Source: New Zealand Government
Tēnei au te tāpae nei ki te aroaro o te Whare te tauākī ā-ture o Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki / Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill.
E mōtini ana au kia pānui tuatahitia Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki / Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill i tēnei wā. E tautapa ana au i te Komiti Take Māori kia whakaaroaro i te Pire ka whakahoki kōrero mai i mua i te 10 o Poutūterangi 2022.
Nōku te hōnore nui ki te whakatakoto i tētahi Pire ki te Whare ka whakatū i tētahi hararei tūmatanui hei whakanui i a Matariki – Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki.
Kei te taonga hou i whakairohia e te mātanga, nau mai.
I haere mai koe i te ao o Puanga
I te huihui o Matariki
I a Pareārau, i a Poutūterangi.
Ka mutu, e hine, e tama, ngā whetū homai kai ki Aotearoa
E ngākau whakahī ana tātou o Aotearoa i tō tātou mōhio ko wai tātou, i tā tātou tū mō tā tātou i whakapono ai, me te āhua o tā tātou raranga tahi i ētahi ao, ētahi ahurea kē ki te waihanga i tō tātou tuakiri ā-motu motuhake.
Kei te mārama te Pire, me ngā tikanga whakatū hararei tūmatanui hou. E kī ana te Pire ka tū tētahi Hararei Tūmatanui mō Matariki, e kī ana āhea tū ai, ka whakahou anō i te tikanga o te rā mahi me te rā pakihi rere noa i ētahi atu ture maha tonu.
Heoi, ko te mea hiranga katoa, ko te poua hōhonutia o ngā kōrero o te Pire ki te mātauranga Māori.
Nō reira, nō mātou te waimarie nui i arahina mātou e Te Rōpū Arataki o Matariki, tētahi kāhui mātanga rongonui o Aotearoa mō ngā mātauranga e pā ana ki a Matariki me te maramataka Māori.
E reorua ana te katoa o te Pire, kua tuhia ki te reo Māori me te reo Ingarihi – he mea nui tēnei ki te whakamihi i te takea mai o Matariki i te tūāpapa o te reo Māori. Ko te tuarima noa tēnei o ngā ture reorua o tō tātou whenua, me taku ngākau whakahī ki te tāpai ki te aroaro o te Whare i te wā ki a Mahuru Māori.
E te Māngai, e kore e takoto te Pire nei ki te kore Te Rōpū Arataki o Matariki. Ka nui tō mātou waimarie i ngā kupu ārahi a ngā tohunga Māori rangatira o te kaupapa nei –
Ko Rereata Mākiha tēnā, nō Muriwhenua me Te Arawa – he mahi nui e kitea ai tētahi nui atu ōna mātauranga mō te pūnaha maramataka, tēnā i a Rereata.
Tokorua ngā kaiwhakatere moana e noho kaihautū ana i roto i ēnei mahi – ko Jack Thatcher tēnā, nō Tauranga rāua ko Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, o Tainui. Inā te nui o ā rāua wheako whakatere i te au moana, ka nui tō rāua mōhio ki te rangi i te pō.
Ko Victoria Campbell o Kai Tahu anō tēnā, he kairangahau, he mātanga ki te tātai arorangi me ngā maramataka whetū.
Ko Tākuta Ruakere Hond o Parihaka hoki tēnā, e mārama pū ana ki te mātauranga Māori o nehe, ko ia, hoki tētahi ka kōrero mō te aranga o Puanga.
Ko Tākuta Pauline Harris o Kahungunu tēnā, ko ia, anake te kaimātai ahupūngao arorangi Māori o te ao.
Ka huri ki a Ahorangi Rangi Mātāmua, te toihau o te rōpū, te tohunga kōkōrangi o te ao Māori, ka hia taunei e takahi ana i te motu o Aotearoa ki te kauhau me te tuku i ōna mātauranga mō Matariki me te maramataka.
Kei aku rangatira, ka rere aku mihi nui ki a koutou.
He kāhui whetū a Matariki ka noho matua mai ki ētahi iwi maha hei tohu i te taka o te wā. He tohu nui hoki a Matariki ki ō tātou tuākana rere i Te Moananui-a-Kiwa mō te taka o te wā, ko ētahi o ā rātou kupu mō te kāhui ko Mataliki, ko Matali’i, ko Matari’i, ko Makali’i.
Ahakoa ko Matariki te whetū taiahoaho katoa o te kāhui, arā atu anō ētahi e hiranga tonu ana. Ahakoa hoki te rerekē o ngā whakaaro ki te rahi tūturu o ngā whetū kei te kāhui, e whakarongo ana a Tākuta Mātāmua i te rangi nei, nō reira me kī au e iwa!
