The Māori New Year in New Zealand, marked by the visibility of the Matariki star cluster, will be celebrated differently this year. Stargazers from around the globe will be able to join in on the festivities from home. The Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.
A New Zealand-based tourism company, Pure New Zealand, will live-stream the event on Monday [July 20] at 7:30pm (South African standard time). Those wanting to experience this phenomena from home simply have to join the Facebook event here and wait for the stream to start.
The Matariki star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters.
‘Māori culture is an integral part of life in New Zealand, influencing everything from cuisine to customs, and language,’ says Pure New Zealand on their website.
The Matariki star cluster can be seen around the world and is symbolic of the Māori lunar year-end.
The star cluster is also known as M45 to astronomers, but according to Travel + Leisure, it also goes by:
- Seven Sisters (English)
- Mǎo (Chinese)
- Pleiades (Greek)
- Eyes of royalty or Makali‘i (Hawaiian) or
- Gathered together or Subaru (Japanese)
Image credit: Unsplash
