South Island, and eel, roast vegetables and potatoes.

He has done that with his community, with his family at home and, this year, will be hosting a pre-dawn hautapu alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Te Papa Museum.

“And then I spend time with my family and friends. Real time – just eating, watching movies, relaxing.”

Traditional hautapu is not really for human consumption, he says.

“Sometimes all it is, is one kūmara, fish head, maybe a flounder, and a chicken”, which he will prepare the night before, and start cooking about 4am.

“I place it on an altar, and leave it there for half a day. The essence of that food has been offered back to the environment to say thank you. Later, I’ll go back and bury it. So it becomes part of the environment again.”

But you don’t have to do a hautapu, Matamua says.

Your family’s tradition might be as basic as having a shared meal. It might be committing yourselves to doing one thing for the environment, as a family. It could be having a moment where you all sit down and remember loved ones.

All of these things are in the right spirit, Matamua says. “Hunker down. Get together, get fat, sleep in, read a book.”

“Someone asked me whether they should buy presents for Matariki. I said no, don’t buy presents. Be present. Sit down with the people who are closest to you and say, how are you?”