Hands on Tauranga offers students stimulating and original learning opportunities with real museum objects that support the New Zealand curriculum at primary and secondary school level.
The Seven Kites of Matariki is a story that imagines why the stars in the cluster called Matariki can be seen in an early morning sky, low on an eastern horizon.
"It was deep mid-winter and all through the village preparations were being made to farewell the old year and greet the new. For the first time ever, the seventh little sister, Ururangi, was big enough to make her own celebration kite. But when the seven sisters take the finished kites to fly them, the east wind whips them all away into the sky ...where they now appear as the stars of Matariki to welcome the Maori new year."
Date published: May 2016
Author:Calico McClintock
Illustrator: Dominique Ford
subject area: The Arts, Languages, Taonga, te reo Māori
subject themes: Matariki, manu tukutuku
handling collection number: HC250
Why not borrow our manu tukutuku (kites) to complement your reading of this pukapuka
https://www.handsontauranga.co.nz/hot-items/taonga/manu-tukutuku-hc153/
You can also listen to this story on the Radio New Zealand Story Time website
https://storytime.rnz.co.nz/book/the-seven-kites-of-matariki/
