What Puanga and Matariki mean to Whanganui

Lisa Reweti said seeing Matariki used to be a cut-off point for food gathering. Photo / Bevan Conley

Matariki has been celebrated for centuries as the new year in the Māori lunar calendar and for the first time will also be marked with a public holiday this Friday.

And for various iwi along the west coast, including Whanganui, the new year is marked by the star Puanga.

Emma Bernard reports.

Puanga is the brightest star in the Orion constellation and it signals the start of the Māori lunar calendar in Whanganui.

On the west coast in parts of North Island, it's seen just before the Matariki star cluster appears in the night sky around the winter solstice and shares its name with the celebrations that take place around this time of the year.

The brightest star in that cluster is also called Matariki and is said to be the mother of the other stars that surround her.

In the traditional Māori lunar calendar, Maramataka, the new year begins with the first new moon after Matariki appears in the sky.

Whanganui Regional Museum's Public Programmes presenter Lisa Reweti teaches many schools about Puanga and Matariki.

"There's a myth that Matariki can't be seen in Whanganui when it can be. It's just that Puanga is visible first."

Reweti said they're all signalling stars.

"When you see Puanga you know Matariki is coming. And when you see Pūtara, you know you can see Matariki too."

Pūtara (also known as Betelgeuse) can be seen as the bright star directly below Orion's belt.

"Seeing Matariki was like a cut-off point for food gathering, and then you were into your three months of winter," Reweti said.

Most people across the country would celebrate in the same way, she said.

"First of all you spot Matariki, then you know the new year will be beginning.

"It also tells you the coldest part of winter would have started, even though the days will be getting longer.

"It's mid-winter, it's cold, so it's nice to be inside eating delicious food. You need those breaks."

Reweti said anything that gets people celebrating together on a good kaupapa was positive and Puanga was a chance to start new traditions as New Zealanders.

"Something people could do if they wanted to celebrate Matariki is to plant a fruit tree. We need more native trees, trees that birds like, and fruit trees."

She said back in the old days there weren't any vegetables that grew through the winter, unlike now.

"So you'd turned your garden over and got it ready for the spring."

Reweti said spring, summer and autumn were for growing, collecting, catching and preserving food to get you through those three coldest months of winter, starting on the shortest day of the year.

She said in many places in the world the new year was celebrated in the mid-winter.

Ōtoko Marae Kaumatua John Maihi said when he was younger they didn't specifically celebrate Puanga or Matariki, but Te Hūrae, which was the start of July.

Maihi grew up on Ōtoko marae and lived there until the early 1970s.

He said the start of July was a time for setting up gardens and preparing them for planting.

John Maihi grew up on Ōtoko Marae and lived there until the early 1970s. Photo / NZME

"The old people would go out at two o'clock in the morning to celebrate and talk about the stars and they would wait for the signs," Maihi said.

"But, to be honest, I didn't learn that part. I just left that to the old people."

He said July to January was for looking after the gardens and for new hunting and fishing grounds.

"For our area, we hunted for tuna (freshwater eels).

"We would look for food and preserve it."

He said this involved drying out eels, smoking the eels and preserving harvests from the garden to get them through winter, so when others came to visit there would be food.

Whanganui iwi leader Ken Mair said the most important thing to him during Puanga was reflecting on how people gave back to the environment.

"It's asking how we are going to plan for the future of the environment and get that right.

"By ensuring the health and well-being of the environment you ensure the health and wellbeing of us as a community, as an iwi, as a hapū."

Mair said there were many ways to do this.

"Just recently, at our marae, we planted 2000-3000 native trees along the waterways. It's a very practical way to give back to the environment."

Ken Mair said the most important thing to him during Puanga was reflecting how we give back to the environment. Photo / NZME

He said natural events such as frost, rain and flooding were important parts of strengthening bonds with the land.

"It makes people think with the land and with the water, and the purposes behind the environmental events."

He said every natural event had a purpose and was all connected.

"In the context of Puanga, here's an opportunity to learn the importance of the environment and how it is all connected. To learn about it, celebrate it and plan for it in the future."

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui kaiarataki and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said most of the Puanga and Matariki events she had been invited to this year involved rangatahi (young people) and kura.

"Our community is really reclaiming and owning this space and reclaiming ourselves as Te Tiriti proposed.

"It's an Aotearoa story, it's not just for Māori. I think this is a really great time for us to all come together and learn about ourselves and what my whanau do versus someone else's or someone else's iwi."

She said some families would have a hangi, some would do a karakia and light a fire on the maunga, while some would sit beside the awa.

"My whanau come together and we have karakia and light a fire and have huge kai and we share.

"It will hopefully bring about normalisation and connection, perhaps for those who didn't know about Matariki. I think what's really beautiful is it's become a natural part of the curriculum and of learning."

Debbie Ngawrea-Packer said the new holiday would hopefully bring normalisation and connection perhaps for those who didn't know about Matariki. Photo / NZME

She said she remembered when Maunga Taranaki got renamed.

"It feels funny at first but then it became normalised and becomes a natural part of us again.

Ngawera-Packer said after the last couple of years it was important to have moments for reflection.

"Reflecting on where we've come from and who we've lost and where we're going, but in a really beautiful way. Iit's also unification and a great way to unite and share what we can physically see and spiritually feel."

How to find Puanga

Lisa Reweti says to look East until you find Orion's belt - three bright stars that form a diagonal line.

To find Puanga look straight up from Orion's belt until you see a bright star - that is Puanga.

Puanga is the brightest star in the Orion constellation.

The Matariki cluster is seen below Puanga and to the left of Tautoru (the three stars of Orion's Belt).

Where to see it in Whanganui

Reweti said the best place to see Puanga and Matariki was on top of a hill, such as the top of Durie Hill.

Places like Putiki have Durie Hill in the way, and by the time the stars have risen up the sun is up and it outshines the stars.

Reweti said the best place she saw it was driving to Palmerston North Airport between Turakina and Bulls on SH3 early in the morning to catch a flight.

When to see it this weekend

Reweti said the best time to see Puanga was early in the morning, just before the sun rises around the shortest day of the year.

"You need to be looking East, as that's where everything rises," Reweti said.

NIWA forecaster Nava Fedaeff said the best viewing of Puanga and the Matariki star cluster in the lower North Island was this Friday and Saturday morning.

"On Sunday morning, more widespread cloud cover will make Matariki viewing difficult across most of New Zealand," Fedaeff said.