Macleans students celebrate Matariki – Māori New Year
Posted on July 02, 2020
To celebrate Matariki Year 9 students recently created and flew their own kites.
Matariki is the Māori name for the Pleiades star cluster. It rises during Pipiri (June/July) and marks the beginning of the Māori New Year. The word is an abbreviation of Ngā Mata o te Ariki (Eyes of God) in reference to Tāwhirimātea, god of the wind and weather.
In the story of creation, Tāne Mahuta (god of the forest) separated his parents Ranginui and Papatūānuku, and his brother Tāwhirimātea got upset and tore out his eyes, crushed them into pieces and threw them into the sky.
Kites play an important role in Maori culture. Kites were flown to celebrate the start of the Māori New Year, when the Pleiades star cluster appeared in the mid-winter night sky.
