A festival of aroha – Let's make Matariki a public holiday in 2021
Friday, 17 July 2020
Plucked from obscurity and given the breath of life, since the turn of the century, Matariki has blossomed into an inclusive, popular event.
Mai i roto i te pōuri ki te ao mārama, mai anō i te huringa o te rautau, kua tino kaha te atawhaitia o Matariki e ngā iwi katoa.
Tied to the rising of Matariki, the Pleiades star cluster, in the night sky, the festival marks the start of te Mātahi o te tau, the new year.
He kaupapa e hāngai ana ki te aranga mai o Matariki, arā te kāhui whetū o Pleiades. Ko ngā whakatairanga i a Matariki, he tohu i te tīmatanga o te Mātahi o te tau, arā, o te tau hou.
Once a casualty of colonisation, Matariki’s comeback has fostered greater use of te reo Māori, and recognition for Māori customary practices.
Ahakoa i tata riro i ngā pēhitanga a tauiwi, nā Matariki kua kaha ake te pīrangi ki te reo Māori, me te whakaaro nui ki ngā tikanga Māori.
We believe it is past time to officially acknowledge all Matariki stands for in our national calendar.
E whakapono ana mātou, kua eke noa atu te wā mō te whakamānawa i a Matariki me ōna kōrero katoa mā roto mai i te maramataka ā-motu.
Today, Stuff is launching a campaign to make Matariki a public holiday from 2021.
I tēnei rā, e whakarewahia ana e Stuff tāna kaupapa whakatairanga i a Matariki hei rā hararei ā-motu mai i te tau 2021.
Such proposals have been floated before. In 2009, Māori Party MP Rahui Katene’s member’s bill failed at its first reading in Parliament. At the time, Katene called it, “an opportunity to embrace and welcome the chance to stand proud of our distinctly New Zealand cultural identity”.
Kua kōkirihia he kaupapa pēnei i mua. I te tau 2009, i hinga te pire a te mema pāremata o te Pāti Māori, a Rāhui Kātene, i tōna pānuitanga tuatahi i te Pāremata. I taua wā, i kīia tēnei e Kātene “he huarahi hei whakanui i tō tātou āhei ki te tū i runga anō i te tuakiri me te ahurea motuhake o tātou, o Aotearoa”.
A decade later, Pākehā are more engaged with Matariki, and Māori have reclaimed the tradition and the maramataka, the lunar calendar it aligns to.
Tekau tau i muri mai, kua kaha ake te whai wāhi mai a te Pākehā ki a Matariki, ā, kua hoki anō te Māori ki ngā tikanga me te maramataka e hāngai ana.
Sixty-three per cent of respondents to a poll conducted for ActionStation by UMR backed making Matariki a public holiday, with young people most likely to approve.
E ono tekau mā toru ōrau o te hunga i whai wāhi ki te pōtitanga a UMR mā ActionStation, i tautoko i te whakaaro kia hurihia a Matariki hei rā hararei ā-motu, ko te nuinga o te hunga tautoko, he rangatahi.
This week, ActionStation director Laura O’Connell Rapira will present the Government with a 15,000-signature petition calling for a Matariki Day. Writing for Stuff today, O’Connell Rapira describes a cousin’s discovery that Matariki celebrations left them feeling “so full of love, so connected, grounded, accepted, excited, and inspired”, and expresses her desire for every whānau to share in that.
I tēnei wiki, ka tāpaetia e te mana whakahaere o ActionStation, arā, e Laura O’Connell Rapira, he petihana 15,000 ngā waitohu, e āki nei kia tū tētahi Rā Matariki. I āna tuhinga ki a Stuff i te rā nei, i kōrero a O’Connell Rapira mō ngā kitenga a tana whanaunga mō Matariki, i rongo ai rātou ‘i te nui o te aroha, i te whanaungatanga, i te mauritau, i te tautoko, i te ihiihi, me te hihiri o ngā whakaaro’. Ko tōna hiahia hoki, kia rongo ia whānau i ērā āhuatanga.
Many already do. Last week, the diverse commemorations around the country included fireworks in Hawke’s Bay, a light festival in Auckland, comedy in Lower Hutt, art installations in Invercargill, and kapa haka in Nelson. Today’s children grow up considering Matariki a standard part of the calendar, an event many schools choose to commemorate.
