Matariki

For many New Zealanders, 31 December means parties and celebrations to welcome the New Year. These celebrations are an important way of marking the passage of time as well as heralding new beginnings. New Zealanders celebrate many New Years. Depending on your religion or ethnicity, New Year can come at different times of the year and be celebrated in many ways. For example, there is the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, the Muslim month of Muharram, and Rosh Hashanah, one of the most important religious holidays in the Jewish calendar. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means the ‘head of the year’. [|Matariki - the Pleiades (Te Ara)] Maori also have their own New Year, which is marked by the rise of Matariki (the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or The Seven Sisters) and the sighting of the next new moon. Like Chinese New Year (and the Christian festival of Easter), its exact timing varies from year to year, but it usually occurs during the month of June. Traditionally, Matariki was used to determine the coming season's crop. A warmer season, and therefore a more productive crop yield, was indicated by how bright the stars were. In recent years Matariki has been celebrated by many New Zealanders, Maori and non-Maori alike. It is becoming an increasingly important part of the New Zealand calendar. Matariki in 2012 begins on 21 June.
 * Matariki**

Other Cultures The Pleiades The Masai of East Africa saw the Pleiades above the horizon from September to mid- May. They knew that these 6 stars which stayed in a group like a herd of cattle, were visible during the rainy season. The Khoikhoi (Bushmen) referred to the Pleiades as the “rain stars.”(It is interesting to note that the Pleiades are so close to the Hyades, the rain stars of the ancient Greeks.) The Bantu saw the Pleiades in the shape of a plow. When the Pleiades rose just after sunset, it was time for digging, plowing and planting. The Taureg saw a flock of chickens when they looked at the Pleiades.

**Pleiades (Kungkarangkalpa) The Pleiades are an important group of stars which form the basis of a similar myth all across Australia. They represent a group of young women, seven sisters, who are pursued by Orion. In the desert communities, this is considered a woman myth, though the group of women have connection with many of the other ancestral beings belonging to men's business. In the desert area around Kalgoorlie, it is related that once the seven sisters decided to visit the Earth and flew down. They looked for their favourite plateau to land on; but found their landing-place covered with little men called Yayhart. They called to them to get out of the way, but they refused. The sisters finally landed upon another hill. The Yayart men saw where they landed and decided to capture them. The sisters ran off and eventually the men grew tired of the pursuit, except for one. He kept on following them and following them. At last one of the sisters left the group to find water. The man followed her. She found water and was drinking it when she heard the faint sound of a foot being placed carefully on the ground. She looked up, saw the Yayarr man, and raced off. He charged after her and finally caught her. She yelled and screamed. He picked up; a stick to quieten her and swung it. The woman jumped out of the way. He swung the stick again and again and missed and missed. The marks of his stick can still be seen on the side of a hill in that country. Finally, the woman escaped back to the hill where she and her sisters had landed. They had gone. She looked up into the sky, saw her six sisters there and rose to join them. The Yayarr man followed after and became Orion. ** **When the Pleiades are seen at dawn, it is said that this is a sign that the cold season is coming. See also //Aldebaran; Crow; Emu; Sirius;// //Two Men myth; Western Desert//.**