- Waitī – ko ia te whetū o te wai māori me ōna tini katoa
- Waitā – ko ia te whetū mō ngā kai ka kohia i te wai tai
- Waipunarangi – e hono ana ki te ua
- Tupuānuku – e hono ana ki ngā kai mai i te whenua
- Tupuārangi – e hono ana ki ngā kai kei te kāuru o te rākau
- Ururangi – e hono ana ki te ao urutapu me ngā hau
- Pōhutukawa – ko ia ka hono i a Matariki ki te hunga kua whetūrangitia
- Ko te whetū e tata ana ki te ngākau o taku whānau, ko Hiwa-i-te-rangi, te whetū e tukuna atu ai ō tātou wawata, te whetū i tapaina ai taku tamāhine.
Kāore i māmā te tohu i tētahi rā kotahi hei whakanui i te hararei tūmatanui o Matariki – inā rā, he wā kē a Matariki, ehara i te rangi kotahi!
I kī mai tā mātou Rōpū Arataki kia arohia ake te Hararei Tūmatanui o Matariki i te Rāmere tata katoa ki te wā ki a Tangaroa i te marama o Pipiri. I te kore e hāngai pū o te maramataka Māori ki te maramataka Gregorian, ka paku neke te rā, haere he tau, haere he tau – he rite ki te Aranga.
Ko te Hararei Tūmatanui o Matariki te wā e aro ai tātou ā-motu nei ki te whakanui i te mātahi o te tau. Ehara tērā i te kī ake, koia tūturu te rā e arohia ai e te iwi te huringa o te tau, kei tēnā iwi, kei tēnā rohe, kei tēnā hapū me tēnā whānau te tikanga mō te wā e whakanui ai rātou i te tīmatanga o tō rātou tau.
Ko te mea nui o te Pire nei, ko te āta tohu i te rā kotahi o te tau, e noho ai ko te mātahi o te tau te kaupapa hei whakanui mā te katoa o Aotearoa.
Ko te tūmanako, ia ka mahara ake tātou ki ētahi tikanga e toru o Matariki:
- Te mahara ake me te whakanui i te hunga kua riro, mai i te aranga ake o Matariki i te tau o mua atu;
- Te whakanui i ēnei rā me te huihui tahi ki te whakamoemiti mō ngā painga kei a tātou;
- Te titiro whakamua ki ngā painga ka kawea mai e te tau hou.
E mōhio ana mātou kāore e tukua noatia a Matariki me ngā mātauranga mōna. Kia mārama taku kupu, kei te iho o te Pire nei, ko te ngākau pūmau ki te hononga o ngāi Māori me te Karauna, mō te āhua ki te whakamahi, te tuku, te whakatairanga me te āta tiaki i te mātauranga Māori.
He mea nui hoki te āta whakatinana i te Hararei Tūmatanui o Matariki i runga i te kauanuanu. E ngākau pūmau ana tō mātou kāwanatanga ki te tautoko i te rerekētanga o te whakanui i a Matariki me te mātahi o te tau, i tēnā me tēnā rohe, ka mahi tahi mātou ki te iwi Māori e taea ai tēnei, i mua o te Hararei Tūmatanui o Matariki tuatahi, ka tū ā te 24 o Pipiri o tērā tau.
E te Māngai, he takahanga whakamua hiranga te Pire nei mō Aotearoa ki te whakatau i ngā āhuatanga o mua, e hīkoi whakamua ai tātou ki tō tātou anamata hei iwi o te ao hou o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
Kī pai ana taku ngākau i te tūmanako mō tō tātou tuakiri ā-motu e tipu tonu nei, me te rikarika anō kia kite i ngā iwi o Aotearoa e pārekareka ana i tētahi mutunga wiki roa ki ngā hoa me te whānau i raro i te karu matatū o Matariki.
Matariki hunga nui – Matariki whakakotahi i a tātou. Mā te Pire nei e pērā ai. Ka tāpaea i konei te Pire ki te Whare.
Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill
I present to the House a legislative statement on Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki / Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill.
I move that Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki / Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the Bill and report back by 10 March 2022.
It’s my honour to introduce to this House a Bill that will establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki – Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill.
(Addressing the Bill itself)
To our new treasure fashioned by experts, welcome.
You came from the realm of Puanga
From the assembly of Matariki
From Jupiter, from Poutūterangi.
These alone, my daughter, my son, are the stars which provide food at Aotearoa.
As New Zealanders we are proud of who we are, what we stand for, and the way we weave together different worlds and cultures to create our unique national identity.
