Matariki 2025: Whanganui and Ruapehu to feature on national stage in Puanga celebrations
Whanganui Regional Museum Māori educator Waiora Marama will share more about Matariki and Puanga at an event with Whanganui Women's Network. Photo / Karen Hughes, Whanganui Regional Museum
The theme of Matariki this year is Matariki mā Puanga, making it an extra significant year for Whanganui, Ruapehu and nearby areas.
Puanga is also known as Rigel, the brightest star in the Orion constellation, which rises at the same time as the Matariki constellation.
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Otago Daily Times
7 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Another year in the life
Orokonui's takahē whānau is spreading its wings, Madison Kelly writes. The emergence of Puaka and Matariki in the night sky mark a period of change. Indicators of seasonal shifts and the incoming Māori new year, they compel us to look back, in preparation for the future. While colder months encourage us towards rest and reflection, our native birdlife is increasingly busy securing territories, mates and kai. The winter hustling of manu can be deceptively subtle. Peeping calls of kakaruai in the distance. A miromiro flitting past, beak full of nest-insulating lichen. Elsewhere in the sanctuary, certain pre-nesting agendas are more blatant. Throughout the grasslands, large clumps of disrupted earth pepper the ground. Neatly snipped toetoe lies in mysterious piles. Tussocks seem to bend at strange angles, compressed into miniature archways and domes. These industrious interventions are the work of takahē, who live under the care of Orokonui and the Department of Conservation's National Takahē Recovery Programme. Noticing signs of takahē browsing and nesting is an ecological treat. For many visitors, a journey in the valley may be their first and only chance to observe a wild environment complete with these mighty endemic swamp hens. Presumed extinct until their 1948 rediscovery in the Murchison Mountains, the resilient manu now number about 500 birds. These taoka live across a sparse but growing selection of sanctuary and wild sites throughout Aotearoa, first arriving at Orokonui in 2012. Recovery work begun 75 years ago saved the species from demise. Luckily, recent milestones at Orokonui point towards a more hopeful future for takahē. In the upper grasslands, a whānau of four are thriving. A recent visit from Doc saw positive health checks for both the breeding pair, Waimarie and Bennett, and their two juveniles, who also received their bands. The unique band combinations will act as visual identifiers for the rest of the juveniles' lives. The title for most surprising health check was undoubtedly claimed by the older of the two siblings, who weighed in at a hefty 2.8kg, already heavier than their mother Waimarie. Such results speak to Waimarie and Bennett's remarkable parenting, having successfully hatched nine chicks since their 2020 Orokonui translocation. Their capacity for chick-raising has been boosted by older offspring like Ihaka, one of three chicks from Summer 2023. Ihaka lived at Orokonui for a full year to help feed and care for his younger siblings. This year, he became the first Orokonui-born takahē to move directly into the wild. While many young takahē spend time honing their wild skills at Doc's Burwood Bush before release elsewhere, Ihaka graduated straight from the upper grasslands and joined a cohort in the Rees Valley, one of two wild sites on Ngāi Tahu land established in the past two years. Fitted with GPS tracking, information about Ihaka's movements and life in his new home will contribute to our growing understanding of wild takahē and their conservation. At Orokonui, supplementary plantings of haumata (tussock) — protected from browsing beaks by chicken wire cages — are now filling out open sections of pasture grass, getting ready to sustain incoming chicks and prepare them with vital foraging skills for their future departures. Of course, with departures come arrivals. At the valley floor, a new pair are finding their feet. Jessie, hailing from Burwood Bush, and Bounty, from Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary, bring the Orokonui population to six. While there's hope this young duo may one day raise their own chicks, their present task is adjusting to life on the east coast. Visitors walking the Robin Valley track are asked to give the young couple plenty of space while they take their time to settle. In many ways, Jessie and Bounty's arrival is perfectly timed for this turn in the year. Among new plans and new wishes for takahē we find a moment to reflect on their legacy in the sanctuary. Most recently, the lower valley site functioned as a retirement block for Orokonui's oldest takahē, Paku and Quammen. The pair lived the last 11 years of their lives at Orokonui and were impressive foster parents. Their first foster chick, Kotahi, later fathered our upper grassland's own Bennett. With each new season, the whakapapa and stories of these charismatic taoka become more richly woven. Ongoing work focused on takahē advocacy, sanctuary biosecurity, and developing our takahē friendly habitat are vital parts of the story. With the help of mana whenua, Orokonui staff, volunteers, and local supporters, together we can look forward to discovering how (and where) future takahē may roam. Madison Kelly is head kaiārahi/guide at Te Korowai o Mihiwaka Orokonui Ecosanctuary.
