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2022 marks the first year that Matariki will be celebrated by a public holiday.
There is a star cluster that appears in the early morning sky across New Zealand in the early winter months. This cluster is one of the brightest, containing hundreds of member stars. It can be seen at different times of year across the globe in nearly every country and goes by many different names; Pleiades, the Seven Sisters and Subaru, to name a few. In Te Reo, it’s called Matariki and it signifies the Māori New Year.
In 2020, the New Zealand Government announced that it intended to establish Matariki as a public holiday.
A Matariki Advisory Group, whose members were drawn from across the country to ensure mātauaranga (knowledge) of various Iwi was represented, advised the Government on when and how the new public holiday should be observed.
2022 is the first time that this public holiday will be observed, on Friday, June 24. This date will shift each year to align with the Māori lunar calendar.
The Matariki public holiday will be New Zealand’s first public holiday that recognizes Te Ao Māori.
On June 24, Aotearoa will come together to remember those who came before us, share food, sing songs, tell stories and play music; connecting with our home and our whanau (family).
In Wānaka, Kahu Youth Matariki celebrations have taken place for many years and this year will be no different, with a huge community hangi, workshops, performances and a massive fireworks display. This will happen on the lakefront on Saturday, June 25.
The Matariki Glow Show will also happen on July 7, with magical glow-in-the-dark puppet characters that “edu-tain” the audience about Matariki.