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A very special Matariki
We held a special Matariki celebration at BestStart Rongotai for whānau to welcome in Māori New Year. Ngā tamariki were involved in the whole process from planning what we were going to do, to writing invitations, making decorations, rehearsing for our kapa haka performance and then preparing kai.
Our tamariki have been learning the purakau behind Matariki using the purakau/book "The seven stars of Matariki" as well as explaining the differences between the different understandings of how many stars make up the Matariki constellation. We have also been doing lots of Matariki inspired art too to make our centre look beautiful.
For the celebration, we asked each whānau to donate one vegetable in the spirit of whanaungatanga so that we could prepare a traditional Māori dish; a boil up. We made a vegetarian option and one with bacon hock served with traditional rewena bread using a recipe provided by one of our whānau. Ngā tamariki had a go at making the rewena bread as well as peeling and chopping our vegetables. On the night we started our celebration off with a welcome followed by a demonstration of the kapa haka waiata we've been learning over the past few months. Afterwards, we set up our brazier for some toasted marshmallows and served our kai for our whānau to enjoy together. It was such a wonderful night and even though we couldn't see the Matariki stars, fortunately, the weather held out for us! It was a beautiful night full of fun and connection. Thank you so much for coming and making it so special whānau. Ngā mihi nui! And thank you to our amazing Mum, Doreen Blask for your amazing photos of the night! Danke!