PRESENTATION OUTLINE
A brief introduction to our book
What IS Matariki?
Matariki can be translated in two ways, Mata Riki (tiny eyes) or
Mata Ariki (eyes of God)
MATARIKI is the Maori
New Year, but also known as a very special cluster of seven
stars that holds many
legends behind it.
Once, the nights were pitch black,
and the people of the land were in terrible danger,
For there was an evil Taniwha who lived in the lake, and at night, he
would feast on the creatures who emerged.
Because of the lack of light and the lurking Taniwha, people were terrified to exit their homes at night.
At daylight, the Taniwha would slip back down into the lake.
During the time of the Taniwha, there was a young boy called Tamarereti. And one sunny day, he was very peckish. He checked his kete, but there was not a morsel of food left.
So Tamarereti decided to fish. After a while he had caught some tasty fish. He was very happy, until he realised the wind had extinguished. His waka could no longer sail. He decided to take a nice nap in his waka until the wind returned.
Many hours later, Tamarereti awoke. While he was dozing, his waka had beached itself
on the far side of the lake. He decided the best thing to do was to cook his dinner. Soon enough, night fell. Tamarereti knew that soon enough, the Taniwha would eat him, and he needed to get home quickly.
As he ate his kai, he noticed that the pebbles were glistening in the moonlight. An idea sprung to mind. He gathered as many pebbles as he could off the shore, and placed them in his waka.Then, he pushed off into the lake.
As Tamarereti sailed, he tossed the pebbles, one by one, into the sky, where the hung, shining in the night. Miraculously, his idea had worked. The light radiating off the pebbles had kept the Taniwha away. When he awoke the next morning, Ranginui, god of the sky, came to visit him.
Ranginui congratulated Tamarereti on making the sky more beautiful, and safe from the Taniwha. Some of the pebbles were most beautiful. Matarki stars.
