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Matariki and Pasifika celebration at BestStart Everglade Preschool

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In July we celebrated Matariki also known as the Māori New Year, which is marked by the rise of the group of stars also known as the nine sisters. In our centre, the celebration of Matariki provides an ideal opportunity to explore the ways that people pass on and sustain aspects of their culture and heritage. In our centre we started the celebration by inviting parents to contribute a vegetable from home which we made into soup enjoyed by all children with Māori bread. Some of our Whanau also made beautiful poi for children. Since then, we have been practicing and dancing to Māori songs a lot. The children have been also interested in stories about Māori myths and legends and have been doing artwork associated with it. 

In August we celebrated the Cook Island language week. Teaching our tamariki about the value of diversity, respect for other cultures, and strengthening cultural identities and awareness. Our children made ei katu (flower crown) and dressed up for the day in flowery outfit. The children learned about the process of making the cook island potato salad (mainaise). They enjoyed the salad for lunch. The highlight of the week was seeing the tamariki taking part in cultural music and activities.