Tokomaha ngā whānau e pērāhia ana. I tērā wiki, he nui ngā momo kaupapa whakatairanga i a Matariki huri noa i te motu, inarā, he hui tiripapā i Te Matau a Māui, he taiopenga tūramarama i Tāmaki Makaurau, he whakaari pukuhohe i Te Awakairangi, he mahi toi i whakatūngia ki Murihiku, ā, ko te kapa haka i Whakatū. Ko ngā tamariki o ēnei rā ka tipu me te whakaaro, he wāhanga matua a Matariki nō te maramataka, he kaupapa e whakatairangatia ai e te mahi a te kura.
The law says public holidays exist to observe days of “national, religious, or cultural significance”, but most of our holidays aren’t expressly Kiwi.
E kī nei te ture, ko te tino kaupapa o ngā hararei ā-motu, ko te whakatairanga i ngā rā nui ‘ā-motu, ā-whakapono, ā-ahurea’. Heoi, e ngaro nei te ahurea o Aotearoa, arā, te ahurea Kiwi, i te nuinga o ngā hararei ā-motu i ēnei rā.
We’re overdue the creation of a unifying holiday that honours Aotearoa’s past and celebrates New Zealand’s future. Matariki is that holiday.
Kua eke noa atu te wā mō tētahi hararei whakakotahi i a tātou, e maharatia ai te hītori o Aotearoa, e whakanuitia ai hoki tōna ahunga whakamua. Ko Matariki taua hararei.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has indicated she’s open to the idea. This election season represents a chance for other parties to declare their support.
Kua kī kē mai te Pirīmia, a Jacinda Ardern, e puare ana ia ki te whakaaro. Ko tēnei wāhanga o te pōtitanga ā-motu he huarahi e taea ai e ētahi atu rōpū tōrangapū te whakapuaki tā rātou tautoko i te kaupapa.
Stuff is not taking a position on whether Matariki Day should be a new public holiday, or whether an existing one should be repurposed. But Matariki needs its own day.
Ehara i te mea e kī nei a Stuff, me rā hou te Rā Matariki, me whakamahi rānei i tētahi o ngā hararei o te wā. Engari, me mātua whakarite he rā mō Matariki.
Many iwi use Matariki to mark the Māori new year, but other tribes in the north and west of the country use Puanga or Rigel for the occasion. Tainui iwi recognise Rerehu, also known as Antares.
Tokomaha ngā iwi e tuku nei i a Matariki hei kaitohu i te tau hou Māori. Heoi, tērā ētahi iwi kei te raki me te uru e noho nei ko Puanga, arā, ko Rigel, te kaitohu i te tau. Ko Rerehu, e mōhiotia nei hoki ko Antares, te kaitohu ki ngā iwi o Tainui.
So we’re agnostic on which day – or days – a Matariki holiday should cover or indeed, whether it should be called Matariki Day.
Nō reira, e wātea ana ngā whakaaro ki te rā – ki ngā rā rānei – e noho ai ko Matariki hei rā hararei, ā, mena ko te Rā Matariki te ingoa e tika ana mō taua rā.
Debate on those points will form part of our coverage over the coming year.
Ko ngā tohe mō aua take, ka whāia i roto i ngā mahi pūrongo i te roanga o te tau kei mua i te aroaro.
“It’s not a Māori celebration any more in my mind,” says Dr Rangi Matamua, recent winner of the Prime Minister’s Science Communication prize for his Matariki work.
“Ehara i te kaupapa Māori anake ināianei ki ōku whakaaro”, e kī nei a Tākuta Rangi Matamua, te toa o te wā i Te Tohu a te Pirīmia mō ngā Mahi Whakatairanga i te Pūtaiao, i whakawhiwhia ki a ia mō āna mahi mō Matariki.
“It’s become a national celebration and that’s its future for me.
“Kua huri hei kaupapa whakanui mā te motu whānui, ā, koinā te anamata mō Matariki ki a au nei.
“It is about the best things of humanity, such as being kind to each other, aroha … charity, hope. It’s about promise.”
“Ko tōna kaupapa, ko ngā painga tonu o te tangata, arā, ko te manaaki a tētahi i tētahi, ko te aroha, ko te whakaaro nui, ko te tūmanako. Ko tā Matariki, he taurangi.”
Matariki has now passed for 2020, and te Mātahi o te tau has begun.
Kua hipa kē te wā mō Matariki mō te tau 2020, ā, kua tīmata kē te Mātahi o te tau.
A Matariki holiday is an idea whose time has come. We’ve got 51 weeks to make a change.
Kua tae te wā me tutuki te whakaaro mō tētahi rā hararei mō Matariki. E 51 ngā wiki kei a tātou, kia tahuri mai ai ngā whakaaro ki te kaupapa.
Learn more at stuff.co.nz/matariki
He whakamārama anō kei konei stuff.co.nz/matariki
* Translation provided by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori/Māori Language Commission.