Latest news with #Matariki
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Otago Daily Times
Field of a soldier's dreams
Like many in Ōtepoti Dunedin, I'm finally coming up for air after a whirlwind season celebrating Matariki and the Māori New Year. Or more truthfully, I'm curled up on the couch in front of the fire...
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
The wisdom of the season
Like many in Ōtepoti Dunedin, I'm finally coming up for air after a whirlwind season celebrating Matariki and the Māori New Year. Or more truthfully, I'm curled up on the couch in front of the fire, wondering how I managed to get to so many kaupapa in the middle of winter. Each event I attended was beautiful, moving, heartfelt, and absolutely worthwhile. Heoi anō, if I'm honest, both my wairua and te taiao were gently whispering ''Rest. Stay in. Light the fire. Walk the dog.'' At one point, feeling māuiui as, I gave in and started antibiotics. I found myself in bed questioning my life choices. Me haere tonu au ki tēnei kaupapa? Do I really need to go? But each time I showed up, I realised: I wasn't alone. Most of us were in the same waka. Coughing, sneezing, handing out ibuprofen, and still turning up, carrying aroha with us. It felt like winter at daycare: tissues everywhere, everyone a bit run down, no-one too bothered. And yet, that's part of the beauty of this time of year. We gather. We remember. We honour our mātauranga, our ancestors, our whakapapa, and our stars. Somewhere between my third event in two days and my fifth cup of kawakawa tea, I had to laugh at myself. I'd come charging into the season like it was a checklist, forgetting that Matariki isn't just something we attend. It's something we feel. A time to pause, to reflect, to let go, and to reset. I found myself most drawn to the quieter moments. Standing outside at dawn with cold hands and warm breath, gazing at the stars. Lighting candles for those we've lost. Making soup from what's left in the cupboard. Reading a book instead of answering emails. These simple acts of stillness — of aroha and reflection — are just as much a part of the season as any public celebration. As wāhine Māori, we often carry so much. The unseen work, the logistics, the manaaki. We hold space for others, even when we're running on empty. But this season reminded me (again) that rest isn't being lazy — it's wisdom! Slowing down isn't giving up. It's an act of resistance to burnout. It's also a way of aligning ourselves with te taiao. Winter, after all, is the season of hibernation. We're not meant to bloom all year round. So to those who went hard this Matariki — ka pai! You showed up, gave your energy, and helped hold space for others. And to those who spent most of it curled up at home, honouring your own rhythm — ka pai hoki! That's the real magic of this season: there's space for all of us, in whatever way we're able to mark it. As Matariki and Puaka rise once again and the days slowly begin to stretch, I'm carrying a few quiet lessons into the new year. A renewed appreciation for stillness, deep gratitude for those who fill our spaces with aroha, and a gentle commitment to a slower, more mindful rhythm of life. Manawatia a Matariki me Puaka. May this new year bring you warmth, clarity, and just enough couch time to balance the kaupapa.
Scoop
5 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
New Whaitua Mapping Tool And Monitoring Our Oranga Framework Places Health Information In Whānau Hands
The Āti Awa Toa Hauora Iwi Māori Partnership Board launched the Whaitua Mapping Tool alongside the Monitoring our Oranga Framework online today. 'Our dual launch coincides with the end of Matariki season, a significant time for reflection and renewal, marking a collective commitment to creating healthier, safer communities for current and future generations,' said Hikitia Ropata, Āti Awa Toa Hauora Iwi Māori Partnership Board's Manahautū. 'We are indebted to the support of our mana whenua iwi, Te Āti Awa ki te Upoko a Māui, Āti Awa ki Whakarongotai and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. With special thanks to the team at Āti Awa Toa FM.' Whaitua is an online mapping tool that visualises critical information about whānau households and their communities across the social and economic determinants of health. This includes the prevalence of liquor stores, vape shops, fast food outlets, housing conditions, environmental degradation and healthcare access points. The platform equips whānau, iwi and communities with precise, local-level insights to help raise whānau voice and improve policies that impact upon our whānau. The Whaitua Mapping Tool has been developed by the Āti Awa Toa Hauora Iwi Māori Partnership Board in collaboration with Te Tāhū Hauora (Health Quality & Safety Commission) and with early input from Te Karu o Te Ika Poari Hauora IMPB. The tool is presented with the collective support of all 17 IMPBs across Aotearoa, enabling iwi and communities to access and use this valuable data. Advertisement - scroll to continue reading 'Our Whaitua: Flip the Facts' social media campaign begins today. We are inviting all whānau from our takiwā as well as whānau from across Aotearoa to jump online, see the data story of their own neighbourhood and challenge those things that need to change.' Also launched today is Monitoring our Oranga: A Kaupapa Māori framework for collective learning and system transformation, designed to guide collective learning, monitoring, and advocacy efforts within Māori communities. 'Grounded in the constitutional promises of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and indigenous rights, our framework affirms tino rangatiratanga and requires kāwanatanga to protect it actively. Monitoring is a tool of mana motuhake - a way for whānau, hapū and iwi to ask and answer the questions that matter most to us, in our own ways.' 'Too often, Māori communities carry the blame for conditions we never created. These resources we launch today will help raise our whānau voices, allowing us to tell our own stories through our own data. It's about tino rangatiratanga and our right to self-determination and meaningful change.'
