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.