By ANNE-MARIE EMERSON
A SIMPLE dawn ceremony on the banks of the Whanganui River could become a major tourism drawcard for Whanganui.
Yesterday morning around 50 people gathered at the Putiki slipway for the dawn ceremony, which marked the start of the two-week Puanga-Matariki festival.
After the karanga (call) from a kuia, several long notes were sounded on the putatara (conch shell) and a kaumatua invoked blessings from Tangaroa, the god of the sea, and Tane Mahuta, the god of the forest.
Tea light candles pressed into large pieces of pumice were given out, to be lit and floated in the river. Unfortunately, a strong southerly wind prevented the candles from being lit.
Wanganui's Matariki-Puanga celebrations are run by the Whanganui Maori Regional Tourism Organisation (WMRTO) in association with the Major Regional Initiative, Wanganui District Council and Te Puni Kokiri.
Soraya Peke-Taiaroa from the WMRTO attended the ceremony and was pleased with what she saw.
"This is the second year of the public celebration, and it has grown from last year.
"We would really like to see it grow further and, certainly, we would love to have tourists come here for Matariki-Puanga."
Ms Peke-Taiaroa said the Puanga working committee was helping support communities in other parts of the region who were celebrating Matariki.
"Ngati Apa [in Marton] is holding its first-ever Matariki festival on Friday, and that's great."
Rishad Patel, a recent arrival to Wanganui from Singapore, described the Matariki-Puanga ceremony as "absolutely beautiful".
"I thought it was a lovely way to do things. I loved the sound of the conch shell and the incantations. It was solemn, but not at all boring. It was great to see kids there, and parents and old people."
Mr Patel said he could see the ceremony having "huge tourism potential", although he admitted he would not like to see it expand too much.
"If it got too big, it would ruin things."
The Matariki celebration in Whanganui is unique.
Known as Puanga or Puanga-Matariki, it is celebrated at the first new moon after the star Puanga - known in English as Rigel - is first spotted in the dawn sky.
Elsewhere in the country, the festival is known as Matariki, and is celebrated at the first new moon after Matariki, or the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, are seen at dawn.
For more information, visit www.puanga.org.nz.
PICTURED: Ryan Craig, chief executive of the Major Regional Initiative, and Soraya Peke-Taiaroa, from the Whanganui Maori Regional Tourism Organisation at the Puanga-Matariki ceremony in Putiki yesterday morning
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