Reflect, connect, and celebrate with your whānau this Matariki
How people and workplaces can get involved in Matariki this winter, including fun, mental wellbeing boosting ideas for everyone.
Matariki is a special occasion on Aotearoa’s calendar. It marks the start of the Māori New Year and is a time for celebration and reflection, as well as connecting with your whānau.
It’s a chance to celebrate the culture, people, and stories that are unique to us. By remembering traditional ways of life, we can gain insights into how we can live our lives today and look after our Hauora, a Māori philosophy of health and mental wellbeing.
The Te Whare Tapa Whā model represents the four dimensions for Hauora as whare (house) - taha tinana (physical wellbeing), taha hinengaro (mental and emotional wellbeing), taha whānau (social wellbeing) and taha wairua (spiritual wellbeing).
Here are a few ways that people or workplaces can get involved, and how we can all take part in reflecting, connecting, and celebrating.
How to get involved
For individuals and whānau
Have a feast. Matariki is traditionally a time to share kai (food). Cook a mid-winter feast for your friends and whānau. Why not try some traditional Māori recipes? Or use some native ingredients or local produce, like kawakawa (a traditional medicinal plant) or pāua (a type of shellfish).
Get lost in the night sky. Wrap up warm, grab your favourite hot drink, and see if you can spot the Matariki star cluster at night time.
Share your reflections. Think about the past 12 months and share a story or memory with someone. Get out the photo albums or watch some old videos.
Find a local event in your community to attend. There are many events that you can take part in this Matariki including art exhibitions, Māori crafting and weaving classes, moon watching, and face painting. Have a look in your local newspaper or search online.
For workplaces or organisations
Share your goals for the coming year. The halfway point of the year is a great time to reflect on any goals or intentions you set in the last 12 months. Suggest your team take 30-minutes to reflect on goals and make some plans, or set some new ones.
Everyone loves a potluck. Host a mid-winter shared lunch at your office. Theme it for Matariki by suggesting people use local produce, native ingredients, or make a special whānau recipe close to their heart.
Put aside some time to get creative. Set up an arts and crafts station in the office with instructions and resources to wave a harakeke whetū (flax star) or make pākau, a traditional Māori kite. Set up a calendar invite to let everyone know and encourage them to try. Learning new skills and getting creative is also beneficial for our mental wellbeing - read why here.
Hopefully, that’s inspired you to get involved, whether that’s doing something solo, with your whānau, or getting your whole team at work into the spirit.
It’s also the perfect time to sit back and reflect, think about connecting with those around you, and of course, celebrating. Read on for advice on how to do that in a positive way that boosts your mental wellbeing.
Reflect
This time of the year is a great time to reflect. It can also bring up mixed emotions. There may have been some challenging times or events that triggered uncomfortable feelings that you pushed aside at the time.
You may have the impulse to avoid these feelings, but that takes lots of energy and in the end they often find you. If those feelings come up, try to just let them be.
Anger, sadness, hurt or disappointment are all part of the human experience. We don’t need to judge these emotions as bad or think that we shouldn’t be experiencing them. It’s actually ok that they are present.
In fact, these feelings can even be helpful messengers. They might let us know that there are issues we need to address, or things we want to change or do differently.
If those feelings emerge, see if you can breathe through them. Take slow, deep breaths in and out of your belly. Ask yourself “Am I struggling against these experiences, or being open to them?”
It’s helpful to remember that even though they can feel overwhelming at the time, our emotions come and go. Like waves, they ebb and flow. They won’t last forever.
And by letting ourselves feel all of them, we’ll be more open to the pleasant ones like happiness and joy too.
Now, let’s look at how we can use this time to connect with people and heal.
Connect
Connection is a big part of mental wellbeing. When we have a sense of belonging it can help us to thrive in many areas of our lives.
Life can feel eternally busy, and sometimes we might find ourselves focusing on pressing commitments and having less time to tend to our relationships.
Special occasions like Matariki can be a great time to reconnect with the people we care about. It could also be a chance to meet someone new or connect with someone in your life whom you haven’t properly connected with yet, like a neighbour or colleague in another team.
If you’re getting together with people for a community event, mid-winter dinner, or work event, see if you can prioritise fun and laughter. Having some games, telling stories, or singing are all types of shared activities that can have a powerful effect on our sense of connectedness.
As well as connecting with others, it’s also a great time to reconnect with ourselves. Let’s look at how we can take stock and celebrate how far we’ve come in the last 12 months.
Celebrate
When was the last time you celebrated you? Have you recently thought about your successes and congratulated yourself for the things you’ve achieved - both big and small?
It’s great if we can do this on a regular basis, but Matariki can also be a good time to take stock. Maybe you set some new goals in January that you’ve already met.
Focussing on our wins is important because, for many of us, this habit doesn’t come naturally. In fact, our brains often have what’s known as the ‘negativity bias’ - meaning we’re more inclined to notice the times we feel we got things wrong instead of noticing the things we got right.
It’s an evolutionary process that may have helped to keep our ancestors safe but makes it important for us to tune in to the positives now.
This process is not about trying to convince ourselves that everything we do is perfect. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Recognising and accepting both of these is part of embracing the whole amazing package that is each of us.