Ngāti Whātua are undertaking final preparations for tomorrow’s national Matariki hautapu ceremony at Takaparawhau (Bastion Point), Auckland – including what will be on the breakfast table.
Huia Hawke of Ngāti Whātua said they were preparing to feed around 500 people, a relatively smaller number than what her team of cooks have done before, but there’s a variety of foods on the breakfast menu.
"This here's like a nice orderly cool run, but like a big menu though, really big menu. The seafood, hāngī – and a reflection of where we are – Asian food and Pacific Island food."
She said there was also tītī (mutton bird), “boxes” of snapper fillets, pāua, kina, and crayfish that had arrived last night, driven up from Wellington.
"All that food that we ordinarily don't have through the year, so it gives you that lasting memory of Matariki, like, I'm not going to get this again, probably til Christmas."
Food is also an important part of the hautapu ceremony.
Different food types are associated with four stars – Waitī (food sourced from freshwater foods), Waitā (food sourced from the ocean), Tupuānuku (food of the ground), Tupuārangi (food aboveground) – in the Matariki cluster and are cooked as an offering to the stars.
The national holiday is a time for Kiwis to reflect and look to the year ahead. (Source: 1News)
Etienne Neho, who manages the tribe’s māra kai, said the offerings are to give thanks and hope for a prosperous year to come.
"Each of the different offerings that we're giving we're hoping to get back in abundance from those whetū (stars).
"So offering some of our best kumara, hopefully the next season's growth is even bigger and more abundant. Same with our ika, we hope that the numbers increase and the sizes are there. Same as our tuna, we've got more and more of the species coming back in and around the whenua too and being quite an urban area it's really, really awesome to see."
And despite there being a lot more "lights, cameras and action", he said preparations have been "pretty good" considering it’s their fifth year celebrating Matariki.
"We've gone out within this week and got in our tuna (eel) for Waitī, our tāmure (snapper) for Waitā. We've had our kūmara harvested, stored and curing for Tupuānuku, and we've got some lovely tītī for Tupuārangi, so everything has just kind of fallen into place and, you know, as we evolve and as we learn more, it's been easier to plan," said Neho.
The theme of this year’s celebrations is Matariki Herenga Waka – For Everyone, a play on the well-known Māori saying ‘Tāmaki herenga waka’ (Tāmaki the gathering place of waka) and a nod to Auckland’s slogan as the City of Sails. It also pays homage to the people who call the city home.
"That's something that really draws us together, and that's quite fitting to the theme of this year which is Matariki Herenga Waka, which is Matariki's for everyone," said Neho.
"That's pulling all different people from all different countries ethnicities all together to celebrate something that everyone can relate to.
"We've all got aspirations, we've all got people that we have lost in the last year, within the last week that we want to remember and send on, and I just think that it's something that is only going to evolve, it's only going to get bigger and stronger."
Professor Rangi Mātāmua, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's chief advisor on Matariki, said he’s elated that Matariki is helping the nation share in culture.
"Matariki is becoming an increasing part of our national identity in who we are because it's underpinned by these values that are so strong and so wonderful, like sharing and connectivity, and coming together, so I always get elated at this time of the year."
He said he’s always learning new things about Matariki. There are many different iwi narratives and more and more are coming forward with their kōrero, he said.
"There's more than one truth, and actually, the diversity in the stories and the narratives are not a weakness but actually a strength. They give us colour and flavour.
"So Matariki is about diversity as well, right? Different stars connected to different things, but they rise together as one during this time of year and it's a symbol for us that we should be doing that as well."
Ataahua Papa, creative director for Matariki ki te Manawa Festival, has led Matariki events in the city for ten years and said there is a lot more knowledge about Matariki now which non-Māori are embracing wholeheartedly.
"We've got a lot of non-Māori who are really, really up to date with what's happening with Matariki.
"There are these Pākehā people who will know Mr Rangi Mātāmua on sight where they might not have known him 20 years ago! But now he's a household name and a household face so the knowledge base for people especially on Matariki has grown."
She believes Matariki resonate with non-Māori because it’s a universal story.
"The stars are there, everybody can see them, they don't belong to any one iwi. They don't belong to any one group of people and all of us have our own Matariki story."
Mātāmua said there is no single person in the country or on the globe who does not descend from a culture that celebrates the stars in some way.
"They celebrate them around coming together, new year, honouring the dead, planting, harvesting - they have universal meanings.
"I encourage people to go to a hautapu ceremony and let yourself be immersed in culture that uplifts everyone, connects everyone, and this year's theme, Matariki Herenga Waka, from Tamaki Herenga Waka, the place where so many layers of migration, have come in and moored their canoes. Moor your canoe to Matariki and celebrate it as it rises because it connects all of us."
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