1st Matariki Month - Pipiri

Te Marama o Matariki He Maramataka Māori - Pipiri

1st Month of the Māori Year - June/July

Ka kitea a Matariki me Puanga i te atapō tonu i te tahatū o te Raki ki te Rāwhiti ki te paerangi o te Rāwhiti. Kei te pūāwai te Kohekohe, me te taka o te huarākau ki te whenua. E makariri ana a Papatūānuku me ōna uri katoa.

Pleiades and Rigel can be seen just before dawn in the east-northeast and eastern horizon. Kohekohe is in flower and Supplejack fruit is found on the ground. Earth is now cold, so too are her people.

Te Tohu o Kaupeka - Matariki

Sign of the Season - Pleiades Constellation

‘I haere mai koe i te ao o Puanga, i te Huihui o Matariki, i a Pareārau, i a Poutu-te-rangi. Ka mutu, e tama, ngā whetū homai kai ki Aotea.’

‘You came hither from the realm of Rigel, from the Assembly of the Pleiades, from Jupiter and from Altair. These alone, o child, are the stars which provide food at Aotea.’

This mōteatea (lament) is a reference to signs of the Heavens associated with cultivation in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

When Matariki is seen before dawn the earth is still cold and so too are people however, the appearance of Matariki signals a time to start letting go of the old year and prepare for new life and new growth.

A time to focus on whakapapa or genealogy to know who we are, where we have come from and where we are going. A time to bring whānau or family together, to share stories and knowledge and honour all those who have recently passed. A time for sharing, compassion, to realise dreams and set goals for the future. A time to reflect on the outcome of our actions.

Matariki, known also as Te Huihui o Matariki, Aokai, Hoko-kūmara, M45, Seven Sisters and Little Eyes, an open star cluster of some 500 members seen traversing the sky as a small ‘kite’ of bright hot blue stars, is the most esteemed constellation of the heavens.

A tawhito kōrero (ancient story) tells of Tāne Mahuta drawing the brightest star out of the sky and smashing it back on the breast of Ranginui, created the seven stars that are Matariki and her six daughters, Waiti, Waita, Tupua-nuku, Tupua-rangi, Waipuna-a-rangi and Ururangi. Matariki is said to be the offspring of Raro and Raumati, the personified forms of the underworld and summer. Matariki departs the southern hemisphere during summer for the cold winter of northern hemisphere skies, reappearing again on the tail of Mangōroa the Milky Way in late Haratua (12th Matariki month).