As the stars of the Autumn season are sitting in the sky, the Auckland Stardome and Observatory are shining a light on the stars and their significance to Māori and the maramataka.
The Autumn season marks the beginning of the end of the Māori year, known as Ngā Whetū o Ngāhuru, the show facilitated by the Kairuruku Kaupapa Māori, Oriwa Karena-Lockyer. It dives into a Māori way of looking at the stars and their effects on nature in Aotearoa.
Karena-Lockyer says this show is a chance for people to see how the stars directly affect them in Aotearoa.
“I think that’s a special thing because it’s not imported from the other side of the world, it’s not a calendar system that was made in the northern hemisphere where everything flips upside down and the other way around. It’s for here, it’s from here, and I think that’s really valuable for us, for our whole country.”
Ngā Whetū o Ngahuru
During the Autumn season, stars such as paengawhāwhā, whānui and panitīnaku are visible in the night sky.
Migrations of birds such as the pīpīwharauroa, kuaka, and koekoeā migrate back to warmer areas of the world, with some travelling as far as the Middle East.
Furthermore, the end of the Ngahuru season marks the beginning of Matariki, the beginning of the Māori new year.
Karena-Lockyer says the show touches on pūrākau such as the separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, Rona and the moon and those relating to the stars and their origin from a Māori perspective.
“The way that we share our knowledge, we embed our scientific knowledge within our pūrākau. So, being able to share those stories and unravel what’s inside of them is really special. I think it’s a big moment for a lot of people to be able to unpack something they may have learnt as a child and add more layers to it.”
Te whakaaturanga
This is the second instalment of the show at the Auckland Stardome, having been made last year.
Creator of the show, Karena-Lockyer, says the show talks about the changing of seasons as we head into the winter period and the differences these changes bring.
She touches on the importance of harvesting crops as the Matariki arrives, and the connections the stars have to the environment.
“Not only is it cool to learn about the stars, but kind of learning, but being engrossed by everything that comes with it, like the connection of everything. The same way that the tohu and Ranginui to the whenua and the moana, they’re all connected. The hono that you make, learning just one aspect brings in so much more.”
