Matariki

Matariki

• The 7 names of the Matariki stars

• 1. Waiti 2. Waita 3. Waipuna arangi 4. Tipuanuku 5. Tipuarangi 6. Ururangi 7. Matariki

In the Maori language Matariki is both the name of the Pleiades star cluster and also of the season of its first rising in late May or early June – taken as the beginning of the new year. Similar words occur in most Polynesian languages, deriving from Proto-Polynesian Mataliki, meaning minute, small, and the use of the term for the Pleiades constellation is also ancient and has been reconstructed to Eastern

Oceanic.

• Since The Maori Language Commission began a move in 2001 to "reclaim Matariki, or Aotearoa Pacific New Year, as an important focus for Māori language regeneration" it has increasingly become common practice for various private and public institutions to celebrate Matariki in a range of ways[ and over the period of a

week or month anywhere from early June to late August

• With the wider recognition there has been proposal to make Matariki an official holiday in New Zealand – in particular former Māori PartyMP Rahui Katene's private member's bill Te Ra o Matariki Bill/Matariki Day Bill, drawn from the ballot in June 2009.

The Bill would have fixed the date of a public holiday using the New Moon in June however this was later changed to the new moon of the helical rising of Matariki when the bill was drawn a month later and set down for introduction into Parliament. Mayor of Waitakere City Bob Harvey supported the call to make Matariki a public holiday to replace Queen's Birthday, along with the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand, which found none of New Zealand's local authorities held celebrations for Queen's Birthday, but many held celebrations for Matariki. However, the Bill itself did not propose abolishing Queen's Birthday, and was voted down at its first reading.