Matariki and her sisters

Matariki and her sisters.

Retold and Illustrated by Room 3

A long, long time ago, children at Newmarket Primary School shivered with the cold, crisp winter mornings because Te Ra was so far from Aotearoa. Te Ra shone over the North Pole and kept the people warm with his bright sun rays.

So the children cried out to Te Po the Night Sky for help. Their voices echoed into the deep dark skies. They were desperate for Te Ra to return to beautiful Aotearoa.

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Te Po sent for the Seven Star Sisters to bring back Te Ra. The seven sisters were Matariki, who was the eldest. Then Tupu-a-nuku, Tupu-a-rangi, Waiti, Waita, Waipunaa-rangi and Ururangi.

They listened to Te Po's instructions and followed them carefully. Te Po instructed the sisters to bring Te Ra back to Aotearoa.

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To the star sister's amazement, they quickly began their journey in search of Te Ra. While they searched high and low for Te Ra, they heard that Te Marama kept a watchful eye on the children of Newmarket School for 28 sleeps.

Te Marama waited patiently for the star sisters to return.

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Meanwhile, the seven sisters found Te Ra. He was exhausted from his long journey and slowly became weaker as the days passed by. This terrified the star sisters and so they came up with a plan. They decided to rise every morning with Te Ra. The star sisters gave him strength, hope and power to believe in himself.

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Finally, Te Ra appeared in the morning sky with the Matariki star sisters beside him. The children at Newmarket Primary School rejoiced and celebrated. They came together and played fun and exciting games.

They flew kites of all shapes and sizes. The children had a feast with singing and dancing. They even hung stars everywhere around the school.

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Even the Tui were delighted and sang their beautiful tune in our trees.

Soon Te Ra felt better and stronger and warmed Aotearoa up. The flowering plants began to grow healthy and strong again.

The sea was filled with happy creatures.

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From that day on the children at Newmarket School were ever so grateful to Te Ra for returning to their school.

Every year when the Matariki star sisters reappear, the children know the signs because.....

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The school gardens are ready to be harvested.

The winter rains fall and the children wear warm clothes.

They eat their lunches inside and play with the wet weather games.

The big children play winter sports.

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The children set learning goals for the new term.

They wear a Tipare when retelling their stories and make wind instruments called Porotiti.

The children play the Mu Torere board games and learn some Maori words and songs.

They celebrate Matariki with a school disco.

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Soon after that the rainbow appears in the sky.

Then the Tui come and suck the nectar from the Puriri trees and eat the black fruit from the Whauwhaupaku bush.

Later the Pohutukawa trees show new leaves.

Finally the children reflect on how to be better Kaitiaki and how to care for the environment.

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So now at Newmarket Primary School when we are cold we know that it is only for a short while. We know that as the seven sisters reappear in the sky, Te Ra will become stronger and shine brighter. His warm breath will warm Newmarket School and all the trees and plants will grow again.

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Special thanks to Ant Sang who gave us the idea for our pictures and to Dayanna Popata for sharing her knowledge about Matariki with Room 3.

Huge thanks to Jiao Song for translating this book into Chinese.

Reubina Irshad - Class Teacher of Year 1 children.

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Room 3 2012 Newmarket School http://www.newmarket.school.nz 26