Celebrating traditional Maori New Year.
“The rising of the constellation of Matariki in the month of June signals to the people of Polynesia, settled across vast expanses of Oceania, that a new cycle has begun. In New Zealand, Maori developed a sophisticated culture adapted to the climate and conditions they discovered following organised migrations in large doubled hulled ocean-going waka to reach Aotearoa. Using traditional knowledge, with the stars and other natural signs to guide them, the master navigators of Polynesia preceded the great European explorers Abel Tasman, Captain James Cook and others by several centuries.
This year’s calendar reflects upon the extraordinary events of exploration, discovery, migration, settlement and cultural exchange that bought the development of Aotearoa New Zealand as a nation of different people.”