Room 8's Blog: July 2015

We have been studying

Matariki and Puanga -
the Māori New Year. We want to share some of our new learning, and our art works. We have learned about related ideas or symbols that reflect Puanga, e.g. birds/feathers-weaving & kai, fish/tuna, hooks for fishing, native trees/harakeke fronds, stars/moon – navigation, predictions, mountains/seas/rivers, preservation, conservation, and thanksgiving.

The Visual Arts:

We are learning to use the print making processes to produce small monochrome printed images. We aim to become confident enough to do multi coloured prints from a single design, building up layers of colours. We use polystyrene plates and Artists’ Acrylics to develop our printing plates.

He aha a Matariki?

What is Matariki?

Matariki is the Māori name for a cluster of seven bright kikorangi stars (ngā whetū) that rise once a year, twinkling in the winter sky just before hāpara (dawn). This star cluster is also called The Plieades (said plee-uh-deez).

This new moon marks the start of the Māori Te Tau Hōu (The New Year). This year that was on June 18. Matariki (& Puanga) are special celebrations when people like to get together with whanau and ngā hoa (friends) to eat delicious kai, and to celebrate New Year together.

Long ago Matariki and Puanga meant:

· Food crops had been harvested and the pataka were full of stored kai

· The land was ready to be prepared for new plantings

· The Matariki or Puanga were the focus of action songs, karakia and karanga

· Trees and harakeke (flax) were planted

· Ika (fish) were caught and extra ika and birds were dried and stored

· Whanau and friends came together to share the gifts of the land and sea (moana)

· New clothes and ngā kete were woven, and kites were made and flown

· Young people learned about their whakapapa, the land, forests, seas, and living creatures.

· Mahi whai (string patterns) were used to show the stories of the stars.

He aha a Puanga?

What is Puanga?

Puanga is the star Rigel, part of the Orion constellation. Puanga features in the sky just prior to Matariki and is seen as a precursor to Matariki to the tribes that CAN see Matariki.

For the Whanganui and Taranaki tribes, who are unable to see the Matariki stars, because they rise in the north east of the sky, Puanga is the significant star to celebrate the New Year.
There are 13 months in a traditional Māori year,

measured by a lunar cycle.

Māori also measure by nights rather than by days with a simple example being: āpōpō literally meaning after the night – i.e: tomorrow.

The Māori New Year starts with the new moon of the first month of the cold season, Pipiri. Pipiri being the month when people started to come together or to piri back at the main settlement after living in the various food gathering sites during summer and autumn in preparation for the cold months ahead.

Most Māori would call this celebration Matariki though throughout the Whanganui and Taranaki region it is called Puanga. A celebration in the cold months is similar to the pagan celebrations of the northern hemisphere and the origins of what is now known as Christmas.

With a direct connection to another Pacific culture, the Japanese name for Matariki, Subaru, brings a close connection between the Whanganui sister city, Nagaizumi-cho, Shizuoka, Japan.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

We have learned lots about both Matariki and Puanga, but we still have lots to learn. We want to acknowledge the following for assisting with our learning: