Locating Matariki’s stars

• Published date: 22 June 2022
• Publication title: Courier, The

These events mark the Maori new year

If you look east in the early morning sky, you will find three stars in a row.

This is Orion’s Belt, often known as the Pot.

Maori call this Tautoru.

Now go to the middle star in Tautoru. Above it you will find a bright star called Puanga.

Puanga is another star that is used to observe and acknowledge the new year.

This varies from iwi to iwi.

If you go right from Tautoru, you will find the brightest star in the sky, Hinetakurua, the Winter Maiden.

Hinetakurua is one of the wives of Tamanuitera, the sun.

...