YOUR MATARIKI KETE

Includes a Learn about competition and pull-out Matariki. How do you poster. find it in the sky and why is it important? EDITION PRIMARY WHAT IS MATARIKI?

Ururangi Matariki is Merope a cluster of stars in the Waipuna-ā-rangi Tupu-ā-rangi Atlas Electra Matariki constellation Alcyone Taurus. There are about Hiwa-i-te-rangi a thousand Celaeno Tupu-ā-nuku Pleione stars in Waitī Maia Matariki but Waitā only some Taygeta can be seen Pōhutukawa Sterope with the naked eye.

THERE ARE WHAKATAUKĪ THAT SAY THE BRIGHTER Puanga (Rigel) WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? THE STARS OF MATARIKI is used by some For many iwi, Matariki resets the SHINE, THE WARMER THE iwi to mark Māori Māori calendar (Maramataka). COMING SEASON WOULD BE New Year instead Before there were calendars, people FOR GROWING CROPS. of Matariki. would use the Moon to set the months and the Sun to mark the seasons. The cycle of the Moon around Earth (lunar cycle) doesn’t fit evenly into the cycle of Earth around the Sun (solar cycle). Each MATARIKI year, the Moon cycle is around 11 days – the eyes of Tāwhirimātea shorter than the solar cycle, meaning Tāwhirimātea (Atua of the wind) is almost always that after 12 months there are still about watching over Papatūānuku (earth mother) as Matariki 11 days until Earth returns to the same can be seen throughout most of the year. But then, just position in its orbit around the Sun. before mid-winter, Matariki hides behind Tamanuiterā Stars can be used to reset the calendar (the Sun), and we can no longer see these eyes looking

because they appear in the same place down on us. This is when it is the coldest and darkest at the same time every year. When you time of the year. When we can just see Matariki at

see Matariki rising in the north east sunrise, we know that the Sun will start staying in the

at early dawn, you’ll know the sky for longer, the days will become warmer, and it is

Maramataka will soon be reset and time to celebrate the festival of Matariki. a new year begins again. The Matariki Festival is observed by many iwi during the phases of the moon known as Tangaroa, the phases of plenty. The Tangaroa phases occur in the week MATARIKI, ALSO KNOWN AS THE PLEIADES, IS leading to Whiro, the new moon and the DOMINATED BY BLUE STARS WHICH ARE SCORCHING.

beginning of Maramataka Māori. THEY ARE MUCH HOTTER THAN OUR SUN! This is why Māori New Year happens on different days every year. HOW TO FIND

MATARIKI AUCKLAND NORTH-EASTERN DAWN SKY LATE JUNE / BEFORE SUNRISE

Matariki is visible most of the year except in late autumn when it is too close to the Sun. In New Zealand it rises in the north-east and

sets in the north-west, travelling across the northern sky in between. This movement, as with all other stars, is not caused by the

stars themselves moving but by Earth turning, making it appear to move across the sky. Matariki appears further and further PUANGA away from the eastern horizon as RIGEL the year goes on until it sets again – keep looking for it using this method. 1 2

MATARIKI PLEIADES TAUTORU ORION’S BELT

2 Follow a line 1 To find through the three Matariki, stars of Tautoru look for towards north and Orion’s belt. you will see a small cluster of stars. You’ve found Matariki! The star cluster can be seen all around the world, so it has many diff erent names, like: ASTRONOMERS ESTIMATE The Pleiades Greece THE CLUSTER WILL SURVIVE The Seven Sisters Greece FOR ABOUT ANOTHER 250 Subaru Japan MILLION YEARS BEFORE ALL The six wives of the six sages Tamil THE STARS DRIFT APART. FROM Seven chickens Thailand Matali’I Samoan MATARIKI Astronomers call Matariki Messier45 JUPITER OUR SOLAR SYSTEM Pareārau The Matariki star cluster becomes hidden for about a month VENUS in late autumn due to Earth’s changing perspective as it Kōpū orbits the Sun. The stars are hidden behind the Sun from our point of view in the month of May, and appear again in our morning sky in the month of June.

SUN Tamanuiterā

MERCURY MOON Marama Apārangi Matariki can be seen from almost every single spot EARTH on Earth. Papatūānuku

MARS Matawhero

The stars in Matariki were NEPTUNE formed around Tangaroa SATURN 100 million years Rongo ago – that’s URANUS only 1/50th Whērangi the age of THE PLEIADES IS SOMETIMES CALLED ‘THE SEVEN SISTERS’ our Sun! BECAUSE OF THEIR CLOSE PROXIMITY TO ONE ANOTHER.

Not to scale. STARDOME.ORG.NZ The star cluster can be seen all around the world, so it has many diff erent names, like: ASTRONOMERS ESTIMATE The Pleiades Greece THE CLUSTER WILL SURVIVE The Seven Sisters Greece FOR ABOUT ANOTHER 250 Subaru Japan MILLION YEARS BEFORE ALL The six wives of the six sages Tamil THE STARS DRIFT APART. FROM Seven chickens Thailand Matali’I Samoan MATARIKI Astronomers call Matariki Messier45 JUPITER OUR SOLAR SYSTEM Pareārau The Matariki star cluster becomes hidden for about a month VENUS in late autumn due to Earth’s changing perspective as it Kōpū orbits the Sun. The stars are hidden behind the Sun from our point of view in the month of May, and appear again in our morning sky in the month of June.

