CALENDAR OF EVENTS

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Monday 1 July 2019

What Matariki and Maramataka can tell us about Climate Change

Matariki is a time rich with custom and tradition but also has much to tell us about our changing world today. Māori understand that changes to the environment and ecology at this time may be due to climate change. Join astrophysicist Dr Pauline Harris, of Victoria University of Wellington, as she unpacks Matariki and maramataka – the Māori lunar calendar. What can Māori knowledge and science add to our understanding of how to predict and mitigate climate change? 

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This is a free seminar with limited spaces - RSVPs are necessary.

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29 November 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Te Kura O Te Paroa - Whakatane)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao. Our Kaupapa is to inspire Māori and Pacific students into science and create fun activities that incorporate Matauranga Maori, Pacific culture, Astronomy and Science.

​Te Ropu Awhina mentor’s science students studying; Engineering, Maths, Biology, Geology, Psychology, Physics, Chemistry, Architecture and Design and they have developed activities that integrates these science subjects but also Māori and Pacific knowledge.

 

28 November 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Te Wharekura o Ruatoki - Whakatane)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao.  Our Kaupapa is to inspire Māori and Pacific students into science and create fun activities that incorporate Matauranga Māori, Pacific culture, Astronomy and Science.​

 

16 November 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Kaikohe War Memorial - Kaikohe)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao. Our Kaupapa is to inspire Māori and Pacific students into science and create fun activities that incorporate Matauranga Māori, Pacific culture, Astronomy and Science.
 

10 November 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Te Rauparaha Arena - Porirua)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao.  
 

8 November 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Walter Nash Centre - Lower Hutt)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao. Our Kaupapa is to inspire Māori and Pacific students into science and create fun activities that incorporate Matauranga Māori, Pacific culture, Astronomy and Science.

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3-4 October 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Harataunga Marae - Kennedy Bay)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao.  We also teamed up with Haunui- Te Toki Voyaging Trust where they travelled from Auckland to Tauranga stopping at various marae along the way.

 

26-27 September 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Whitianga)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao.  

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23-25 September 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Te Puea Marae – Mangere Bridge Auckland)

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao. 

 

5-7 September 2016

Tuhono I te Ao - (Manukau institute of Technology, Auckland) 

SMART have been working with Te Ropu Awhina to develop an Outreach programme called Tuhono I te Ao.  

 

16th of June 2015

From Makahiki to Matariki – a Hawaiian and Maori perspective 

Tuesday Talk: From Makahiki to Matariki – a Hawaiian and Maori perspective  The Matariki constellation holds great significance in Pacific cultures. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, seven and a half thousand kilometres away, the Hawaiian people celebrate Makahiki, the heliacal rising of what’s known as the Matariki cluster in New Zealand. But why do they celebrate it, and how do these two cultures celebrate? Guest speakers Dr Kaliko Baker, from the University of Hawaii, and Associate Professor Rangi Matamua, of Waikato University, discuss their research into the shared cultural significance of the Matariki cluster; recounting the similarities and differences between these two geographically distant cultures and their emphasis on the same cluster, illustrating our ancient cultural links to the stars.

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16 June, 7:00 – 8:00pm. General admission applies. To book your seat, call Carter on 04 910 3140.

 

Go to http://www.carterobservatory.org/celebrate-matariki-with-carter-observatory for  details.

 

17th June 2015

Matariki Symposium

This year Te Kawa a Māui and The School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University in collaboration with Te Mauria Whiritoi project, Waikato University and the Society for Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions (SMART) present the 2015 Matariki Research Symposium.

 

What: 2015 Matariki Research Symposium

           Weaving the Kete of Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science

When: Wednesday 17th June,

Where: Te Herenga Waka Marae

            Victoria University of Wellington

Time:    9am – 5.30pm   - Note Powhiri at 9am.

 

Topic/Kaupapa: The Matariki research symposium highlights the current research in and around the indigenous science space at Victoria,  Waikato and the University of Hawai’i. Researchers will present on a variety of topics from Māori astronomy to Moa Bone hunting to magnetic field measurements in hangi stones. Keynote  speakers Dr Kaliko Baker and Assistant Professor Tammy Baker will talk on cultural practices of Makahiki-Matariki and about the island restoration project on Kaho’olawe.

