Setting the Skies Alight For Matariki

Setting the Skies Alight For Matariki

Auckland's skies will be set ablaze during the early dawn of Tuesday 11 June to signal the beginning of the Matariki season.

Flares will be fired from seven volcanic cones, signifying the seven stars of Matariki. Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), Takarunga (Mt Victoria), Te Kopuke (Mt St John), Maungarei (Mt Wellintgon), Te Rangi-i-Tongia-a-Tamatekapua (Rangitoto), Maungawhau (Mt Eden) and Owairaka (Mt Albert) will have two sequences of flares fired from their volcanic cones. Following a 6am karakia, the first sequence will occur at 6.10am and the second sequence at 6.12am.

The event is directed by the region's Matariki Festival Trust Board with support from independent iwi and marae, the Tamaki Collective, Independent Maori Statutory Board, Westpac New Zealand, Department of Conservation, New Zealand Fire Service, Maori Wardens the New Zealand Police and a team of Pyrotechnic specialists from a far as Christchurch, Hawkes Bay and Auckland.

The Trust would like to ensure the public that this is a planned event and that the sight of flares being launched from the volcanic cones should not raise alarm.

“Each year around June the stars of Matariki and Puanga signal the end of one year in Aotearoa and the start of the next,” says Trust chairperson Hinurewa te Hau. “The Trust wants to acknowledge the season of Matariki and Puanga for all those who reside in Tamaki Makaurau, to acknowledge this as the time to reconnect, rejuvenate, remember, and to celebrate our whenua and our sense of place.

“We have chosen this date to coincide with the sighting of the new moon on June 9 and our signature festival season opening event, A Place to Stand, by Okareka Dance Company, which opens on June 11 before touring nationwide.”

The Auckland Matariki Festival Trust is an official partner to Auckland's Matariki Festival (22 June- 22 July). To coincide with Auckland Council's closing of the season on the last day of the Matariki Festival, the Trust will light the seven maunga one more time with a single flare on the closing evening.

Auckland's communities will be able to enjoy the spectacular sight of the seven flares from a number of vantage points. The maunga are open to the public on the morning of June 11, however there are marked safety zones to ensure public safety.

ENDS

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