This year we are having a focus on the stars in the Matariki cluster. Each of the stars has a name, meaning and importance in Te Ao Māori (The Māori World)

Matariki – the mother of the eight whetū in the constellation - Matariki is connected to wellbeing, and at times Matariki was viewed as an omen of good fortune and health. If the cluster, and especially the individual Matariki whetū was seen high and bright in the night sky, it denoted good luck, peace and wellbeing for those who observed it.

 Pōhutukawa – is connected to the dead, and in particular, those who have passed on from the world since the last heliacal rising of Matariki in the month of Pipiri/June.

Māori belief determines that when an individual dies, their spirit leaves their body and undertakes a journey along Te Ara Wairua, the pathway of the spirits. This journey ends at the northernmost point of the North Island at a place called Te Rerenga Wairua (the departing place of the spirits).

Tupuānuku – is the whetū associated with food grown in the ground.

When Matariki sets in the western sky at dusk during the month of May, the harvesting of the gardens has been completed and winter is near.

Tupuārangi – is associated with food that comes from the sky.

Tupuārangi connects the cluster to the harvesting of birds and other elevated food such as fruit and berries from the trees

Waitī –is connected to fresh water and all of the creatures that live within rivers, streams and lakes.

It has a significant influence on the tides of the ocean and the floodwaters.

Waipunarangi – is connected to the rain, and the name itself can be translated to mean ‘water that pools in the sky’.

The pooling of water on the ground caused by heavy and persistent showers of the winter months is referred to as Matariki tāpuapua’.

Ururangi – means ‘the winds of the sky’. 

This whetū determines the nature of the winds for the year.

Hiwa-i-te-rangi – is the final whetū in this group and its name is connected to the promise of a prosperous season.
It is to Hiwa that Māori would send their dreams and desires for the year in the hope that they would be realised. 

(https://www.tamakimaorivillage.co.nz/blog/the-nine-stars-of-matariki/)