Welcome this morning to history. This is the first public celebration of an indigenous peoples’ holiday in the world. Matariki, sometimes referred to as the Maori New Year, has become a celebration for all New Zealanders. It centres on a cluster of stars that in the west were known as The Pleiades or Seven Sisters. They are 410 light years away and are part of the constellation Taurus.
The Maori named them after the brightest of nine stars called Matariki, the mother of the other eight. Each star is honoured for a specific thing.
Reading: The Skeleton of the Great Moa in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch
The skeleton of the great moa on iron crutches Broods over no great waste; a private swamp Was where this tree grew feathers once, that hatches Its dusty clutch, and guards them from the damp.
Interesting failure to adapt on islands, Taller but not more fallen than I, who come Bone to his bone, peculiarly New Zealand’s. The eyes of children flicker round this tomb
Under the skylights, wonder at the huge egg Found in a thousand pieces, pieced together But with less patience that’s the bones that dug In time deep shelter against ocean weather:
Not I, some child born in a marvellous year, Will learn the trick of standing upright here.
Allen Curnow, 1943
Musings: The art of walking upright here
Last week was Waitangi Day. Marking the signing on 6 February 1840 of Te tiriti o Waitangi. So it may seem as though today’s service is a week late. To adapt a Christmas poem:
“When the waiata on the marae is stilled, when the sound from the megaphone is gone, When the rangatira and the manuhiri are home, when the workers are back in their workplaces, Then the work of Waitangi begins”
The work of Waitangi is the work of all of us, no matter how much we feel we know or don’t know.
Ngā mihi nui to all the Unitarian Waitangi Day 2017 volunteers – here we are at Ngāti Whatua’s Okāhu Bay Celebration today – we were helping the recycling and composting team keep the event waste-free.
is an entertaining, colourful docu-drama about the days leading up to and including the signing of the treaty, revealing the incredible story and the characters behind the treaty’s creation. Now available at NZOnScreen.