SUN Tamanuiterā

MERCURY MOON Marama Apārangi Matariki can be seen from almost every single spot EARTH on Earth. Papatūānuku

MARS Matawhero

The stars in Matariki were NEPTUNE formed around Tangaroa SATURN 100 million years Rongo ago – that’s URANUS only 1/50th Whērangi the age of THE PLEIADES IS SOMETIMES CALLED ‘THE SEVEN SISTERS’ our Sun! BECAUSE OF THEIR CLOSE PROXIMITY TO ONE ANOTHER.

Not to scale. STARDOME.ORG.NZ This activity can be scaled up or down. Explore ACTIVITIES your writing skills during the development of your digital artwork, experiment with various art supplies, or research facts on certain galaxies or nebulae to include in your work. We’ve SPACE simply given you a few ideas to get started but run wild ART with the project! Combine art, digital technology, science and writing into one hands-on fun activity.

YOU'LL NEED • Art supplies – either chalk pastels, paint or crayons • 1x construction card per student • Images of nebula or galaxy as inspiration • Access to computers or other technology INSTRUCTIONS 1. U sing either your imagination or real deep space images as inspiration (we suggest googling images like the Helix Nebula, Pinwheel Galaxy or the Butterfly Nebula),

play with your art supplies to recreate a galaxy or nebula on your card. We found the best way to do this is with chalk pastels

because they smudge easily and blend

to mimic the colours we see in deep space images.

2. Either smudge white chalk pastel dots

or tap the end of a small paintbrush

dipped in white paint across your image to create star speckles.

3. Have your teacher scan or take a photo

of your artwork and upload the image Matariki onto a computer or tablet. and the Māori New Year is a special time for me. 4. Open the image in any application which allows you to add text over the top of an image. Think about what Matariki, space, science or stars mean to you. Come up A with a quote, a poem or a fact about GALAXY any of these ideas. IS MILLIONS

5. Add your text and position it over It means FAMILY, friends, food OR BILLIONS the top of your space artwork. Play and spending time together. OF STARS, GAS with design techniques you (or your AND DUST! teacher) knows, such as font type, size and colour, to enhance your artwork. EARTH I THINK SPACE IS IS IN THE 6. Print out your finalised digital artwork

and display it in the classroom to create beautiful MILKY WAY a class ‘Space Art’ wall. +BIG. GALAXY. IT IS FILLED WITH STARS, PLANETS, GALAXIES AND nebulae. CREATIVE CLUSTER The Matariki cluster means something different for everyone. After all, it’s seen almost all around the globe so every culture relates to the stars differently. You will have learnt from this booklet that different cultures have various names for the cluster and link the seven stars to stories, legends or meanings. Why are the stars clustered together? Astronomers know it’s because the stars were formed from the same gas and dust cloud. While the ancient Greeks didn’t know this at the time, their closeness to one another led them to name the cluster the Seven Sisters. Get creative with your own story on how the seven stars became a cluster! You can use the information in this booklet, your own research, imagination and experience to get started. HERE’S SOME IDEAS TO GET THINKING:

Timeline: Location: Characters: Storyteller: Mood: How long Where did the Do the Are you telling Were the stars ago did stars meet? stars have the story as happy/sad/ the stars In the night personalities? one of the excited/angry meet? sky, on Earth, Names? stars OR are to be joined on another you watching together in a planet? on from Earth? cluster?

A X C S E V E N S I S T E R S K W E H L D J R A G I M J A S WORDFIND A F L L J D S O C L A R N S X T V E A S U R J O K C M Y T O PLEIADES A D B A R R E Q R F I Y A R E MATAWHERO M C R U O A G B E H S A O O K CELEBRATIONS A T A S V B H G H I A Y Z N A MARAMATAKA R T T O D A S V W E P L S O E STARGAZING A C I U L D B Z A O L E P M L TAURUS M B O J S G K Y T A E U N Y O CONSTELLATION C O N S T E L L A T I O N L R ASTRONOMY A V S Q U K D B M U A O B E J CALENDAR N D O P S C A L E N D A R W T ALCYONE A Y C U J L M O A K E X E R P SEVEN SISTERS A G N I Z A G R A T S G E V O ACTIVITIES

CREATE A CLASSROOM CLOAK Think about what Matariki means to you and put your ideas together as a class YOU'LL NEED • A4 paper or card (coloured or white) per student • Colouring pens, paint, feathers, glitter, decorating items…anything crafty you have available

• 2 metres of black and red wool, streamers or string • A3 thick card • Tape or glue

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Cut out a feather shape from your A4 paper.

2. Using the information about Matariki

that you have learnt so far, decorate

your feather with what Matariki

means you. This could be what you

think the stars look like, symbols or Māori traditions around Matariki.

3. As a class, cut the A3 card into

thick strips and stick together at

the ends to create approximately a one metre ‘band’.

4. Stick a row of feathers to the

band, by gluing or taping the

top 1cm of the feather to the Decorate more than bottom, underside of the band. one feather each 5. Arrange another row of feathers to make your class under the top row, by taping cloak even bigger. their top 1cm to the bottom 1cm

of the feather above. Continue

this until you have several rows of feathers.

6. Braid together the streamers or wool

and stick this to the top of your classroom band.

7. Hang your class cloak on the wall or take turns wearing it.

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