Winter Solstice

Today, at 6:46 pm, marked the Winter Solstice - this is when the Sun is at its most Northerly point in the sky. At the middle of the day on June 21, it reaches its lowest altitude, from the Northern horizon, for the year.

In the Northern Hemisphere, most consider the solstices to mark the first day of a new season. In New Zealand (and some other countries of the Southern Hemisphere), however, the first day of the new season is generally considered to be the first day of the months of the Solstice (e.g., June 1st for winter). I was initially mistaken when I assumed the 21st to mark the first day of winter, as you will notice from blog comments. At any rate, I'm looking forward to days getting longer over the coming months.

Interestingly, Wellington is 42 degrees south of the equator and Boston (my home town) is 42 degrees north of the equator. Despite that, Wellington's maritime climate is remarkably mild with temperatures generally between 40 - 80 Fahrenheit.

Ka Mate, Ka Mate!

I went to Auckland for the weekend to watch the All Blacks play against England. The event started with a re-enactment of a battle which looked something like the Battle of Hastings, followed by the All Blacks' famous haka. The final score was the All Blacks 37 - England 20.

If you would like to try the haka at home, you better learn the words (NB: vowels are just like English long vowels, and the letters "wh" sound like a soft "f"):

Ringa pakia! (Slap the hands against the thighs!)
Uma tiraha! (Puff out the chest!)
Turi whatia! (Bend the knees!)
Hope whai ake! (Let the hip follow!)
Waewae takahia kia kino! (Stamp the feet as hard as you can!)

A, ka mate! Ka mate! ('Tis death! 'Tis death!)
Ka ora! Ka ora! ('Tis life! 'Tis life!)
Ka mate! Ka mate! ('Tis death! 'Tis death!)
Ka ora! Ka ora! ('Tis life! 'Tis life!)
Tēnei te tangata puhuruhuru (Behold! There stands the hairy man)
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra! (Who will cause the sun to shine!)
A upane! Ka upane! (One step upwards, another step upwards!)
A upane! Ka upane! (One step upwards, another step upwards!)
Whiti te rā! (The sun shines!)



Note: If you are looking for the Gingerbread Haka, watch this:

Matariki - Māori New Year

The Māori New Year just began, and is marked by the rising of a constellation of seven stars called "Matariki". There are two explanations of the name Matariki: mata-riki (small eyes) or mata-ariki (chiefly eyes). In Greek mythology, this same group of stars has been referred to as "the Pleiades" (the Seven Sisters).

For the Māori, the rising of Matariki signaled a time to celebrate and prepare the grounds for the next growing season. In the 21st century, New Zealanders celebrate in a variety of ways, including dances, songs, and plenty of hangi (food cooked in a ground oven).

Yesterday, I went to Te Papa museum to watch Torotoro, a dance troup from Auckland, perform

Soweto Gospel Choir

On Saturday night, Teki and I went to see the Soweto Gospel Choir perform in Wellington. The show was spectacular and reminded me of days spent with Mark and Bridget in South Africa a few years ago.