Revitalising Māori astronomy

Māori ancestors possessed a wealth of astronomical knowledge that they referred to as tātai arorangi.

The knowledge was important for many aspects of daily life, from growing crops, fishing and navigation to telling time and the change of seasons.

For example, Māori used the stars to calculate the season and time. This was done by viewing the various stars that rose in the morning just before the Sun came up. Because the stars rise 4 minutes earlier every day, the star that sits on the horizon will let you know what season it is. So if it’s winter, Takurua will be the star that comes up just before the Sun, and in the summer, it’s Rehua.

The Māori knowledge framework was based around whakapapa kōrero – spoken narratives that held a lot of philosophical and technical information. Some knowledge was also recorded in art forms like carvings and passed down in waiata (song).

With the arrival of Europeans and colonisation in the mid 1700s, much of this information was lost or reinterpreted as mythology or history – as opposed to the science that it was.

Te whāinga – the goal

In 2009, a group of people came together with a shared goal to preserve and revitalise Māori star lore. The diverse group was made up of astronomy enthusiasts, academics such as astrophysicist Dr Pauline Harris, master carver Dr Takirirangi Smith and master navigators Hekenukumai Busby and Jack Thatcher.

Together, a group was formed – the Society of Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions (SMART). SMART is working to collate knowledge from different iwi around the country and from archival sources.

Solution

A lot of knowledge is held by kaumātua and within early accounts of Māori. The SMART team are seeking out this knowledge and unpacking the scientific observations.

We’ve got people looking for new planets and new galaxies, and we need to be part of that. Now, our ancestors, they travelled into the heavens to place the stars. That’s part of who we are, and I don’t think that we should be content perhaps just to maintain our traditional knowledge, but understand that and also merge that together with the greater science community.

Alongside their work in cultural preservation, SMART is also revitalising tātai arorangi. One aspect of this revitalisation is the combining of tātai arorangi with current astronomical research. The other is sharing the knowledge with present and future generations.