Matariki: the stars, words and phrases explained

Matariki is the Māori name for the Pleiades star cluster, and its rising before dawn in midwinter marks the Māori New Year for many iwi. The greeting for the season is Mānawatia a Matariki ‘happy Matariki, celebrate Matariki’. Since 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand has kept a public holiday for it, always on a Friday in June or July; in 2027 it falls on Friday 25 June. Below are the nine stars and what each is linked with, the phrases you will hear, and every holiday date the law sets.

Updated 7 October 2026 · 9 min read

Tap 🔊 to hear an example. Māori examples play Papa Reo, the te reo Māori voice made by Te Hiku Media from recordings of native speakers.

What is Matariki?

Te Aka Māori Dictionary defines Matariki as the Pleiades, “an open cluster of many stars … with at least nine stars visible to the naked eye”, and the name is also used for the brightest star at its centre. The Act of Parliament that created the holiday sets out what Matariki means to Māori in words written by the Matariki Advisory Group: “For many Māori, the eastern pre-dawn appearance of Matariki in the winter sky, during the last quarter of the lunar month of Pipiri, marks the beginning of the Māori New Year”.

The same section names three principles: remembrance, “honouring those who have died since the last rising of Matariki”; celebrating the present, “gathering together with family and friends”; and looking to the future, “looking forward to the promise of a new year”. Professor Rangi Mātāmua (Tūhoe), who chaired the advisory group, put it more simply to RNZ in 2026: “There are no Matariki police … Anything you do that’s connected to any of those things is celebrating Matariki.”

Where the name comes from: Te Aka and Te Ara both give Matariki as a shortened form of Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea ‘the eyes of the god Tāwhirimātea’. Te Ara tells the story behind it: when Ranginui and Papatūānuku, the sky father and earth mother, were separated by their children, Tāwhirimātea, god of the winds, tore out his eyes in anger and threw them into the heavens.

The nine stars of Matariki and what they mean

Each star is linked with a part of the natural world. The associations below are the ones Te Ara gives from Tūhoe tradition: it reports that “leading Tūhoe astronomer Dr Rangi Matamua says that his tūpuna counted nine stars”, and Mātāmua’s 2017 book Matariki: The Star of the Year draws on a nineteenth-century manuscript by his ancestors Te Kōkau and Rāwiri Te Kōkau. Te Aka gives the same nine with the same associations, and the Western names in the table are Te Aka’s.

A few notes on the names. Waitī and Waitā differ only in their last vowel, so the macrons carry the meaning here: both begin with wai ‘water’, and an example Te Aka quotes from a 2017 book on Matariki explains that Waitī sits above Waitā in the sky because fresh water always flows down to salt water. Pōhutukawa is spelt exactly like the coastal tree. Te Aka notes that Hiwa-i-te-rangi is sometimes shortened to Hiwa, and describes it as the star “that Māori would send their dreams and desires to in the hope that they would be realised”. Te Aka also records a reading of the stars as signs: if Waipunarangi looks indistinct, a wetter year is expected, and if it is bright and clear, a drier one.

Te Ara also gives a tradition in which Matariki is a mother surrounded by six daughters: Tupuānuku, Tupuārangi, Waitī, Waitā, Waipunarangi and Ururangi. That makes seven, and it is not the only seven, as the next section shows.

Seven stars or nine?

Both, and Te Papa says so in as many words: “For some people the Matariki star cluster is made up of seven stars, while for others it’s nine. So which is it? Both.” Its seven are Matariki, Pōhutukawa, Tupuānuku, Tupuārangi, Waitī, Waitā and Ururangi; the nine add Waipunarangi and Hiwa-i-te-rangi. The reason Te Papa gives is that “different iwi share different kōrero regarding Matariki”, and what has been handed down “will differ between iwi, hapū, and whānau”. Te Papa, in Wellington, where Matariki can be seen, acknowledges nine.

Puanga and other ways of marking the new year

Not every iwi begins the year with Matariki. The Act says so directly: “Some tribal groups use the heliacal rising of other stars as their marker of the Māori New Year, in particular the star Puanga (Rigel).” Te Ara explains why: in parts of Whanganui, Taranaki, the Far North and the South Island, the Matariki cluster is hard to see clearly, so iwi there look to Puanga, a bright star near it that is easier to see in twilight. Te Ara adds that Ngāi Tahu call the star Puaka, which Te Aka lists as the South Island form of the name.

Timing differs too. Te Ara writes that iwi celebrate “at different times, some when the cluster is first seen in the dawn sky, others after the full moon rises or at the beginning of the next new moon”, and that by tradition festivities wait for Tangaroa, the last-quarter nights of the moon. That is why the holiday moves about: it follows the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, which begins in Pipiri. The guide to Māori numbers, days and months sets out the twelve lunar months beside the Gregorian ones.

