Matariki, the Māori New Year, but have we got it all wrong? One Māori astronomer says we've got the meaning, date, history and number of stars in the constellation all wrong.
Dr Rangi Mataamua says it's time to correct a few myths and for Māori to reclaim back the Matariki story.
“Some of the non_Maori continue to write in this space and tell us virtually who we are,” he says. “They have no understanding of language, they have no understanding of tikanga and they’re telling us that Matariki is this and Maori did this We have to be careful – it’s a completely different thing to study a culture and it’s a completely different thing to live a culture.”