Matariki

Matariki, a group of 7 stars, can be seen in the north-east sky. People call it by many names like ‘Mother with 6 daughters’, ‘The 7 sisters’, and  ‘Gods eye’. Interestingly, it only appears in the last few days of May and can last for 3 days. These cluster of stars is important in the olden days because it signals the people that the winter is coming and they need to start to gather and preserve the crops. Nowadays, Matariki is still important because it gathers the whanau and remembers their ancestors who had passed away.