The reason for this is Tawhirimatea (god of wind), which Che Wilson from MetService says constantly blows westerlies that hit these ranges, causing mayhem and masking Matariki from sight, but not so Puanga.
Puanga is part of a constellation called Waka o Te Rangi/the sky canoe, which has Matariki at its prow. At its stern is Puanga together with Tautoru/Orion’s Belt.
On the west coast, Puanga marks the end of the old year, of short winter days with long nights, and signals the forthcoming rise of Matariki.
My friend Rowly Boy, whose proper name is Rereata Makiha, is a Ngāpuhi living in Hokianga. He says that, unlike in the Gregorian calendar, there is no summer, winter, autumn or spring. The lunar season called Ngā Taka o Te Marama has 13 kaupeka/phases, signalled by Puanga. There are seven phases in raumati/summer and six in hotoke/winter.
For example, in hotoke when you have to pour water over your windscreen, it is called the kokota phase of winter, needed to kill the bugs.
Phases of the Ngā o Te Marama occur within each kaupeka. Repeating cycles can be observed and tohu/signs can be aligned. If you know how to read the constellations, the brightness of Puanga and surrounding stars, it tells you both the phase of season and where you are in it. It tells what to expect and how productive it will be. Sometimes these seasonal phases move and in some years might not turn up at all.
Rowly Boy uses Puanga in the same manner as Matariki, to guide, for example, when to plant crops or go fishing, giving long-term forecasts for everything needed to sustain life and keep our environment and ecosystems in balance. It is an all-collective map, with the sky events above directly correlating to what is happening here below on Earth.
For the three months from Haratua/May through to Hōngongoi/July, the signs of Puanga around is the fruiting of the miro tree and the subsequent fattening of the wood pigeon, kererū.
Gorging on these berries, with their fermented alcoholic content, the inebriated kererū fall out of the trees, to be easily gathered up for hāngī and their feathers used to make cloaks.
There is a whakataukī/proverb: Ko Puanga te pūa tāwhiwhi o Tautoru – Puanga is the snare to catch the pigeon.
Another sign marked by Puanga is that the piharau start to run. It is a blind eel and the most ugly, grotesque thing to look at, with a suction cup mouth, and is much slimier than all other eel breeds. But, like the kererū, it is a delicacy to eat. The piharau and the kererū together are sources of protein to gather in, marked by Puanga.
With Puanga standing bright at the end of the year, along with Matariki appearing at the front of the new year, it signals Taramainuku (a star) to release his net, allowing the dead he has gathered up over the past 12 months to become the twinkling stars we see in the night sky. Kua whetūrangitia/to become stars in the night, is what kaumātua say to the dead when farewelling them on the marae.
To find Puanga, if you look for the Pot, also known as Orion’s Belt or Tautoru, then look for the bright star above it, that’s Puanga. If you take a wider look and mark Puanga as 12 o’clock, and look down to your left, around 9 o’clock you will see Matariki.
