I have never celebrated Matariki before this year. I saw an advertisement from the Porirua City Council to do a body balance class under the Matariki stars at the Te Rauparaha Arena. It blew my mind as to how beautiful the room had been set up and the instructor took us through some of the basic history of Matariki and the what each of the 9 stars were called. For someone who has not been brought up with the history/meaning of Matariki this was such a unique and great intro for myself and I cannot wait for next year to immerse myself into learning more about the history and culture.