Qian Chengxi
As we are struggling with the three days of summer, on the other side of the globe, New Zealand Maori are celebrating their New Year.
Like many civilizations with ancient traditions, Māori have always used the lunar calendar. The New Year, known as Matariki, which means "Eye of God", is a cluster that rises in the night sky of the southern hemisphere after the winter solstice every year, and is also known as the "Pleiades Cluster" or "Seven Sisters Cluster".
During the year, in the last month of winter, the Pleiades cluster is not visible in the night sky due to its proximity to the sun, but when it begins to appear in the northeast direction of the night sky, the 9 stars in the cluster begin to shine, and Māori people know that the new year begins.
Matariki rises and the Maori New Year comes to Mark Russell
Stars and New Year's
This year's Māori New Year starts on 2 July, and like China, Māori New Year is not just a day, the whole New Year lasts for a while, and the celebration has three themes: commemorating those who passed away in the past year; thanking everything we have now; and making a wish to the stars, looking forward to the future, and looking forward to the new year.
"This is the theme that our ancestors followed, and they are also eternal. The outside world is ever-changing, and the way they are implemented may change, but the theme will never change. Rangi Mtmua, a New Zealand Māori astronomery expert, said.
Despite the long, dark nights of midwinter in the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand is steeped in a festive atmosphere. Following tradition, people come together to honor the dead, welcome new life, share kai, music (waiata), games (tākaro) and haka (māli war dances), as well as a tradition brought from Christian colonists – blowing conch shells.
Locals who take part in the celebrations
And in the whole celebration, the most important thing is to fly a kite. The Maori kite is called manu tukutuku or manu aute-manu, which can be translated as kite or bird, and another word is pākau, which means bird wings. Flying kites means the beginning of the Māori New Year, and Māori people also communicate with their deceased friends and relatives through kites that connect heaven and earth.
In Māori, Matariki is both the name of the entire cluster and the name of a bright star in the cluster, symbolizing the reflection on the present, the expectation for the future, the harmony with nature and the meeting of people. Maori tribes across New Zealand have different interpretations of the origin of Matariki, but there is a legend that when Papatūānuku, the mother of the earth, and Ranginui, the father of the sky, were forcibly separated, the wind god Tāwhirimātea was so angry that he tore off his eyes and threw them into the sky, and the eyes became Matariki.
Each star of the cluster has its own name in Māori figure EarthandSky
In addition to this, each shining star in the cluster has a special meaning in the Maori language: Pōhutukawa, which represents the person who has become a star. In the minds of maori people, the deceased becomes a star after his death and shines in the sky toward the earth; Tupuānuku, which stands for what grows in the soil for harvest or collection as food; Tupuārangi, which stands for things that come from the sky and grow on trees, such as birds, fruits on branches, and berries on trees; Waitī, which represents living water and the food sources it contains; Waitā, which represents the ocean and the food resources associated with it; Waipuna-ā-Rangi, Represents rain, hail, snow and other water sources that fall from the sky in winter; Ururangi is a star related to the wind; Hiwa-i-te-Rangi is a wishing star that can help us recognize and realize the hopes, dreams and inspirations of the coming year.
Therefore, looking up at the stars is an indispensable "show" in the Māori New Year. In Māori tradition, the visibility of the Pleiades cluster during the New Year's period predicts the harvest for the coming year. If the cluster is clearly visible, it means that the climate will be warm and grainy in the coming year. In addition, if matariki star is bright when it appears in the morning, then the season of warmth and harvest will arrive.
So, how do you find the Pleiades cluster in the sky? Before sunrise, look northeast to the horizon. Find the three small stars on orion's belt and from there extend a straight line north for a faint flash point that is about the same width as the Orion belt. This is the Pleiades Cluster.
Can you find the Pleiades on the horizon?
Although with the naked eye, only 9 stars in this cluster are flickering, it actually contains hundreds of stars. It is also one of the brightest clusters in the sky, although it is far away 443 million light-years away.
