Puanga to take starring role at this year’s Matariki celebrations

Ngāti Rangi will host this year's hautapu ceremony at the base of Mt Ruapehu. Photo / NZME

By Pokere Paewai, RNZ

The theme for this year’s Matariki holiday is “Matariki mā Puanga”, highlighting the communities who observe the star Puanga in their astronomical traditions.

Puanga is the star Rigel, the brightest star in the Orion constellation. In the late autumn and early winter night sky, Matariki is seen below Puanga and to the left of Tautoru (the three stars of Orion’s Belt).

While it is visible throughout the year, Puanga becomes especially prominent in the evening sky towards the end of autumn and in the pre-dawn sky during the first month of the Māori new year.

Puanga will feature at this year’s nationally broadcast hautapu ceremony hosted by Ngāti Rangi at the base of Ruapehu.

Ngāti Rangi spokesperson and leading Puanga expert Che Wilson said it was an honour for the iwi to host the ceremony and to be a part of the work that has been done over the past few years by Professor Rangi Mātāmua and all the host iwi – from Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa to Te Arawa and last year Ngāi Tahu.

Traditional stories related to Puanga are shared across many iwi across Aotearoa but are prominent on the western side of Te Ika a Maui, including among the iwi of Taranaki, Whanganui and Rangitīkei.

The North Island’s main divide of the Tararua, Ruahine and Kaimanawa ranges separates the island’s weather systems so Puanga gives iwi on the western side a better read on how to prepare for the year ahead, Wilson said.

“The reason we look to Puanga isn’t because we can’t see Matariki, there are parts of the region where you can’t, but actually the reason we look to Puanga is because Puanga gives us a better read for the weather on the west coast,” he said.

Wilson said traditionally iwi on the west coast would start to observe changes in the weather during autumn, while the months around Matariki were a time to wānanga, to meet and deliberate.

“The thing is that Puanga and Matariki aren’t that different, a lot of it is nuance. We do have a separate ceremony done the month before called Te Maru o te Tau where we send all of our mate with the setting sun to the pō, and that’s when we call out our names.”

Matariki and Puanga have always gone together in karakia, Wilson said. They also look to other celestial bodies such as the Southern Cross, Atutahi (Canopus) and Rehua (Antares).

“In our karakia we acknowledge Matariki during the mate, as we acknowledge those that have passed, because they become part of te huihui o Matariki. So that’s our reference to Matariki but the remainder of the ceremony is actually focused in on looking at Puanga.”

Wilson said it was a beautiful thing that New Zealand was starting to recognise both Matariki and Puanga.

“It’s a chance for everybody to go out and send intention to whoever you may call your atua and to make that connection to nature, to the environment.”

The ceremony

Wilson said this year’s hautapu ceremony will differ slightly from those broadcast in previous years.

After the opening of the ceremony, the next step is te tākiritanga o ngā mate, invoking those people who have died in the last year, he said.

“We don’t call out our mate but we then invoke them to transition to become stars.”

Next is the hautapu proper, the offering of food. But Wilson said instead of offering food to the stars, they are offered to four atua or deities, Tāne, Tangaroa, Rongo and Maru.

“So we give to atua rather than stars, though those atua are also shown in the sky at that time.”

The last part of the ceremony is the whakapūmautanga, where a pou or post is placed into the ground. Wilson said those reciting the karakia bind the pou with intention as they “commit ourselves to our tūpuna, to our atua and to nature”.

- RNZ