Matariki 2025 – A Time to Reflect, Reconnect, and Look to the Stars

Quick Guide: Matariki 2025 at a Glance

Whether you’re just learning about Matariki or planning how to celebrate it with your whānau, this quick-reference guide gives you all the essential details about Matariki 2025 in one place.

📅 When is Matariki 2025?

• Date: Friday, 20 June 2025
• Type: Public Holiday in New Zealand
• Why this date? It aligns with the heliacal rising of the Matariki star cluster — when the stars become visible just before sunrise in the winter sky.

🌌 What is Matariki?

• Matariki is the Māori New Year, marked by the rising of a cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades.
• It is a time for:
  • Remembrance – honouring those who have passed
  • Celebration – appreciating the present
  • Aspiration – looking ahead to the future

🌟 The 9 Stars of Matariki

1. Matariki – Health and wellbeing
2. Tupuānuku – Food from the earth
3. Tupuārangi – Food from the sky
4. Waitī – Freshwater and life within
5. Waitā – The ocean and saltwater life
6. Waipuna-ā-Rangi – Rainfall and weather
7. Ururangi – Winds and the atmosphere
8. Pōhutukawa – Those who have passed
9. Hiwa-i-te-Rangi – Dreams and aspirations

🏠 Ways to Celebrate at Home

• Share a family meal using seasonal ingredients
• Write wishes or goals for the coming year
• Go stargazing before dawn
• Create star-themed crafts with tamariki
• Tell or read Māori legends and stories
• Take a moment to remember loved ones

🎪 Community Events

Look out for:

• Dawn ceremonies and hautapu rituals
• Lantern parades and light festivals
• School kapa haka performances
• Storytelling nights, craft workshops, and hākari (feasts)
• Many events are free and family-friendly

🌱 Matariki Values to Embrace

• Whanaungatanga (family and relationships)
• Manaakitanga (care and hospitality)
• Kaitiakitanga (guardianship of the environment)
• Aroha (love and compassion)
• Mātauranga (knowledge sharing)

📲 Helpful Resources

• tepapa.govt.nz – Museum of New Zealand
• maoritelevision.com – Māori content and coverage
• education.govt.nz – Matariki resources for schools

Matariki 2025 is more than just a holiday — it’s a chance to reconnect with what matters most: the people around us, the earth beneath us, and the stars above.

Conclusion: Looking to the Stars, Grounded in Aroha

As Matariki 2025 rises above Aotearoa’s midwinter sky, it brings with it more than just a beautiful constellation — it brings a moment. A moment to pause, to breathe, and to remember what truly matters.

We honour the stars not because they are far away, but because they help us reflect on what’s close: our whānau, our memories, our hopes, and our home. Each light in the sky is a reminder of a deeper connection — to the earth, to each other, and to our shared story.

Matariki offers us a way forward that isn’t rushed or complicated. It invites us to:

• Remember those we’ve lost with love and gratitude
• Celebrate who we are with joy and togetherness
• Dream of who we can become with courage and kindness

And in doing so, we strengthen something uniquely Kiwi — a national identity that’s grounded in respect for Māori culture, care for the environment, and a sense of community that welcomes all.

For our tamariki, Matariki 2025 is also a foundation. A star-lit doorway into the wisdom of Te Ao Māori, into the joy of storytelling, into the habit of looking up — and looking within.

So whether you’re gathered around a fire, lying under the stars, preparing kai with your tamariki, or simply taking a quiet moment to reflect — know that you are part of something timeless. A celebration that grows stronger with each passing year.

As the proverb says:

“Matariki hunga nui – Matariki of many people.”
(Matariki brings us together.)

Let’s rise together — with hope, with memory, and with aroha — under the stars of Matariki 2025.

For so much more on Matariki and the important relationship with Māori simply CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE MATARIKI website  and learn about the stars and what they mean, along with things to do with your whanau, and about Māori Kai; A journey through Traditional dishes and cultural significance, traditional clothing, whakatauki, waiata.   Be inspired!