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Tahiti prepares for its first Matari'i public holiday
Tahiti prepares for its first Matari'i public holiday

ABC News

time04-07-2025

  • General
  • ABC News

Tahiti prepares for its first Matari'i public holiday

Tahiti will mark Matari'i as a national public holiday for the first time In November, following in the footsteps of Matariki in Aotearoa. Matari'i refers to the same star cluster as Matariki. And for Tahitians, November 20 will mark the start of Matari'i i ni'a, the season of abundance, which lasts six months to be followed by Matari'i i raro, the season of scarcity. Te Māreikura Whakataka-Brightwell is a New Zealand artist who was born in Tahiti and raised in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Gisborne, with whakapapa links to both countries. He spoke to RNZ's Matariki program from the island of Moorea. In Tahiti, there's been a series of cultural revival practices, and with the support of the likes of Professor Rangi Mātāmua, there is hope to bring these practices out into the public arena, he said. The people of Tahiti have always lived in accordance with Matari'i i ni'a and Matari'i i raro, with six months of abundance and six months of scarcity, he said. "Bringing that back into the public space is good to sort of recognise the ancestral practice of not only Matariki in terms of the abundance but also giving more credence to our tūpuna kōrero and mātauranga tuku iho." Mr Whakataka-Brightwell said there has been a little controversy around the new holiday as it replaces another public holiday, Internal Autonomy Day, on June 29, which marks the French annexation of Tahiti. But he said a lot of people in Tahiti like the shift towards having local practices represented in a holiday. Te Mareikura Whakataka Brightwell. ( Image: Te Mareikura Whakataka Brightwell ) There will be several public celebrations organised for the inaugural public holiday but most people on the islands will be holding more intimate ceremonies at home, he said. "A lot of people already had practices of celebrating Matariki which was more about now marking the season of abundance, so I think at a whānau level people will continue to do that," he said. "I think this will be a little bit more of an incentive for everything else to align to those sorts of celebrations." Many of the traditions surrounding Matari'i relate to the Arioi clan, whose ranks included artists, priests, navigators and diplomats who would celebrate the rituals of Matari'i, he said. "[Tahiti] it's an island of artists, it's an island of rejuvenation, so I'm pretty sure they'll be doing a lot of that and basing some of those traditions on the Arioi traditions." Mr Whakataka-Brightwell encouraged anyone with Māori heritage to make the pilgrimage to Tahiti at some point in their lives, as the place where many of the waka that carried Māori ancestors were launched. "I've always been a firm believer of particular people with whakapapa Māori to come back, hoki mai ki te whenua o Tahiti roa, Tahiti pāmamao," he said. "Those connections still exist. I mean, people still have the same last names as people in Aotearoa, and it's not very far away, so I would encourage everybody to explore their own connections but also hoki mai ki te whenua (return to the land)." RNZ

Tahiti prepares for its first Matari'i public holiday
Tahiti prepares for its first Matari'i public holiday

RNZ News

time29-06-2025

  • Politics
  • RNZ News

Tahiti prepares for its first Matari'i public holiday

Te Mareikura Whakataka Brightwell. Photo: Te Mareikura Whakataka Brightwell In November, Tahiti will mark Matari'i as a national public holiday for the first time, following in the footsteps of Matariki in Aotearoa. Matari'i refers to the same star cluster as Matariki. And for Tahitians, 20 November will mark the start of Matari'i i ni'a, the season of abundance, which lasts for six months to be followed by Matari'i i raro, the season of scarcity. Te Māreikura Whakataka-Brightwell is a New Zealand artist who was born in Tahiti and raised in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Gisborne, with whakapapa links to both countries. He spoke to RNZ's Matariki programme from the island of Moorea. His father was the master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell, and his grandfather was the renowned Tahitian navigator Francis Puara Cowan. In Tahiti, there's been a series of cultural revival practices, and with the support of the likes of Professor Rangi Mātāmua, there is hope to bring these practices out into the public arena, he said. The people of Tahiti have always lived in accordance with Matari'i i ni'a and Matari'i i raro, with six months of abundance and six months of scarcity, he said. "Bringing that back into the public space is good to sort of recognise the ancestral practice of not only Matariki in terms of the abundance but also giving more credence to our tūpuna kōrero and mātauranga tuku iho." Whakataka-Brightwell said there has been a little controversy around the new holiday as it replaces another public holiday, Internal Autonomy Day, on 29 June, which marks the French annexation of Tahiti. But he said a lot of people in Tahiti like the shift towards having local practices represented in a holiday. There will be several public celebrations organised for the inaugural public holiday but most people on the islands will be holding more intimate ceremonies at home, he said. "A lot of people already had practices of celebrating Matariki which was more about now marking the season of abundance, so I think at a whānau level people will continue to do that, I think this will be a little bit more of an incentive for everything else to align to those sorts of celebrations." Many of the traditions surrounding Matari'i relate to the Arioi clan, whose ranks included artists, priests, navigators and diplomats who would celebrate the rituals of Matari'i, he said. "[Tahiti] it's an island of artists, it's an island of rejuvenation, so I'm pretty sure they'll be doing a lot of that and basing some of those traditions on the Arioi traditions." Whakataka-Brightwell encouraged anyone with Māori heritage to make the pilgrimage to Tahiti at some point in their lives, as the place where many of the waka that carried Māori ancestors were launched. "I've always been a firm believer of particular people with whakapapa Māori to come back, hoki mai ki te whenua o Tahiti roa, Tahiti pāmamao. "Those connections still exist, I mean, people still have the same last names as people in Aotearoa, and it's not very far away, so I would encourage everybody to explore their own connections but also hoki mai ki te whenua (return to the land)." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

The man trying to improve Slough's reputation
The man trying to improve Slough's reputation

BBC News

time25-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • BBC News

The man trying to improve Slough's reputation

A man has created a community enterprise to tackle the "stereotypical prophesy" of Slough - a place recently voted the most miserable to live in the Vijh moved to Berkshire from London six years ago and said he was surprised by the reactions when he disclosed he was living in the town made famous by Ricky Gervais' show The Office. He set up Viva Slough to provide employment workshops, English classes and art projects."There were buildings that looked run down... so the first initiative was painting the town red, and we have done murals in different parts of Slough," he said. Mr Vijh previously set up a group of volunteers to help deliver food and medicines to vulnerable people during the Covid-19 is now focussed on overturning the town's reputation which he described as "a stereotypical prophesy that keeps coming back, again and again".Viva Slough's various projects have been funded by several sponsors, including Arts Council England and Great Western Railway. Mr Vijh said his group was one of 19 organisations working with Together as One, which was recently awarded Arts Council funding for its Slough Cultural Revival programme "to promote art and culture" in the town. Rob Deeks, CEO of Together as One, said the money would allow young people and residents to have something to do, such as South Asian dancing, art and events. He hopes the project will lead to "young people in our borough feeling like they are growing up in a place that they can be proud off". A separate and recent project led by Viva Slough was painting a tunnel at Salt Hill Park."It used to be the filthiest, dirty looking tunnel," Mr Vijh explained."There were 40 different volunteers that painted that, and they feel ownership of that mural."Mr Vijh said the more they could teach people about the town's "rich history", the more they would "see the perceptions changing over a period of time". Volunteer Sheryl Malcolm, who has lived in Slough for 18 years, said the park itself was abandoned and "people felt afraid to walk through [the tunnel]"."Just to see people walking through and [...] the feedback has been so positive."We got more volunteers because they walk through and seen the project take shape and how beautiful it is," she added. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.

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