What does Mānawatia a Matariki mean?

Te Aka defines Mānawatia a Matariki as “happy Matariki, hail Matariki, celebrate Matariki — an expression used to welcome Matariki and wish someone well during the time of Matariki”. It is the greeting you will see on cards, signs and emails through June and July.

It is built on the verb mānawa, which Te Aka glosses “to welcome” and lists with the passive ending -tia; mānawatia is that passive form. The small a before Matariki is the article Māori puts before the names of people and other personal nouns, which is how Te Aka classes Matariki. The Act uses the same pairing in “hei whakanui i a Matariki ‘to celebrate Matariki’”.

Why not “Happy Matariki” translated word for word? The Diversity Agenda’s 2022 guide reports that the phrase was developed by Rangi Mātāmua and Hēmi Kelly, and quotes Mātāmua: “Matariki doesn’t come out of a western context, it’s Māori … so if you’re trying to apply a greeting to the Matariki celebration where you say hari (happy) Matariki or meri (merry) Matariki – it doesn’t make sense.”

Other Matariki greetings and phrases

These are all attested in the sources named beside them. The first three are things you might say or write; the rest are sayings and terms you will meet.

The Act quotes three lines together, each beginning Mānawa maiea: Mānawa maiea te putanga o Matariki, Mānawa maiea te ariki o te rangi, Mānawa maiea te mātahi o te tau — in its own English, “Welcome the rising of Matariki / Welcome the rising of the lord of the sky / Welcome the New Year”. More proverbs, with their sources, are in the guide to whakataukī, and everyday hellos and sign-offs are in the greetings guide.

Words for the values of Matariki

The Act lists twelve values that underpin Matariki, each a Māori word with an English gloss. These eight are among them, glossed as the Act glosses them:

The Matariki public holiday: every date in the Act

The holiday was created by the Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Act 2022, which received the Royal assent on 11 April 2022. Its Māori title is Te Ture mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki 2022, and the day itself is Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki, Matariki Observance Day. RNZ notes it was the first public holiday to recognise te ao Māori, and the first new public holiday since Waitangi Day in 1974.

Because the maramataka does not line up with the Gregorian calendar, the date is not worked out each year: the Act lists it, year by year, in Schedule 1. Every date is a Friday. These are the dates as legislated:

The list runs to 2052. Section 6 of the Act says later dates are added by Order in Council, made at least four years before the last date in the schedule, and that each must be a Friday. The government’s public holidays page at govt.nz lists the same dates for 2026 and 2027. On the morning of the holiday, RNZ notes, a national ceremony hosted by a different iwi each year includes “a live broadcast of the hautapu ceremony”.

Learning the words behind Matariki

Many of the words in this guide are everyday te reo: wai ‘water’, rangi ‘sky’, tau ‘year’, hou ‘new’, kai ‘food’. Te reo works like any language in that the most common words carry most of what you hear, which is why the guide to how many Māori words you need starts with them, and why Verbavia’s te reo Māori course teaches them first. The pronunciation guide will help with the star names, where every macron counts.

Sources

1. Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Act 2022 (s 3 meaning and significance; s 5; s 6; Schedule 1 dates)
2. govt.nz: Dates for public holidays and anniversary days (Matariki, Friday 10 July 2026 and Friday 25 June 2027)
3. Employment New Zealand: Public holidays and anniversary dates
4. Te Ara: Matariki – Te Tau Hou Māori, page 1 (Paul Meredith; the nine stars per Rangi Mātāmua; Puanga; the name)
5. Te Papa: The Matariki star cluster – are there seven or nine stars?
6. RNZ via Te Ao Māori News (7 July 2026): What is Matariki and why is it celebrated?
7. The Diversity Agenda: Mānawatia a Matariki 2022 (the phrase and Mātāmua’s explanation)
8. Wikipedia: Rangi Mātāmua (Matariki: The Star of the Year, 2017; the Te Kōkau manuscript; Matariki Advisory Group)
9. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Matariki (the nine stars and their Western names; Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea)
10. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Waitī
11. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Waitā (Waitī above Waitā)
12. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Waipunarangi (rain; reading the star)
13. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Ururangi
14. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Tupuānuku
15. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Tupuārangi
16. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Pōhutukawa (the star)
17. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Hiwa-i-te-rangi
18. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: mānawatia a Matariki
19. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: mānawa (to welcome; -tia)
20. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Matariki hunga nui
21. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Hauhake tū ka tō a Matariki
22. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: ngā mihi o te tau hou
23. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Puanga
24. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Puaka (South Island variation of Puanga)
25. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: kāhui (cluster; constellation)