Matariki and Pleiades

The Justice League after reading about Matariki compared two different myths about the Seven Stars.

WALT - Compare Two Myths

Matariki is beginning this year on Thursday 18th June. Matariki is a special time for Maori as it celebrates the new year and is a time to look at the past and to think about the future. Matariki is also seven stars found in the constellation Taurus. There many myths about these stars from all around the world. Two of which are the Maori myth of Matariki and her six daughters and the Greek myth Pleiades or the seven sisters.

Cultural Myths - Anthony and Arav

Both the Maori and Greek people have stories in their cultures about Matariki. One of the myths for Matariki come from Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Another myth for Matariki comes from Greece in the South of Europe. Matariki was an important time to the Maori culture because it was a time when Maori people celebrated the new year and harvested food for the winter.

Creation Stories - Dev and Israel

The Maori and Greek people both created stories to explain the existence of the seven stars. In Greek they thought that Pleiades was created by Greek gods and mortals. In New Zealand they believed the Maori gods created Matariki. These cultures invented these myths because they had no scientists to explain how the stars were created and so they made myths instead. Myths are passed on through the generations and remain alive to this day.

Different names - Skye and Kalani

Both cultures have different names for the cluster of seven stars. In Te reo Maori the name for Matariki can mean eyes of the god or small eyes. In Greek, Matariki is known as Pleiades or the seven sisters. There are other names for these stars too from different countries. Some examples of different names for Matariki include Subaru in Japan, Seven chickens in Thailand and Matali’l in Samoa.

Different Myths - Priscilla and Sherlyn

There are a variety of different myths about Matariki. One of the Greek myths is about Pleiades and a family that got broken apart. The Ancient Greeks only saw 6 stars. In their myth the missing sister married a mortal (a mortal means someone that doesn’t care about anything) and disappeared from the sky after being struck by lightning. Her husband was the legendary Sisyphus, who’d been punished forever by being made to push a rock to the top of the mountain.

Conclusion - Chantelle

In the future we should still carry on learning about Maori myths and legends. Learning about these myths means we can learn about the past and about our Maori ancestors.  It is good to know this information because we can take these myths and learn from, use and improve the ideas from the past. Learning about Matariki is also important to New Zealanders because it is a sign of respect to the language and culture of the Maori people.

We think our comparison is extended abstract because we compared several similarities and differences . We also added a generalisation by thinking about the future of these myths.