Tēnā koutou - hello everyone.

I’m on a personal journey to learn more about te reo and the Māori world, and it’s great to have you travel with me.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been answering questions sent in to us, mainly around the meanings of words we hear often in conversation, or on the news.

This week, I was asked if I could look at a few more place names around the district.

Ōtūrēhua was initially called Rough Ridge. In 1907, it’s name reverted to the original Māori with the advent of rail in the region.

Historically for Māori there was a huge dependence on memory and the careful oral transmission of history from generation to generation.

Place names were like survey pegs of memory, recording an important aspect of history, events or landscape for an area.

Ōtūrēhua refers to the stars, in particular Rēhua, or the star Antares. ō means place of, tū means to stand, so all together the name Ōtūrēhua means ‘Place where the summer star stands still’.

Because he lives in the highest of the skies, Rēhua is untouched by death, and has power to cure blindness, revive the dead, and heal any disease (Orbell 1998:119-120). Rēhua is also the ancestor of Maui.

Associate professor at the University of Waikato Dr Rangi Matamua says there are nine stars in the Matariki constellation - seven children and their parents. Matariki (Alcyone) is the mother of the other stars and Rēhua (Antares), although not usually considered part of the Matariki constellation, is the father. 

Twinkling in the winter sky just before dawn, we know Matariki (the Pleiades) signals the Māori New Year. For Māori, the appearance of Matariki heralds a time of remembrance, joy and peace. It is a time for communities to come together and celebrate. 

The sky was particularly important to Māori, as it signals the changes in season, which are so vital to Māori engaged in agriculture, fishing or hunting. 

Matariki is read in combinations, comparing parts of the whole. If one star is brighter than the others, food from that source would be plentiful or the weather would be good. But if a star is dim or missing, the outcomes represented by that star will be negative in the coming year.

From 2022, a public holiday marking Matariki will be held in June or July each year. 

Kia pai te rā. Have a great day.

Check out te wiki o te reo Māori here