The Bill itself, and the mechanics of establishing a new public holiday, are pretty clear. The Bill tells us we’ll have a Matariki Public Holiday, it tells us when that holiday will be, and it amends the definition of working day and business day across a very large number of other pieces of legislation.
Significantly though, the content of the Bill has been deeply grounded in mātauranga Māori.
To this end we are fortunate to have been guided by a Matariki Advisory Group, made up of some of Aotearoa’s foremost experts in the mātauranga associated with Matariki and the maramataka.
The Bill is entirely dual language, written in both te reo Māori and English – which is an important acknowledgement of the fact Matariki derives from a te reo Māori language base. This is just our country’s fifth piece of dual language legislation and I am proud to see it introduced to the House during Mahuru Māori.
Mr Speaker, this Bill wouldn’t have been possible without the Matariki Advisory Group We have been incredibly fortunate to have been guided by the premier Māori experts in this space –
We have Rereata Mākiha from the Far North and Te Arawa – you would be hard-pressed to find someone with a greater knowledge of the maramataka than Rereata,
We have two navigators that are leaders in this space – Jack Thatcher from Tauranga and Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr from Tainui. They have epic voyaging experiences and knowledge of the night sky.
Victoria Campbell of Kai Tahu is a researcher and expert in Māori astronomy and stellar lunar calendars.
Dr Ruakere Hond from Parihaka has a deep understanding of Māori traditional knowledge and, importantly, is a proponent of the rising of Puanga.
Dr Pauline Harris of Kahungunu is the only Māori astrophysicist in the world.
And then we have Professor Rangi Matamua chairing the group, who is a leading indigenous astronomer and, importantly, has spent several years travelling up and down Aotearoa giving public lectures sharing his knowledge of Matariki and the maramataka
Kei aku rangatira, ka rere aku mihi nui ki a koutou.
Matariki is a cluster of stars that many iwi across Aotearoa look to as a key marker of time. Matariki is also used as an important marker of time and seasons by our tuakana across Te Moananui ā Kiwa and is known to them by various names such as Mataliki, Matali’i, Matari’i and Makali’i.
While Matariki is the brightest star in the cluster, there are several others that it’s important to take note of too. And although there are differing views on the exact number of stars within the cluster, Dr Mātāmua will be listening today so I had better say there are nine!
- Waitī is associated with freshwater and water creatures
- Waitā is associated with food harvested from the sea
- Waipunarangi is associated with the rain
- Tupuānuku is associated with food from the ground
- Tupuārangi is associated with food found in the tops of the trees
- Ururangi is associated with nature and the winds
- Pōhutukawa connects Matariki to those who have passed
- And of special significance to my whānau, Hiwa-i-te-rangi, the wishing star that we send our dreams and desires to, and the name I gave to my own tamāhine.
Finding a single day on which to celebrate a Matariki Public Holiday is no easy feat – if not least because Matariki is a period, not a day!
Our Advisory Group told us the Matariki Public Holiday should be observed on the Friday closest to the Tangaroa phase of the lunar month of Pipiri. Because the maramataka and our Gregorian calendar aren’t neatly aligned, this date will shift around slightly each year – much like Easter.
The Matariki Public Holiday is when we will stop as a nation to celebrate te mātahi o te tau. But that of course does not mean that that’s when people have to observe the marking of the year as, undoubtedly, different iwi, different regions, different hapū and different whānau will make their own decisions as to when they acknowledge the beginning of their year.
Importantly though, this Bill is ensuring that, for at least one day a year, the kaupapa of te mātahi o te tau is celebrated by all New Zealanders.
And when we do take the time to celebrate this new public holiday, it’s my hope that we will all remember that Matariki is about three key things:
- Remembering and honouring those who we have lost since the last rising of Matariki;
- Celebrating the present and gathering to give thanks for what we have; and
- Looking to the future and to the promise of a new year.
We acknowledge that Matariki and mātauranga Matariki is not shared lightly. I want to be clear that at the heart of the Bill is a strong commitment to the Māori Crown relationship in respect of using, sharing, promoting and safekeeping mātauranga Māori.
It is critical that the Matariki Public Holiday is successfully implemented in a respectful way. Our government is committed to supporting regionally diverse recognition of Matariki and te mātahi o te tau and will work with iwi Māori to enable this to happen in advance of the inaugural Matariki Public Holiday on 24 June next year.
Mr Speaker this Bill is an important step forward for Aotearoa in reconciling our past and stepping forward into the future as a modern, Pacific nation.
I am filled with great hope about our evolving national identity and look forward to seeing the people of Aotearoa enjoying a long weekend with friends and whānau under the watchful eye of Matariki.
Matariki hunga nui – Matariki brings us together. May this Bill do just that. I commend this Bill to the House.
