On 7 July we hosted a Matariki panel that explored how different cultures have understood the same stars in remarkably different ways, and sometimes surprisingly similar ways!
For Ngāi Tahu, the rising of Puanga signals the Māori New Year: a time for remembrance, reflection, and planning for the future. In the Graeco-Roman world, the Pleiades guided farming and navigation. In Japan, the same star cluster is known as Subaru, representing unity.
Peter Field summed it up perfectly: “we may fear not only death and taxes, but often we fear being alone. In a sense we’re not alone, we are together under one sky. It will be unity, not division, which makes the world go around.”
My thanks to Peter Field, Te Maire Tau, Enrica Sciarrino and Susan Bouterey for sharing their expertise, and to Naomi van den Broek and the team who helped bring it all together.
And thanks to the Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre for the excellent venue in the Great Hall, as always.