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Auckland's Silo Park light exhibition mirrors Māori string game
The work was first commissioned by Auckland Council Public Art for Matariki ki te Manawa in 2024. Now, it has been made larger and occupies a more prominent space with 360-degree views across the city and Waitematā Harbour from the Gantry. The light loops play on the traditional weaving forms of the string game. 'Whai keeps Māori traditions alive, a shared experience that bridges cultures, ensuring they remain vibrant and celebrated for generations to come,' Williams said. She wanted the work to invite people to immerse themselves in the game. 'For centuries, Māori children have played and become skilled at whai, learning complex patterns and the stories behind them. Through connection, creation, and discovery, Whai offers everyone that learning experience - bringing people together through the joy of making.' In 2022, Williams studied full immersion te reo Māori at Te Wānanga Takiura and continues to study part-time. Williams is a mother, business owner and is in her final year of an Executive Master of Business Administration at Massey University and Master of Professional Creative Practice at Toihoukura. She often works alongside her husband, Charles Williams, to create brightly coloured, large-scale murals honouring kaupapa Māori. Many of their works include vivid depictions of New Zealand's native birds in flight. They also have a strong interest in graffiti art, with the pair decorating vans, walls and even motorway underpasses around Auckland. Auckland Council said Silo Park was chosen as this year's temporary site for Whai as the precinct strongly reflected the waterfront's heritage. 'The regeneration of Wynyard Quarter acknowledges its place on the edge of the Waitematā, retaining elements of the area's industrial history.' Over the next three to five years, during the Matariki season, Auckland Council Public Art will exhibit Whai in different locations. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
14-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Why Raiatea, French Polynesia is a must visit for New Zealanders wanting to trace their lineage
Roughly twice the size of Waiheke Island, Raiatea is believed to be the ancestral homeland of Māori and the starting point for migratory journeys that followed the track of Matariki – the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) constellation – and led to the settlement of other Polynesian islands, including New Zealand. Home to the most significant marae in the Polynesian Triangle, the Marae Taputaputea (a Unesco World Heritage site since 2017) it's a must-visit for Kiwis wanting to learn more about their ancestral roots. Part of Marae Taputapuatea, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Photo / Getty Images To make the most of the experience, we met with a Tahitian guide through Aroha Experiences, who took us through Marae Taputapuatea and Raiatea's surrounding natural treasures. Our guide Naiki Lutz explained a bit more about the marae, Taputapuatea - 'tapu' meaning sacred and 'atea' meaning faraway. She's guided many New Zealanders through this same journey, many of whom she says are impacted deeply by a sense of connection felt to their ancestral roots. The marae was once a centre of power where high priests and chiefs gathered, and today still has an incredible presence, commanding respect. But visiting here hasn't always been a guarantee, as Lutz said many generations before her were scared of visiting the site, which was considered taboo and a no-go zone due to a mass wave of Christianity and large-scale attempts to cull the ancestral stories that had come before it. Christian missionaries had a significant influence on Raiatea, starting in the early 19th century, leading to conflicts and even the destruction of the traditional Marae Taputapuatea in 1828. While the people of Raiatea initially resisted, Christian missionaries successfully converted many and managed to gain political influence. Now, Lutz and many others on the island are on a mission to preserve the Tahitian culture, retell the stories, regenerate the land and bring back parts of what was lost. While some of the stories and traditions may never be recovered, Raeatea is in itself a history book in landscape form. One of the beautiful lagoons of Raiatea in French Polynesia. Photo / Getty Images It is home to many amazing natural features, such as Mount Temehani and its Tiara Apetahi flower, which grows nowhere else in the world and blooms at dawn. The island also boasts its magnificent lagoon, rivers bathed in rituals, and lush, unique vegetation. Lutz took us in her truck through the centre of the mountains, stopping to pick a fresh mangosteen and visit a river, used by locals for centuries to bathe and fish. There she prepared a coconut scrub for us using fresh coconut husk and coconut meat, and we bathed in the same river many generations of Tahitians have. We took time to appreciate all that the land has to offer as we gave back to the eels and shrimp around us as they feasted on discarded coconut. For a quick snack break, we detoured to a local market and tried mapé chaude for the first time, a fruit that's gruelling to harvest and cook and looks like an organ, but is a delicacy among locals. The taste is somewhere between a kūmara and a banana. Mapé from the local market. Photo / NZ Herald Time felt slower on Raiatea; nobody was rushing, and there was a knowledge everywhere we went that this place was special. Connecting to it for a moment in time was an honour not to be taken for granted. Although less famous than its neighbours Bora Bora and Moorea, Raiatea captivated us with its mana, spectacular landscapes and stories. At the end of our time there, we wove harakeke with our guide and dropped it into the ocean as a gift to Ta'aroa (the Tahitian supreme creator god), thanking him for our time at such a special place. Checklist Raiatea, French Polynesia GETTING THERE Fly from Auckland to Tahiti with Air Tahiti or Air New Zealand daily. Tahiti to Raiatea is a short 45-minute flight with Air Tahiti or Air Moana. DETAILS New Zealand Herald Travel visited courtesy of Tahiti Tourism. Jenni Mortimer is the NZ Herald's chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.
