It is time to get cozy in our coats, fish out last year’s gloves, fluff up the win­ter-weight duvet and lim­it our move­ments as win­ter sets in.  Some­times it seems like the world out there can give you a whip­ping every time you step out the door, it takes strength to put one foot in front of the oth­er.  Every­one needs some­thing to look for­ward to at the dark­est time of the year and real­ly, a warmed over “mid­win­ter Christ­mas” cel­e­bra­tion just does­n’t cut it.
 
Appar­ent­ly win­ter is a sub­jec­tive term but there is def­i­nite­ly an instance in time every year when Earth­’s axi­al tilt is far­thest away from the sun at its max­i­mum of 23° 26′.  Some call this time mid­win­ter some the first day of win­ter, I think we should go with mid­win­ter oth­er­wise we may all suc­cumb to SAD.  Those of us with euro­pean ances­try would have had ances­tors cel­e­brat­ing win­ter sol­stice or that oth­er pop­u­lar mid­win­ter cel­e­bra­tion: Christ­mas.  Now unless you have been hid­ing under your duvet every June for the last cou­ple of years you would have noticed the resur­gence of the indige­nous mid­win­ter cel­e­bra­tion Matari­ki. 
 
The appear­ance of the new moon after the first appear­ance of the star clus­ter Matari­ki (Pleiades) marks the new year for maori and is rich in sym­bol­ism.  It was a time for learn­ing and I guess it still is for many of us who do not know much about this tra­di­tion.  It was also a time to go to war and raid ene­my store­hous­es that were full of food, per­haps those of us engaged in the bat­tle to set bud­gets for 2010/11 can relate!  Cel­e­brat­ing New Year in mid­win­ter when the earth starts to tilt towards the sun again seems like a bloody good time to mark a turn­ing point and pre­pare for a new cycle. 
Once again there is a lot planned in our fair city for Matari­ki.  If you love the dizzy­ing mul­ti­tudes of mytho­log­i­cal sto­ries or geek­ing out on the move­ment of the plan­ets or the sci­ence of the stars there is plen­ty hap­pen­ing for you around town or online (if you want to learn and enjoy from the com­fort of your duvet).
 
Key dates:
10 June — start of Te Papa’s Matari­ki pro­gram
14 June — start of Matari­ki and dawn cer­e­mo­ny on Mt Vic­to­ria
21 June — Win­ter Sol­stice
 
Te Papa is lead­ing the charge for Matari­ki this year with a packed pro­gram all month. 
 
Here are our picks for this year:
 
  • Pub­lic obser­va­tion of Matari­ki at Mt Vic­to­ria at 6.30am 14 June with Tarana­ki Whanui ki te Upoko o te Ika, the mana when­ua. Meet at the sum­mit and cel­e­brate the ris­ing of Matari­ki
  • NZ on Screen’s Matari­ki col­lec­tion online
  • Pro­jec­tions on the wall of Te Papa — includ­ing images from NZ Post stamp col­lec­tion
  • Kau­mat­ua Kapa Haka — Sat­ur­day 12 and Sun­day 13 June (this will also be livestream­ing here if you can’t be there in per­son)
  • Star­lab ses­sions - These were mas­sive­ly pop­u­lar last year so get in ear­ly on the day to book for these free ses­sions
  • Sev­en Broth­ers con­cert - Thurs­day 17 June (the Sev­en Sis­ters kicked some seri­ous booty last night so should be good)
  • Moko vil­lage - Fri­day 18–Sunday 20 June (Ta Moko artists from around the world 10–6pm, worth tak­ing a long lunch break for)
  • Vis­it­ing Carters Obser­va­to­ry to see Matari­ki up close and per­son­al

Let us know your thoughts and what you have planned in the com­ments.