Here at BestStart Morrinsville, we celebrate Matariki by inviting our whaanau in for an evening shared kai.
During this time, we share stories and make connections while remembering those who have passed on.
This year our tamariki performed a waiata, The Nine Stars of Matariki, for their whaanau and everyone was so proud.
For our whaanau we made a range of fresh soups and boil up from fresh vegetables that our whaanau provided, most of these vegetables were home grown. The tamariki got to have the soup for morning tea the next day which they thoroughly enjoyed.
It was a nice change in the menu and we got to discuss again how it was made and how the kai was provided by our whaanau. We acknowledged the star Pohutukawa as we had a fire for whaanau to place Pohutukawa leaves into once they had written the names of their loved one who had passed away.
The idea was that the fire would send the letter up to the sky in the smoke. Of course, we roasted marshmallows as well. Our Matariki evening was another huge success and we absolutely enjoyed making more in-depth connections with our centre whaanau.