Matariki Through a Christian Lens

Thinking it through as a person of Christian faith

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Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Dear reader,

Yesterday morning I was sweating it out on a treadmill at the gym. I had it on the steepest incline possible as I do to start most of my workouts. I do that for half an hour. It was still dark outside, and the sweat was dripping. On one of the gym television screens I was watching the dawn proceedings for Matariki mā Puanga live at Tirorangi Marae in Ohakune.

For readers who do not live in Aotearoa New Zealand, Matariki is an old traditional Māori celebration that, due to the introduction of it as a national public holiday in just the last few years, is now a much bigger part of the national consciousness. It’s a celebration that had faded away but never been completely lost. Its introduction as a public holiday has meant that the nation now has many ongoing conversations about what it means and how it fits.

Matariki is the Māori name for the star cluster also known as Pleiades, and the Seven Sisters. Those names that are more familiar in the western world relate to seven deities of Greek mythology - the daughters of Pleione, which is why it’s quite something to hear a few Christians raging against the recognition of Matariki as connected to Māori deities yet happily referring to the star cluster as Pleiades.

This time of year is when Matariki rises. It marks the Māori new year, the harvest, and many traditions that go with it. Because we are opposite to the northern hemisphere, it is winter. Each star represents a deity and various aspects of the environment/land/creation.

My knowledge is extremely basic, so I’m going to say little here. Instead, I am going to give the floor to Māori voices, most of whom share my Christian faith, have more knowledge, and who are also working out what it means to engage with it as Christians since it is steeped in spirituality and is part of their own culture and heritage. Each of them are people I respect and am glad to learn from.

I think it’s an important conversation as I see three dangers in how Christians sometimes approach such things within indigenous cultures. One, a reactionary, alarmist, disrespectful, and derogatory approach - I have seen this in comments online. I won’t bother repeating the sentiments. The second is cultural appropriation - stealing parts of the tradition to suit one’s own agenda with little cultural regard for where it’s coming from and without any connection to its source. The third, related to cultural appropriation, is a poorly thought through syncretism that is born from not having a firm foundation in either camp, and a willingness to blend in a way that, while saying nice things, has little actual honour for the depth of either.

I have to admit that, watching yesterday morning’s proceedings at Tirorangi Marae, steeped in rich spirituality, I became acutely aware of my lack of knowledge, so I wish to give this space to other Christian thinkers rather than relying on my own thoughts on this to be of value for you.

I do want to honour Rhema and Life FM (two Christian radio stations here in Aotearoa New Zealand - my relationship with them extends well over 20 years now) in this (most of the conversations below come from these two radio stations) as they’ve engaged many voices to think this through and help their audiences consider it deeply and respectfully.

As they so often do, they’ve weathered the criticisms of the reactionary crowd. Both Rhema and Life FM are often seen as very conservative. I think if people knew the criticism they get from fundamentalists, it would cause the view of those stations, the spaces they navigate, and how they do it, to soften considerably.

One of the reasons I want to focus towards some Christian perspectives around Matariki even though I know some of my readers are not Christian, is because I want to give the majority of my readers, who are Christian, thought through and mature ways to approach this.

It’s too easy to allow the reactionaries to shape the response… I often find myself simply wanting to act in ways that are contrary to those voices. ‘What are the angry people thinking and saying? I’ll do the opposite!’ Instead, I want our engagement to be shaped not by how angry people are responding, but through well thought out, respectful, engaged, and honouring dialogue that is born from loving relationship.

A quick thought from me as we think this through from a Christian and scriptural perspective - there is a difference between an Old Testament approach to the spirituality of others due to the instructions given to the nation of Israel and the purity they were called to at a national level, and a New Testament approach where Christians often lived among nations and cultures with very different spiritualities. It’s worth exploring those differences.

Anyway, here is a series of videos that are well worth watching if you want to think through how we might approach Matariki from a Christian perspective. There are diverse views here (though not so diverse that any condemn or criticise Matariki - those voices are easy enough to find online if you want to hear from them), which makes it an engaging conversation. You may agree with some things, and disagree with others - that’s the nature of good dialogue.

For my free readers, all of the videos I’m about to post below for financial supporters are freely available on Youtube and Vimeo, all I’m doing here is providing the convenience of having them curated in one place for ease of access and contemplation.

A big thank you to each of the people who appear in these videos.