Take Katikati’s Long Park Rd as far as it can deliver you. To that beautiful place, the reserve, Te Whareorahi, just on dawn, at 5.30am on Friday, June 20.

Then gaze into the dark and distant northeastern sky, just above the horizon, beyond Matakana Island and Kauri Point.

And, with a little goodwill from the weather gods, up she will come. The open cluster. The stars of Matariki. A constellation of at least nine stars visible to the naked eye. The rising of Matariki, signalling the Māori New Year.

“Spectacular and spiritual,” said Western Bay Museum manager Paula Gaelic, who is one of the collaborative community partners organising the third Katikati Matariki dawn service at the reserve.

But right this minute, it seems the universe has delivered a personal and private preview of the light show. Gaelic’s in the museum explaining her own Matariki experience, eyes nearly closed and arms extended in supplication of sorts. She is in the moment.

“It’s not just a sunrise and stars. It’s something much deeper. Cuts right into the soul.” And she wants you to share her own “very special, hugely important” experience at the Katikati Dawn Matariki Service very early on the morning of Friday, June 20.

A revelation

“Come along and have your attitude, your mind, your understanding changed for all time.” Gaelic did. Her first Matariki dawn service was a revelation and a time of learning.

“I always referred to the cluster as ‘the pot’. It looked like a pot until it was explained to me that it’s the prow of the waka. And you can easily see the shape of the waka. Not ‘the pot’ any more. It changed my whole appreciation.”

The ‘pot’ is understandable because Matariki was traditionally used to gauge the coming season’s crops. A bright, clear showing of the cluster signals abundance. There’s also connection with the cycle of life and death and is a time for reflection, remembrance and planning.

And after the dawn service, Gaelic did go home and reflect. And set goals. “It’s a really nice feeling. Lovely.” And for some experiencing Matariki, the outcomes are surprising and inspirational. “Many will want to learn te reo Māori.”

Rich diversity

It is a time for community, according to Hone Winder-Murray of Katikati’s Te Rereatukahia Marae. “When we look to the future, when we envision the world each of our communities aim to build for our children and mokopuna, it is celebrations like Matariki that help bring those aspirations to life.”

And, Winder-Murray said, it also recognises the rich diversity of people who call Katikati home. “For us, and Matariki, there’s no better feeling.”

A significant part of that diversity is the Ulster connection, the Northern Irish who settled Katikati 150 years ago, come September.

As a community, the collaborative partners decided Matariki was an appropriate time to celebrate the Irish connection as well. “Because it is about community unity,” said Gaelic.

It’s a decision acknowledged at the highest diplomatic levels. Because Long, both the Ambassador of Ireland to New Zealand, Jane Connelly, and representatives of the British High Commission will follow a light trail across the Park Rd Reserve to the site of Katikati’s Matariki dawn ceremony.

There, alongside Katikati folk, they will rug up, huddle round the braziers, listen to a karakia (prayer) and cultural explanation of Matariki and celebrate “an event worth coming together for”, according to Winder-Murray.

Then the hot chocolate, the kai, the whānau and friends and a whole Māori New Year to build on.