THIS MONTH WE celebrate Matariki — our glimpse of the Matariki cluster of stars near the horizon at dawn — with a national holiday. Though it’s a new celebration for the nation, it has been a tradition for many iwi to mark the beginning of Māori new year. Matariki appears in the southern hemisphere sky around the time of the solstice. The darkest days are passing; the new growing season emerges as the hours of daylight increase.

Matariki hui/gatherings of extended family focus on whanaungatanga/relationships — with loved ones who have died and joined the ancestors, with one another, with all in whenua/earth and sky, with the past, present and future.

As well as remembering loved ones who have died in story and waiata/song, those gathered celebrate being together by feasting on kai/food harvested from the gardens, forests, rivers and sea of the whenua before the deepest cold set in. A third aspect of the hui is planning for the future — anticipating the Spring planting of crops, preparing for the health and security of the community, discussing the furthering of relationships in this land and beyond.

The threefold focus of the traditional Matariki — remembering the past, celebrating the present and planning for the future — is the basis of our national celebration. It makes sense to pause and let the stars remind us of our reliance on Earth’s seasons. We can be dissociated from our dependence on Earth in daily life — we think more of the supermarket as a food “producer” than gardens, farms, orchards and oceans. Or, we turn on the light and can work indoors — even when it’s pitch black outside. But Matariki is an opportunity to focus our reliance on and responsibility towards Earth and Earth’s community once again and to think about our relationship with the Divine source of all creation.

It's taken us a long time to enculturate the celebration of Christmas in summer here. Even though there is no mention of winter, cold or snow in the Gospel stories of Jesus’s birth, we kept the customs and images that European Christians developed for the northern hemisphere mid-winter Christmas. Maybe Matariki will develop into our mid-winter celebration when we gather to remember with love and gratitude those we’ve lost from our family, neighbourhoods and country and whose lives and spirits enriched our communities. When we celebrate gratefully the harvests of food and the harvests of friendship and love. And when we critically examine and plan for the health and security of all people and life in Aotearoa. As the star guided the magi to Bethlehem and the new life of Christ Jesus, Matariki might become our reminder to recommit to developing life, gratitude and love in Aotearoa.

We thank all the contributors to this issue for sharing their writing, art and craft. They have given us a feast of reading and reflection.

And as is our custom, our last words are of blessing.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 283 July 2023: 2