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.