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Nau Mai Haere mai. Welcome to Mairtown Kindergarten's blog.


21 Princes Street, Kensington, Whangarei, New Zealand

Phone: 09 437 2742

Email: mairtown@nka.org.nz

Friday 9 August 2024

Celebrating Matariki at Mairtown Kindergarten: Embracing Identities, Languages, and Cultures

  At Mairtown Kindergarten, our celebrations of Matariki this year reflected our commitment to embracing and reflecting the identities, languages, and cultures of the tamariki and whānau within our kindergarten community. This year, we wanted our Matariki celebrations to align with our Professional Growth Cycle question: In what ways does our environment and practices reflect the identities, languages, and cultures of the tamariki and whānau who attend Mairtown Kindergarten?

Matariki, the Māori New Year, is a time of reflection, celebration, and looking forward. The rising of the Matariki star cluster signifies this special time, bringing with it themes of renewal and community. For us, it offered a perfect opportunity to weave these themes into our daily practices and environment, ensuring they resonate with the cultural backgrounds of our tamariki and whānau. 

We introduced Matariki through rich storytelling sessions, sharing many Māori legends. Firstly, by exploring the story “In the Beginning” of Papatūānuku and Ranginui being separated by Tāne Mahuta, this then led into the legend of Tāwhirimātea and the creation of the Matariki stars. During this time, we incorporated waiata, which was another important aspect. These practices not only celebrated Matariki but also supported tamariki in developing their language skills and cultural knowledge.




During this time, tamariki also created artwork illustrating these Atua, both collaboratively and individually. Following this, they explored their creativity further by designing their own whare beneath the Matariki cluster.


 

Other art activities included the use of our hot glue guns and clay to create the whetū/stars from the Matariki cluster. During this time kaiako shared knowledge of each of the nine whetū. 

Māori use the name Matariki to describe the entire cluster of Pleiades. The different names of the whetū (stars) in the Matariki group are significant to Māori, as each individual has a defined purpose and is intrinsically connected with the Māori world. 

Source: Matariki The Star of the Year by Dr Rangi Matamua.


 

 

While researching into the meaning of each whetū, we discovered many pictures and artwork associated to each, which served as inspiration for ongoing creative activities and provocations. It didn’t take long for our environment to be enriched with all the beautiful artwork created by tamariki. 









Tamariki voice:

"I seen Matariki at my home so I know Matariki stars... bring something nice, like vegetables" - Dawn 

"About stars" - Drew

"I was doing the Matariki starts when I was painting" - Jeremiah 





On Thursday 20th June we hosted our annual harvest day, inviting tamariki and their whānau to bring a gift from their garden or a home-made treat along with a whakataukī or thought to nourish the receiver’s heart. We had such a lovely response, and it was evident that lots of joy and love was shared, given, and received throughout this day.




Harvest Day is all about ‘random acts of kindness’. During Matariki we acknowledge what we have and what we have to give. Matariki celebrates the diversity of life. It’s a celebration of culture, language, spirit, and people.




We have also explored the role this star cluster plays in other countries around the world, displaying a world map showing the journey it takes around the world and the different names it is known by in the many cultures of our attending tamariki and whānau.

Tamariki also decorated stars on which their aspiration for the coming year was written. These were then displayed on our tree and during our Matariki evening event we then placed these stars on the Matariki fire, sending their wishes skyward to Hiwa-i-te-Rangi.



Engaging our whānau in the Matariki celebrations was a key aspect of our approach. We hosted an evening event on Thursday 4th July, where families joined us for a shared meal. Preparations for our Matariki evening included tamariki and kaiako preparing vegetables for our soup. Whānau were also invited to be a part of this process. Mince stew and fried bread was also prepared.














On the night whānau brought in a cultural dish or a family favourite dish to share. This event not only strengthened our community bonds but also demonstrated our commitment to honouring and reflecting the cultural identities of our tamariki and whānau.





   









As part of our post-Matariki event reflection, we invited the tamariki to share their thoughts from the evening.

“I liked when I sit with P and O and I loved umm when me and Drew played games. I like that there was music” – Billie

“Dark, seeing the Matariki stars, having some fun, having some food, macaroni and cheese” – Drew 



We asked for feedback from our whānau, as this was our first evening event since 2021. Here are a few of the comments we received:

“Absolutely amazing! Well done and thank you!”

“Nice that there was the firepit, Vege soup was yummy.”

“It was stunning. Loved the lights and lanterns.”

“Thankyou for bringing this all together for an amazing meal and chance to meet and catch up with other whanau! Wonderful ambience you created, so cool!”

“Thank you very much for such an amazing family event! We enjoyed it so much.”

“Thank you, Mairtown Kindergarten team, for all your efforts in making such a wonderful family/community evening. We all had such a great time and appreciate your hard work.”

“What a lovely evening, fantastic opportunity to bring Kindy families together. Thank you for all your hard work organising!”



On behalf of the teaching team I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported, helped, participated and shared in all of our Matariki festivities over this time.

Ngā mihi nui,


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