FestivalWorld Cultural
Matariki
No rule yet
Nobody has written a rule for this observance yet, so the calendar does not put it on a day. A name with a made-up date beside it would be worse than a name on its own.
Its picture waits on review by the tradition's own authority, so it is not shown yet.
In short
The Maori new year, opened when a cluster of stars rises before dawn.
The story
The Maori new year, which opens when the Matariki cluster - the Pleiades - is first seen rising before dawn in midwinter. It is a star rising, not a date: the exact morning is determined each year and announced, which is why this app carries no rule for it. New Zealand made it a public holiday in 2022.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Why it matters
The Pleiades rise before dawn in midwinter and the Maori year begins. The dead of the past year are named to the stars and released, the harvest is given thanks for, and the year ahead is planned - remembrance, gratitude and looking forward, in that order.
What people do
The dead of the past year are named and remembered, the present is given thanks for, and the coming year is planned - the three are explicitly the shape of it. Food is offered to the stars as steam from an earth oven at dawn. Families gather and the sky is watched before first light.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Told differently elsewhere
Aotearoa New Zealand, a public holiday since 2022 and the first one anywhere to be set by an indigenous calendar - the date is determined each year by a panel of tohunga korero. Some iwi, particularly in the far north, mark the rising of Puanga instead, because Matariki sits low from where they stand.
This text has not been checked by a reviewer yet.
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