Matariki
Sign in to saveIn Māori culture, Matariki is the Pleiades star cluster and a celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. The rising marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar.
Key facts
- Holiday.type
- cultural
- Holiday.firsttime
- 2022
- Holiday.frequency
- Annual
- Holiday.scheduling
- variable
- Holiday.weekday
- Friday
- Holiday.date
- June to July (varies)
- Holiday.holiday_name
- Matariki
- Holiday.celebrations
- Some hold dawn ceremonies and/or lay a hāngī
- Holiday.significance
- Heliacal rising of the Pleiades star cluster (), signalling the Māori new year.
- Holiday.observedby
- Māori people, New Zealand
- Holiday.image
- M45 Pleiades Pbkwee (cropped to core 9 stars).jpg
- Holiday.date2022
- 24 June
- Holiday.date2023
- 14 July
- Holiday.date2024
- 28 June
- Holiday.date2025
- 20 June
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- public holiday
- Named after
- Pleiades
- Country
- New Zealand
- Image
- The Matariki Stars.png
Show 3 more facts
- language of work or name
- New Zealand English
- commemorates
- New Year
- Commons category
- Matariki
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~24 min read
Encyclopedic overview
14 sectionsContents
- Name and meaning
- In other Polynesian cultures
- The nine stars
- Māori New Year
- Puanga and Matariki
- Traditional celebration
- Viewing
- Remembering the deceased
- Offering of food
- Modern observance
- Public holiday
- See also
- References
- External links
In Māori culture, Matariki is the Pleiades star cluster and a celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. The rising marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar.
Historically, Matariki was usually celebrated for a period of days during the last quarter of the moon of the lunar month Pipiri (around June). The ceremony involved viewing the individual stars for forecasts of the year to come, mourning the deceased of the past year, and making an offering of food to replenish the stars. Some Māori use the rise of Puanga (Rigel) or other stars to mark the new year.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Matariki” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.