Historical beliefs · Māori, Aotearoa New Zealand; as described by Te Papa Tongarewa
Matariki, the Pleiades and the Māori New Year
Matariki is the Māori name for the star cluster known elsewhere as the Pleiades. For many Māori, its return to the dawn sky in midwinter marks the new year. Traditions differ between iwi, and this page follows what Te Papa, the national museum, describes.
The return of Matariki
Te Papa (opens in a new tab) describes Matariki as the cluster most of the world calls the Pleiades, part of Taurus. Around midwinter, in June or July, it appears on the eastern horizon just before sunrise, during the lunar period of Tangaroa. Its rising marks te Mātahi o te Tau, the Māori New Year: a sign to gather, to honour the dead, to celebrate the present and to plan for the future.
The name
Te Papa gives the name as coming from Ngā mata o te ariki Tāwhirimātea (opens in a new tab), the eyes of the god Tāwhirimātea, which he threw into the sky after his brothers defeated him.
Puanga
Not every iwi looks to Matariki. As Che Wilson of Whanganui explains for Te Papa (opens in a new tab), the tribes of Whanganui, Taranaki, and parts of the Far North and the South Island recognise Puanga, the star Rigel, because from their land Matariki is hard to see clearly, and Puanga is the next important star near it.
A public holiday
Since 2022 Matariki has been a public holiday in Aotearoa New Zealand, under the Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Act 2022 (opens in a new tab).
Seeing the cluster
The Pleiades are easy to see with the unaided eye (opens in a new tab) from a dark site, a small, tight group rather than a single star. They sit on the back of Taurus, and the sky finder works out when that part of the sky is up where you are.
Related records on this site: al-Thurayya, the Pleiades in Arabic tradition and Krittika, the Pleiades in Vedic astrology.
Sources
Each story belongs to the people who tell it. This page reports one account from the sources below; it does not speak for everyone in a culture.
- Culture Te Papa Tongarewa, What is Matariki? (opens in a new tab) for Matariki, its rising, its meaning and its name
- Culture Che Wilson, The difference between Puanga and Matariki, Te Papa Tongarewa (opens in a new tab) for Puanga and the iwi who recognise it
- Reference Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Act 2022, New Zealand Legislation (opens in a new tab) for the public holiday
- Astronomy NASA Hubble, Messier 45 (the Pleiades) (opens in a new tab) for seeing the Pleiades