Otago Daily Times
17 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Back to basics for star celebration
Teacher Jessie Reynolds helps Arrowtown Preschool tamariki prepare vege soup for Monday's Matariki celebration. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Arrowtown's Matariki celebrations will have a more homespun feel than in recent years. In a return to its origins as an Arrowtown Preschool event, the preschool's teamed up with the township's primary school and kōhanga reo group to hold a low-key celebration for children and their families this coming Monday. Preschool manager Jane Foster says all the tamariki have spent the past week or so investigating one of the nine stars of the Matariki cluster. "Each class or group have taken a star and designed an art piece around that." The children will come together at the primary school to show off the fruits of their artistic labours, with their whanau invited to come along at 3pm. There'll then be an official opening by local te ao Māori authority Cory Ratahi and kapa haka performances. There'll also be a hangi, sausages, hot chocolate, chips and s'mores, and the Matariki-inspired art will be exhibited in the school hall, Foster says. As revealed by Scene in March, the preschool held a Matariki celebration for many years, but handed it over to the Arrowtown Promotion and Business Association in 2022 when increasingly onerous council requirements made the event too big for its volunteers to manage. However, the association offered it back to the preschool last year after the costs of meeting those requirements — such as fencing, toilets, first aid, security, and waste and carbon mileage tracking — reached the point where it decided it would need to start charging an entry fee.
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Aroha/Te Aroha And Ariki/Te Ariki Top Māori Baby Names Of 2024/2025
The Department of Internal Affairs, Te Tari Taiwhenua, has released the most popular Māori baby names for 2024/2025. For the third consecutive year, Aroha/Te Aroha/Te-Aroha/TeAroha (173) topped the list for kōtiro (girls), while Ariki/Te Ariki/Āriki/te Ariki (137) remained the most popular name for tāne (boys). Rounding out the top five names for kōtiro were: Maia/Māia/Te Māia, Moana/Te Moana, Anahera/Te Anahera and Atarangi/Te Atarangi/Te Ataarangi/Te-Atarangi. For tāne, the top five includes Wiremu, Koa, Mikaere and Rangi/Te Rangi/te Rangi/te rangi/Te-Rangi. 'Each name tells a story. It's a reflection of whakapapa, identity, and the hopes whānau hold for their tamariki,' says Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Russell Burnard. Burnard also highlighted the care taken in compiling the list. 'We approach the creation of the Māori baby names list with deep respect and cultural responsibility. Each name is carefully reviewed to ensure it aligns with te reo Māori conventions—right down to the structure of vowels and consonants, and the presence of macrons. 'Our process includes consultation with kaumātua and final review by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. Through this collaboration we aim to honour the mana of Māori names.' The first and middle names featured in this list were registered with Department of internal Affairs, Te Tari Taiwhenua between 1 July 2024 and 18 June 2025. These dates align with the Tangaroa lunar calendar period associated with Matariki, as advised by the Matariki Advisory Committee. Department of internal Affairs, Te Tari Taiwhenua has published a list of the top Māori baby names since 2013. 2022/2023 was the first year that this list was released to coincide with Matariki, the Māori New Year. To view the top full list of Māori baby names from 2024/2025, 2023/2024, and 2022/2023, visit the SmartStart website:
