This year our school celebrated Matariki (Māori new year)

Last week we had two days of whole school workshops. We worked with children from different year groups. In the workshops, we learned traditional māori games, made bird feeders, designed our own lanterns, made soup, created origami stars and lots more.

Matariki is a time for storytelling and coming together. Throughout the week each class made their own rewena bread. We used an old māori recipe that does not use yeast and instead you make a starter that you feed during the week. On Thursday the starter was ready and we made our bread. We all had a go at kneading it and then we shared it at our breakfast on Friday.

Our Matariki celebration was held at 7.30 am last Friday. Friday was a cold and early start to the day but everyone was in a good mood. It was an enjoyable morning. When we got to school you could see the star cluster above your eyes and hear the lovely choir singing, above the seagulls that decided that they wanted to share Matariki with us. It was great to have both the Junior and Senior Kapa Haka group perform and the macarena looked awesome. After the celebration, we had a lantern walk back to the classrooms, that didn't quite work as it was a bit sunny but it was still fun. In the classrooms, we had a yummy shared breakfast. Thank you for all the cooking that our parents did for the shared breakfast.

A big thank you to everyone that came and celebrated Matariki with us. We appreciated you getting up early to join us and we look forward to doing it again next year!

By Laila Rohland, Leah Collins and Lily

Below are some fantastic stories that were written by some of our year ½ students!

Matariki

On Friday we had a celebration of Matariki. We put our plates of food on the back table of our classroom. Then we did our song. The song was called Waiti Waita Waipuna-ā-rangi. Matariki is an important celebration. We made lanterns and used them to watch the children do Kapa Haka because it was a little bit dark. For the eating part, I ate bourekas and two donuts. I felt really excited. We had a lantern walk, the whole school celebrated. The stars are called Waiti, Waita, Waipuna-ā-rangi, Tupu-ā-nuku, Tupu-ā`-rangi, Ururangi. I like the stars.

By Nisim

Matariki

Matariki is important to New Zealand because the seven sister stars are helpful to our land. They can be seen from early June to late August. Waiti and Waita are twins. Waipuna-ā-rangi is helping the forest grow strong. Tupu-ā-nuku helps keep the sea clean. Tupu-ā-rangi beautifully. Ururangi snuggles in her Grandma’s lap and listens to her Grandma’s stories. Matariki is the biggest star. She is the boss of her little sisters. Matariki tells her little sisters if they are doing great or not. Matariki is a celebration for New Zealand. I felt happy because I saw the seven sister stars. I think I have to wake up really early because then I can see the seven sister stars. 

By Ada