Matariki

Matari­ki, the peri­od of the year when the Pleiades clus­ter of stars lifts itself up from below the hori­zon, and which (for some tribes, at least) her­alds in the Maori New Year, is in full swing.

The appear­ance of Matari­ki in the sky is con­sid­ered vital. If the stars in the clus­ter are clear and bright, it is thought the year ahead will be warm and pro­duc­tive. If they appear hazy and shim­mer­ing, a cold win­ter is in store, and all activ­i­ties dur­ing the peri­od of Matari­ki must take this into account.

We had a good view of the stars from Welling­ton­ist Tow­ers last night (work­ing late and hard into the night, as always), and from those guide­lines, we’re def­i­nite­ly in for a warm pro­duc­tive year.

There’s a few things going on about Welling­ton to cel­e­brate the event. Te Papa has the most action, with a Matari­ki Din­ner (17 June), a free con­cert by Moana and the Tribe at The Marae today (9 June) from 8pm, and a whole heap of oth­er musi­cal, sto­ry­telling and cul­tur­al events.

Carter Obser­va­to­ry is get­ting in on the act too, join­ing forces with Te Papa to present a ‘Dis­cov­er Matari­ki’ guid­ed tour that starts at Te Papa for some back­ground info, and then heads up to the Obser­va­to­ry for a half hour plan­e­tar­i­um pre­sen­ta­tion that should make spot­ting the stars for your­self a lot eas­i­er.