Matariki 2023: Rewi Spraggon explains Puanga, Matariki’s older brother

We are starting Matariki 2023 week with a look at Puanga, the star Rigel in Orion.

Matariki is the public holiday we all celebrate on July 14.

But for Iwi on the West Coast, there’s not a lot to see, that’s why they celebrate Puanga, in Māori mythology, the older brother of Matariki.

Puanga rises between May and June and marks the beginning of winter.

It is a time to wānanga, to honour ancestors and plant hope for the future.

Puanga is higher in the sky than Matariki and seen by the South Island tribes and the far north Iwi on the West Coast of Aotearoa. Some Iwi celebrate Puanga before Matariki because Matariki can not be seen as clearly across Aotearoa.

And even here in Tamaki, our western tribes couldn’t see Matariki because you had a big dark front.

So when Puanga comes up, all of the East Coast tribes will see that.

Hangi master Rewi Spraggon. Photo / Supplied

Puanga is in our skies for around about 2 to 3 weeks. In May, you’ll see it disappear on the other side and then it rises back up in the east.

Puanga and Matariki share similar significance, the highest being a time of reflection and to plan for the future.

It sets the scene to remember those of our loved ones who have passed in the previous 12 months.

And so when the sun goes down on that last day of the previous year, then a new rising of the sun will happen and with that new day brings new hope and a new future.

It’s usually on the first sighting of those stars that you could forecast the whole year ahead of you.

So our people would forecast the season of fishing and planting on that very first sighting of Puanga and Matariki. That’s why it is very important for our people.

Iwi would light a fire and celebrate the spiritual realm, to remember those of the past that it’s sort of putting to sleep.

Māori can forecast rain on the first sighting of Puanga and Matariki - and we’ve had so much rain this summer. So it’ll be interesting to see what the rising of Matariki brings us this year. Hopefully, it’ll be sun.

So that’s our winter star, which is well known for taking a lot of our old people at this time of the year through the cold months, through the winter months.

In the old days, prior to summer or autumn and prior to winter, Māori would, preserve our kai, hang our fish dry, our fish preserve the birds and goods.

And forecast what winter is going be like.

So Māori had to pick up on all those other areas in our calendar for eating and to actually store kai for the winter.

All of us would have taken our guide from those particular stars.

Puanga is an important star to our people to forecast the next year.

That’s why we call it the new year. What does the new year bring?

So if you’re looking out on the East Coast, the cluster Puanga is to the right and above.

You’ll see this bright star.

The great thing about Matariki and Puanga, is that our kids are now learning about this at school.

The curriculum is awesome and the more you get into it, the more stories that are related to it.

There’s a whole universe of stars out there that have importance to our people.

Our people travelled to Aotearoa following the stars. They were great navigators and knew to follow the direction of the water hitting that particular part of their bow.

Our ancestors were very clever navigators following these types of stars that would have been right in the middle at that particular time because you wouldn’t travel in the winter.

The celebration of clay crops in the winter months is very much harvesting if you like or getting, gardens prepared.

It was also the time for tapapa, setting new seeds and setting up your garden for the future.

We had harbours full of fish, we had gardens that we could, grow and our yams.

We’ve been here for 1000 years and survived and it’s through those indicators that are important to our people.