 

For more information and to register go to

Key contact Dr Pauline Harris: Pauline.Harris@vuw.ac.nz

0276323664 or 04-4639468

or Terese Mcleod: Terese.Mcleod@vuw.ac.nz

04 4635445

 

7.00pm 28th October 2014

Ancient Solar Observatories: New Evidence from Peru and from Southern England

The Society for Māori Astronomy, Research and Traditions (SMART), Victoria University and the Carter Observatory are pleased to host British Archeoastronomer Professor Clive Ruggles in two fascinating talks about astronomical heritage and archeoastronomy.

 

Prof. Ruggles first talk will be hosted by the Carter Observatory on Tuesday 28th of October. Visitors are welcome to come and enjoy the planetarium show, telescope viewing (weather dependant) and a fascinating insight into Clive’s research projects, looking at the at the Thirteen Towers of Chankillo a solar calendrical device dated around 300 BC in North Coastal Peru and his work in the south of England investigating a Neolithic observatory that is hailed to "put Stonehenge in the shade".

 

Clive’s talk will begin at 7pm, but visitors are welcome to book into either the 6pm or 8 pm planetarium show. Standard entrance fee applies. See website for details CARTER .

 

12pm 29th October 2014

Of calendars and kings: gods, temples, the Pleiades, and the development of archaic states in Hawai‘i Prof. Ruggles second talk will be hosted by Victoria Universities School of Social and Cultural Studies on Wednesday the 29th of October. This talk will focus on Clives fieldwork in Hawaii which investigates the orientations of temple platforms and their connections with with astronomy, the calendar, dryland agriculture and the emergence of "god-king" cults. This talk will begin at 12pm in Murphy Building in Room 305. See here for details.

 

9.30am 16th July 2014

Matariki Korero

Matariki Korero with Laura Kamau, Ben Ngaia and Dr Pauline Harris 

Victoria University of Wellington in the 2nd floor of the library

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5.00pm 18th July 2014

THE REVITALISATION OF MĀORI ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE

Matariki Korero by Dr Pauline Harris at Paraparaumu Library from 5.30pm.

Across the world indigenous people are seeking to reclaim their traditional knowledge. Within the last 50 years Māori have made significant efforts to reclaim their language, arts and science. Part of this renaissance includes a growing Māori movement to reclaim their astronomical knowledge. Māori astronomical knowledge known as Tātai Arorangi was infused through much of Māori traditional life and belief, from such areas as cosmology, agriculture, architecture, navigation, and calendrical systems. The Māori new year is signaled by the rising of Matariki (Pleiades star constellation) and Puanga(the star Rigel). During the 1990’s the practice and celebration of the Māori new year on a large scale was revitalised and sparked the revitalisation of Māori astronomy. As interest grew a group called SMART, the Society of Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions was established to collate, preserve and revitalise Māori astronomical knowledge. This talk describes some of the key aspects of Māori astronomy and SMART’s aims and objectives.

 

1.00pm 22nd July 2014

THE REVITALISATION OF MĀORI ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE

Dr Pauline Harris , Victoria University of Wellington, Chairman of the Society of Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions

 

Across the world indigenous people are seeking to reclaim their traditional knowledge. Within the last 50 years Māori have made significant efforts to reclaim their language, arts and science. Part of this renaissance includes a growing Māori movement to reclaim their astronomical knowledge. Māori astronomical knowledge known as Tātai Arorangi was infused through much of Māori traditional life and belief, from such areas as cosmology, agriculture, architecture, navigation, and calendrical systems. The Māori new year is signaled by the rising of Matariki (Pleiades star constellation) and Puanga(the star Rigel). During the 1990’s the practice and celebration of the Māori new year on a large scale was revitalised and sparked the revitalisation of Māori astronomy.

 

As interest grew a group called SMART, the Society of Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions was established to collate, preserve and revitalise Māori astronomical knowledge. This talk describes some of the key aspects of Māori astronomy and SMART’s

aims and objectives.
 

9.00am 4-7 June 2013

CYCLES OF CHANGE

Community-based project partners from UNESCO’s Climate Frontlines will present and discuss their emerging research on local-level observations of environmental change in their communities.