How do we pick a date for Matariki?
There is no single day that marks Matariki, so when could a public holiday celebrating the Ma¯ori New Year fall? Brittney Deguara speaks with experts, advocates and iwi to hear their thoughts.
Trying to find a single date to celebrate a Matariki public holiday may be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. On Monday, Labour announced plans to create a Matariki public holiday in 2022 if re-elected. Stuff launched a campaign for the holiday back in July, arguing we were overdue the creation of a unifying holiday that honours Aotearoa’s past and celebrates New Zealand’s future.
But unlike the December/January New Year, there is no single day that marks the Ma¯ori New Year period.
Forcing a specific annual date might defeat the purpose of the season, according to Dr Dan Hikuroa, a senior lecturer for Auckland University’s Te Wa¯nanga o Waipapa.
‘‘[That] would not be in keeping with the way Matariki itself is.’’
Happy (flexible) New Year
So why not make it moveable? It is an idea that has the support of a number of experts, advocates and iwi – including Hikuroa.
‘‘We already do it for Easter,’’ Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga board chairman Mike Paku commented.
‘‘New Zealanders are very used to Easter moving every single year. The fact that it [could] be a moving date [would] not be too much of a problem,’’ ActionStation director Laura O’Connell Rapira said.
Based on the cycle of the lunar calendar, the public holiday could move on a three-year rotation.
Dr Rangi Ma¯ta¯mua, a Ma¯ori astronomy professor at Waikato University, highlighted the middle of June, late June and the middle of July as an ideal cycle.
‘‘[It could] shift up and down the calendar system generally over a threeyear period.’’
There is no annual date range for Matariki but the celebration period usually spanned seven or eight days in winter depending on the lunar cycle, Ma¯ta¯mua explained.
Hikuroa, who is also the culture commissioner for the New Zealand National Commission for Unesco, has previously spoken to Stuff about the difficulty in choosing just one day.
However, Hikuroa was certain it made
sense to ‘‘Mondayise’’ the holiday, as was done with Waitangi Day and Anzac Day through an amendment of the Holidays Act 2003.
This is what Labour is planning to do. Kelvin Davis, the party’s co-leader, said on Monday he expected it to always be at the beginning or end of a weekend.
Friday has been the chosen day for Nga¯ti Kahungunu’s Matariki celebrations across the Hawke’s Bay region for the past two decades.
Te Rangi Huata, Nga¯ti Kahungunu events manager, has been one of the driving forces behind these events, and has helped iwi in Dunedin and Auckland expand their Matariki offerings over the years. He did not see the date as having a big impact on celebrations.
‘‘The public holiday is the exclamation mark of the celebration but [it] does not
mean that the celebration is for that one day, the celebration can take place over a number of weeks.’’
Time to ko¯rero
The markers for Matariki and Puanga – another star marking the Ma¯ori New Year marker – vary around the country. To accommodate tribal variations, a wider, more inclusive discussion is needed.
Labour plans to work with Matariki experts to determine appropriate dates for the holiday but more voices may be needed.
‘‘[Discussion] needs to be at the community [level],’’ Hikuroa said.
While there might be some loud voices on the matter – both for and against – it would be pivotal to ensure all of them were heard. This could be done through public forums, community meetings and
online submissions. ‘‘Ultimately it will be a decision that government has to make but in an ideal democracy it will be a decision New Zealanders have made,’’ Hikuroa said.
He suggested Ma¯ori groups initiate the conversation and lay out an appropriate timeframe – or at least be given the opportunity to do so – before a larger group helps choose the specific date.
Ma¯ta¯mua raised the idea of a committee made up of Ma¯ori astronomers and experts in the field to lead this discussion.
‘‘That is not a call that any individual can make … it will need to be [in] consultation,’’ he said.
Nga¯ti Kahungunu’s Huata thought it would be great if his iwi was involved in the process as they have been celebrating the season for 21 years. However, they won’t ‘‘spit the dummy’’, he laughed.
‘‘If the dates work out for us, fantastic.
‘‘If it doesn’t, well it will be great for the whole country to join in.
‘‘We are supportive whether we are involved or not.
In terms of timing, Labour is aiming for 2022 to mark the first Matariki holiday. This allows time for businesses to financially recover from the effects of Covid-19.
Ma¯ta¯mua would like to see conversations start now for what he described as a wonderful, fantastic and challenging task.
‘‘[There] needs to be a certain amount of groundwork put in place for this to be accepted as widely as possible and to be rolled out in the correct way.
’’You are asking, really, to inform 5 million people – because it is going to affect 5 million people – and so that information will need to go out as soon as possible.’’