In New Taipei, Māori creatives and Taiwanese Indigenous leaders gathered to celebrate Matariki, the Māori new year, with food, storytelling, music and shared values. Film producer Chelsea Winstanley and designer Kiri Nathan traveled to Taiwan to join locals in a celebration that honored both tradition and connection.
00:00Here in New Taipei City, Taiwanese and New Zealanders are gathering together to celebrate Matariki.
00:17Matariki is celebrated by New Zealand's indigenous Maori, and on their calendar, it marks the start of a new year.
00:23Matariki is the name they give to a renowned star cluster in the night sky, known in English as Pleiades.
00:30In the southern hemisphere, it disappears for a few weeks over winter, and when it reappears, it signals the start of a new year.
00:42Held at the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, people share food, gifts, stories, and each other's company, part of what the celebration is all about.
00:51This year, the event has been organised collaboratively between the new Taipei City Government and the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office.
00:58Held at the Taiwan Film and the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office.
00:59I think that today, there is a great feeling that Tai Niu both sides of the world are very confident to express themselves
01:07in their lives in their lives and in their business.
01:11I think that this kind of platform of both sides of the world is to be strong.
01:16Today, it's like that Tai Niu both sides of the world have a platform of both sides of the world.
01:20I think that this kind of platform of both sides of the world will be more confident in the future.
01:30Since it's seen as a new year, Matariki is also a time to honour the year that has passed,
01:39to both reflect and look forward to the future and set new intentions.
01:44Amongst the crowd was New Zealand filmmaker Chelsea Winstanley, recognised internationally as an Academy Award nominee for Best Motion Picture in 2020 for Jojo Rabbit.
01:54But within Aotearoa New Zealand, Winstanley is known for her Indigenous storytelling
02:06and has translated numerous Disney films into New Zealand's native language, te reo Māori.
02:11She shared her knowledge at the event and has been exchanging ideas the past week
02:15and attended Taipei Film Festival the previous evening.
02:18I was hoping I could come here to the Taiwan region, to Taipei,
02:23and create those long-lasting relationships with other storytellers and see what we could do together.
02:29To share a story with one another, being so far apart on the globe, you know, you're on opposite kind of sides,
02:36but to be able to do that together, to have that relationship has been beautiful.
02:41Another guest from New Zealand, Māori fashion designer Kitty Nathan.
02:45We took a trip to Ulai and to Ilan, and so we met with Indigenous weavers, Indigenous artists, and we just got to immerse ourselves in the culture and in the villages, which was beautiful.
02:59We went to Taipei Film Festival, which was insanely good. It was just the first of what I hope to be many trips back.
03:06The star cluster that has brought all these people together is located 440 light-years from Earth.
03:13The Matariki star cluster also connects Māori to other ancient and Indigenous cultures around the world,
03:19who all have similar tales about the stars as being sisters.
03:22In ancient Greek mythology, the stars represent the daughters of the Titan Atlas.
03:27In Japanese culture, it's known as Subaru, meaning unite.
03:32Kritika in India, and then Makali in Hawaii, who also see its rise as the start of a new year.
03:38The cluster also features in some of Australians' Indigenous peoples' stories.
03:43It puzzles historians how such similar beliefs were formed across cultures, some of which have no evidence of interacting.
03:50With knowledge shared, new friendships formed and others deepened,
03:54this event symbolises some of the integral parts of both New Zealand's Māori culture and that of Taiwan.
04:01Connection, kindness, and looking at the world a little differently.
04:06Patrick Chen and Lauren Padamore in New Taipei City for Taiwan Plus.