Guided by the stars
Maori have a long tradition of stargazing, and a thousand years ago, when their ancestors set out from Taiwan, they rowed canoes all the way south across the Pacific Ocean. During the long journey to New Zealand, they had no compass, no chart, and used the sun as a compass during the day and the coordinates of the stars and moons at night, especially Venus and Antarctica, to identify the way. A Polynesian legend tells that a ship was hit by a storm during its voyage, and the helmsman sang on the ship, but he prayed not for the calm of the wind and waves, but for the wind to blow away the clouds so that he could see the stars.
Maori ancestors on voyage Imaginary diagram
Modern New Zealand cultural researchers and navigators have done many experiments to test whether humans can sail such long distances by canoeing alone, relying on knowledge of ocean currents, creatures and astrology. And it turns out that this is feasible. In 1965, Cook Islands navigator Dr. Lee Vass sailed from Hawaii to New Zealand in a canoe, the Ocean Jet, without using any navigation equipment, through the monsoon changing sea, constantly adjusting direction by measuring changes in wind direction, and the landing site was only 26 kilometers away from the destination determined before departure.
In addition to major dates, the stars also guide Maori people in their daily lives. As mentioned earlier, Māori use a lunar calendar, and their lunar calendar is called Maramataka, which literally means the rotation of the moon. It marks the phases of the moon in a lunar month. A typical lunar month cycle lasts 29.53 days. And, every night there is a name. For example, Whiro is the first night of the new moon, Tirea is the second night, and so on, until Mutuwhenua, which is the last night.
Stargazing is a Maori tradition
In particular, Māori believe that each night has a different "utility", for example, it is suitable for fishing on Whiro night, Rākaunui night is not suitable for eel hunting, and at Atua night it is not suitable for finding any food. To this day, Māori people still maintain this belief.
As Māori culture has become increasingly influential in New Zealand's mainstream culture, more and more New Zealanders are identifying with the Māori New Year, with a 2017 survey finding that nearly 70% of New Zealanders know about Matariki, although many are not quite aware of what it means to Māori.
But next year, 2022, Matariki will be called New Zealand's official holiday for the first time, when the whole of New Zealand will be immersed in a warm and solemn celebration, and the traditional calendar it represents, and the unique Polynesian culture reflected in the calendar, will be known to more people.
Stargazing in New Zealand
Of course, this Maori tradition has been able to continue in New Zealand from generation to generation, thanks to New Zealand's unique stargazing conditions. As of February this year, there are 16 certified International Dark Sky Reserves and 12 International Dark Sky Sanctuaries around the world. New Zealand occupies three seats on this extremely demanding list.
Certified in 2012, the Oraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is the first and currently the only Dark Sky Reserve in the Southern Hemisphere. It is located in the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand's South Island, bordered by the Southern Alps to the west and the Two Thumb Range to the east, surrounded by majestic alpine beauty. Surrounded by mountains, the mirror-like lake reflects the entire sky.
As the first international dark sky reserve to receive a gold rating, it is called "zero light pollution". Since the 1980s, Oklakee Mackenzie has been strictly limited to light pollution, and today, the night sky is hardly damaged by any artificial light, which makes the night sky have the clearest starry sky in New Zealand.
As New Zealand's sixth largest island, Great Barrier Island is the third international dark sky protection belt in the world to be certified and the first island in the world to receive this certification. Māori call it "Aotea", which means white cloud. Because from a distance, it looks like a cloud floating on the horizon. The white cloud is the symbol of New Zealand, and according to legend, the maori ancestor Kupu led his people here to name the new Eden of white clouds as Aotearoa.
Great Barrier Island Figure Mark Russell
70% of the island is designated a nature reserve by the New Zealand government and is a haven for native plants and birds. Since there is no public power grid, there are no advertising light boxes and no street lights. The island's only 1,000 permanent residents rely on sunlight, wind or natural gas to generate electricity. It is precisely because there is no light pollution at all that the dazzling starry sky here is created.
In January 2020, Stewart Island was certified as the world's fifth international dark sky protection belt.
In fact, Maori people have long discovered the secrets of this starry sky on the island. Originally, the island's Maori name was Rakiura, which means "shining sky". Located at the southernmost tip of New Zealand, it is one of the best places in the world to observe the Aurora Australis. The island is inhabited by only 400 inhabitants, away from light pollution.
Editor-in-Charge: Ying Xu
Proofreader: Luan Meng