All about Matariki

Matariki is a celebration of the Maori New Year. Matariki means 7 stars which are Ururangi, Tupua-Rangi, Waita, Matariki, Tupua-nuku and two of them share a name that is Wai-Puna-A-Rangi. People think that the stars are the eyes of god. Matariki appears in the eastern sky sometime around the shortest day of the year, and is thought to determine how successful the harvest crop will be in the coming season. Apparently the brighter the stars, the more productive the crop will be, also people think that the biggest star is the mother and she is watching her 6 daughters. Matariki is the Maori name for a group of seven stars known as the Pleiades star Cluster. Matariki means two things that are both right, one is Mata Riki means Tiny Eyes, and Mata Ariki means eye of the god. 

I used information with this website Matariki Info