Matariki should unite all New Zealanders not divide the country

Monday, 7 September 2020

Matariki has become a widely accepted festival across the country. (First published, September 25, 2020.)

ANALYSIS: A Matariki public holiday is an opportunity to unify the nation. But if we’re not careful it could divide us instead.

Labour announced on Monday that if it gets back into government it plans to turn Matariki – the Māori new year – into a new statutory holiday in 2022. The party believes it’s time to acknowledge our country’s unique bicultural identity.

Labour says it is an important part of growing a greater understanding of the Māori world, and a big part of who we are as a nation.

The long weekend date for Matariki will move according to tradition, when the moon and star cluster are aligned. It will help break up the cold winter months because it will always be on a Monday or Friday.

Labour’s announcement follows the Māori Party and the Greens who were already backing the idea. The move could help score election points with Māori, but non-Māori are in favour of making it a public holiday too, says Labour.

**READ MORE:

Matariki Festival in Queens Park, Invercargill, in July this year.

* What needs to happen for Matariki to become an official public holiday?

* Matariki should only become a new public holiday if we axe an existing one

* Discovering the intricacies of Matariki, mātauranga later in life

* What is Matariki, the Māori new year? And should it be made a public holiday?

* A festival of aroha – Let's make Matariki a public holiday in 2021

The 2019 Matariki Sky Show display in Wellington lit up the still, winter sky as people watched the fireworks shoot up along Wellington Harbour.

However, it will be a hard sell to get businesses onboard because they’re already struggling with the economic fallout from Covid-19. A statutory holiday will be an extra cost to employers.

Labour says Tourism NZ has called for extra public holidays to boost much needed domestic tourism.

When Stuff launched its campaign to support a Matariki public holiday in July, many readers and business owners supported the idea. But most of them wanted to use one of the existing statutory days such as Queen’s Birthday.

Māori readers were concerned about the government taking the ancient tradition and nationalising it. They didn’t want to see it being commercialised like other holidays.

Labour says it will consult with an expert advisory group to work around the many issues that will arise from creating a new statutory holiday. If they don’t get the right experts onboard, including Māori astronomers and tikanga experts, it could be a problematic proposition.

There isn’t a general consensus among Māori about when to observe the new year. Many use Matariki but iwi in some parts of the North and along the West coast of the country mark Puanga, also known as Rigel, for the new year.

Laura O’Connell Rapira was one of two petitioners who presented their petition for a Matariki public holiday to the government this year. Like many Māori, she has started reclaiming the customary practices around the event.

Professor Rangi Matamua, who recently won the Prime Minister’s prestigious science award for his work on Matariki, says the Māori new year is about unity, environmental connection and protection.

He doesn’t think a statutory holiday should be called Matariki. He would prefer to use te mātahi o te tau, the new year, because it’s a more general term.

Although it’s traditionally Māori, Matariki is for all New Zealanders, says Professor Matamua.

“It’s not a Māori celebration any more in my mind. It’s become a national celebration and that’s its future for me and I think that’s a wonderful part about Matariki.

“It is about the best things of humanity such as being kind to each other, aroha, those are the basic principles. It’s about charity, hope. It’s about promise.”

But there is the potential for the debate around Matariki to turn nasty. Particularly if political parties use Labour’s push for a new statutory holiday as a race card to play during their election campaigns, an us-and-them scenario.

We’ve seen it in the past with the “iwi versus Kiwi” phrases used during the seabed and foreshore disputes of the early 2000s.

A professor of indigenous studies, Linda Waimarie Nikora, says the debate needs to focus on the meaning of Matariki and inclusiveness. She’s concerned if a race debate ensues it will lead to high anxiety among Māori.

Added to the worries around Covid-19 and the heightened sensitivities to the Black Lives Matter movement, there is the possibility Labour’s policy could spark a vicious race debate.

To avoid this, politicians need to be careful about how they debate the mechanics of setting up a new statutory holiday or not.

Do not pull out the race card and use Matariki to divide Aotearoa New Zealand. Matariki has its own mana and should not be used for political point scoring by politicians.