Matariki Shines Bright in Central Hawke’s Bay

Wednesday, 6 June 2012, 3:47 pm
Press Release: Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc

Matariki Shines Bright in Central Hawke’s Bay

Matariki is a free community festival on Friday 15 June at the A.W. Parson Stadium in Waipukurau.

The event revives the Māori tradition of marking the passage of time and celebrating the Māori harvest within a modern context.

Matariki (Pleiades) is a group of seven stars that appear on the eastern horizon in the pre-dawn sky from late May to June each year. This signals a time of thanksgiving, feasting, fun and festivity.

The event this year is organised by Robert Ropiha with help from the Waipukurau Community Marae. They plan to involve people of all ages and cultures including Rezpect and Swagga hip hop dancers, Te Aute College, Terrace and Central Hawke’s Bay College kapa haka.

There’s a dance competition at the festival that anyone can enter. Learn Beyonce’s “Move Your Body” dance routine and lucky punters could win $50 phone tops ups or street clothing vouchers. Find a video clip on you tube or Rezpect Dance Company’s website www.rezpectdanceacademy.com

Matariki provides the opportunity to strengthen communal ties, share positive memories and experiences and lift the aspirations and attitudes of people.

In July 2001 Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc the iwi tribal authority endorsed a proposal to take Matariki celebration to each of it’s six regions in Wairoa, Napier, Hastings, Central Hawke’s Bay, Tararua and Wairarapa. Since then the iwi has wholeheartedly supported Kahungunu Matariki by providing core funding and services.

Marking Matariki, Māori New Year in a special way provides a positive model in response to some of the complex problems in our times and at the same time provides a peak experience in the social lives of Māori and the greater community with the purpose of helping us reclaim and enact past traditions within a modern context through the arts.

The celebrations start at 5.00pm with free kiddies rides including mini jeeps, merry go round, bouncy slide and shooting gallery. There’s entertainment, food stalls, prizes, arts and crafts and the event ends with a spectacular fireworks display to music in Russell Park at 8.30pm.

ENDS

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