On the Eve of Matariki — with a Quote from Sarah Williams

The sun rises on a new year

Tomorrow is Matariki, which marks the traditional Maori new year, te Mātahi o te Tau, here in New Zealand. The festival takes its name, Matariki, from when the Matariki star cluster (also known as the Pleiades) reappears in the winter sky.

Matariki is a season of renewal, in which those who have passed on in the past year are remembered and ongoing life celebrated — but the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, goes into it more fully (and says it so much better ...