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Matariki celebrations
BestStart Bader recently welcomed friends and whanau into our centre to celebrate Matariki. Matariki is a time for us to come together in celebration of the Maori New Year, a time to reflect and be thankful. We were blessed to have students from NZMA come into the centre to perform a range of waiata for our tamariki and whanau. Children danced and sang along to these well-known waiata alongside their whanau, before participating in some group play and Matariki-based projects.
Together, we weaved mats using coloured paper. Tamariki and whanau had the opportunity to colour, draw and write a message on a feather that would later be made into a beautiful korowai. This would then be collated and placed on our centre wall to express our connectedness to one another, and the newfound friendships with our community. Our whanau and Kaiako shared personal stories with our centre about their understanding of Bader’s history, including their recollections of when the centre was once a Fish and Chip shop and a gas station. These perspectives promote our children’s thinking to develop an understanding of the history that has taken place here, and what has made it become the centre it is today.
At BestStart Bader, we recognise the importance of culture and community. Events such as Matariki provide opportunities for tamariki to be open-minded, to recognise and understand their own and others’ cultures. Celebrating these differences fosters our ability to connect with our community based on common interests and educate and inspire our tamariki to unite as one. These high-quality interactions promote children’s ability to stay grounded with their home culture, whilst participating in experiences that might not otherwise occur.