Notes

An introduction to the star group Matariki. Known in other cultures by names including the Pleiades and the Seven Sisters, Matariki featured strongly in pre-European New Zealand. It marked the beginning of the Maori calendar, and its rising before the sun in late May or erly June was greeted with great festivals. It was used as a guide to planting and harvesting, and was studied by tohunga as an omen which told whether the food gathering season would be plentiful or lean.