"Ko te hauptapu e rite ki te kai nā Matariki!"
Matariki. Te Iwa o Matariki. Mānawatia a Matariki. Matariki hunga nui. Matariki ahunga nui. Te Mātahi o te tau. Te tauhou Māori. The Māori new year. Matariki mā Puanga. Hautapu. Umu kohukohu. Celebrating being Māori. A day off mahi. Long weekend. All of that...
For me it was, is and always will be Matariki ki te whenua. Not so much worrying about Matariki up in the sky, probably because my needs are different from my tipuna. I'm not about to sail across the ocean navigating by the stars, but I am about what is happening on the whenua so I can manage my livelihood and be prosperous and all of that. So, the tohu taiao at all times of the year, not just the stars at Te Mātahi o te Tau, are what we live by.
Living by tohu taiao is how my whānau have practiced our tikanga for generations. If I'm being honest, it's mostly about mahinga kai - our whole life is based around mahi kai in the different seasons. From where we live, be that our primary or second or third, primary dwelling, to what we do to make a living - it's all based around our kai lifestyle, be it hunting, foraging, gathering or growing.
The older generation, Nan and Pāpā did it - we always had gardens for africa, shore main shear in both the north and south islands, having a winter home and a summer home. Toko kina were always sweeter than Southland ones and the number 8 wire craypot making thingee was a standout memory (as well as soft shell crayfish time).
Then Dad's turn - more gardens, more moving around, living up the Coast and then relocating to the Te Moana Nui a Toi for seasonal orchard mahi and then down to Hawkes Bay for more seasonal kai cropping durrs as well as the many takahanga waewae o ngā tīpuna kai gathering trips, especially the ones keeping us connected to our mothers Ngāi Tahu heritage, in between.
And now our generation - Parengo picking season and ordering tītī buckets are prominent highlights on our calendar, as well as winter kina spots, maomao running up Matakaoa, the roar (which happens at different times in different rohe), all the months that don't have an r in them when the turkey's are fat and of course goose egg season for both the eggs and smashing the rotten ones to catch fat tuna as well.
But all in all, gardens is what actually stands out in all three generations for me - we always have pumping kai gardens. I must admit, nowadays, it's mostly my man that does the gardens - he has the green fingers, I'm more of a keep the house clean and the kids alive sort of mum. The tennis court that is currently a chook pen, has been dug up a few times in the 15 years we've been there. Spuds, kumara, water melons, peas, cabbages and beans have all featured at sometime. But the need to downsize as we got busier with the money making mahi has slowly turned the garden into a few small seasonal delights. Still though, kai really is at the center of our universe.
So anyway, back to Matariki - I love that whānau are reinvigorating the long lost (or maybe not so lost, just dormant or not overly advertised), practices of tikanga and kawa around Matariki. I do question the "fad" or "hundy-ness" of it all though. Maybe when I'm not so busy worrying about my own self I'll have a proper internal wānanga about it and figure out why I can never get up at silly oclock in the freezing cold to go and do the karanga, karakia and umu kohukohu to feed the stars.
Admittedly though, there's something about the tapu-ness of karakia and those cold, dark times in the small hours that sets my tipuna senses off and spins me out a little bit. There's a little tekoteko on my shoulder that says, "that's the burying tūpāpāku time or the time to go into Te Pō". The joys of being brought up by a Ringatū Nan, and a spook at that, I suppose.
Matariki this year be like: two tangi, a rugby game, a budget review, audit questionnaires, moko duties, including being rung up every hour for the one in undies training that lives down in Hawkes Bay, shooting missions for a hunting comp and a fricken union delegate meeting that I clean forgot about on Sunday night. So really just another extremely busy long weekend that I come out the other side (Sunday night at 7pm) thinking, "Gahhhhhd daayyyuuum that was full-on!" And actually, I'm not sure if I like the public holiday weekends cause I don't actually get a holiday!
But anywho...
"Starlight, star bright, all the stars we see at night, wish I may, wish I might get all the wishes I wish for tonight!" And my only wish is that I hope all my moko's are warm and toastie and that all my whānau and friends are remembering to rest and look after themselves in these freezing times!
"Ko te hauptapu e rite ki te kai nā Matariki!" my fav part of that haka bleh!
Te Riu Raihania
Canaan Akuhata-Brown - @canaan_ab
