Baptist Te Pouarataki mō te Hīkoi Luke Kaa-Morgan asked three Baptist Māori what Matariki means to them and their whānau and what they’ll be doing to acknowledge this season. We’ve also shared a link to a new documentary produced by Shine TV, which, through commentary from theologian Dr Brad Haami and church leaders, explores how Christian communities could navigate the celebrations and complexities of this season.
Ruth Clarke
Growing up in a Māori church community, being educated at a Kura Kaupapa and being very connected to marae life was a privilege and blessing for me. However, the knowledge around Matariki wasn’t as accessible as it is now. I appreciate this season as an opportunity to gather and connect as a whānau. We haven’t got too many traditions, but we are grateful for a season of rest, to hang out together and kai tahi (eat). This year, we’re particularly remembering a close family member who passed away, and doing this is also a part of the Matariki traditions. As a whānau, we look forward to the new year ahead with thanks to God for the many blessings we have experienced.
James Kaa-Morgan
I am participating in a Hautapu in the Coromandel, a ceremony that welcomes the Māori new year. Matariki is the season to reset, restart and face a new year in an indigenous way that is authentic to my identity. As a Christian, I am reconnecting to ancestral ways of knowing and being, which strengthens my relationship with our stars, our waters, our land, and our people. Mānawatia a Matariki.
Te Rangiaruaru Hema
Our whānau have a Matariki book. We have a section for our loved ones who have passed away during the year, and we place a photo of them in the book as we lovingly remember them and acknowledge our grief and loss. We have a thanksgiving space where we write things that we’ve been thankful to God for; we count our blessings as a family and place these in our book. Our future section contains our dreams, our visions, and our hopes as we look forward to the year ahead in a prayerful way. This is a meaningful book to our whānau.
We’ll have a celebration kai and join our church whānau as we celebrate this season together.
A special moment will be going out before dawn to see the Matariki constellation in the early morning sky. Ngā mihi o te wā.
Click here to watch God within Matariki, a new 30-minute documentary produced by Shine TV.
Image credit: Fraser Gunn, Science Learning Hub – Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao, The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato, www.sciencelearn.org.nz
