So This Is Matariki

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According to Ranginui this is Matariki or the group of stars that appear to start the Maori New Year. I must confess. As a Maori, Matariki the stars and the Maori Tau Hou have only recently seeped into my consciousness in the last say 10 of my 77 years on Papatuanuku. And yet for as long as I can remember the name Patia O Matariki has been part of my placename vocabulary. Again, only recently I discovered what the name meant in the course of my research for the book "Nga Tapuwae O Hinetewai."

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Patia O Matariki or Patia for short is the place/bay/beach behind our marae Haititaimarangai. The high hill behind it is the pa/headland (below). The marae is visible in the left corner. The little hump jutting out into the sea is Te Tuuta which was well known to the French De Surville Expedition who drew a sketch of it. The other end of the beach/bay is another headland and ridge called Matariki. The Parakerake Block subdivision stops along this ridge at Matariki Place that joins the Whatuwhiwhi road down to the marae. As you drive down from Matariki Place you will see "Pari Raharuhi's House" (still standing) and Takapu Urupa. About level with Pari's house there used to be a path off on the right which led us  to a grass clearing and a small peach orchard about halfway down from Matariki Place and up from Patia Beach. That was Matariki Pa. 

(Below: This pa is between the caravan and the houses above.)

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Now the full meaning of Patia O Matariki is The Pa Where Matariki Shows (tia). I don't know how often a wananga was held to observe the tia of Matariki but I do know that the last one was held in 1924 at Matariki Pa. The Tohunga who took that wananga was Honetana Papahia. I don't know who attended nor what the kaupapa or matauranga of the wananga was. Honetana was also an Anglican Minister and a descendant of Wharewhare.