May 12, 2021
New calendar celebrates connection to taiao
Māori astronomer Rangi Mataamua says a new calendar can help Māori better interact with the taiao.
The University of Waikato associate professor bases his Te Tau Toru Nui o Matariki calendar on traditional Māori maramataka, using a three-year cycle that starts with the rising of Matariki, incorporates a 13th month into the lunar calendar and brings in environmental factors.
He says colonisation drove out indigenous modes of thinking, which need to be recovered and can run alongside the Gregorian calendar.
"Time is the biggest coloniser because it controls so many parts of our life, when we get up, when we work, when we rest, when we eat, even when we pray. Industry, politics are very much time driven and that has been a process that has been forced upon us," he says.
Dr Mataamua has laid out his system in a series of short online lectures, and the calendar itself can be bought from his Living by the Stars website.
https://livingbythestars.co.nz/
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