Matariki Service

Ngā mihi o te tau hou! Happy New Year!

Each year, and since 2016, Flagstaff Community Church has hosted a variety of events marking the season of Matariki. We enjoy bringing people together, singing, new learning and each year we pause to remember loved ones who have died and acknowledge loss. We highlight the importance of people, faith and caring for our good earth. We give thanks to God during this time of celebration and reflection.
These events are open to the wider community including a Matariki Celebration Church Service. We have provided some examples of what we do and what a service of worship might look like.

The main ingredient of a Matariki worship service is singing and kapa haka. We invite the local school kapa haka group including their whānau and Flagstaff Community Choir. The service is short which allows time for children’s activities and kai. The mihimihi at the beginning is appropriate to the region of Araiteuru (Otago).

All the activities are Matariki focused and we encourage the whole whānau to attend ensuring our activities and events are both inter-generational and age appropriate.

Additional Information

Matariki is acknowledged and celebrated differently in each region. We take our advice from Puaka Matariki Festival Komiti which provides the kaupapa unique to Ōtepoti Dunedin.
This information, including themes, dates and funding is available on our local City Council website each year.

We consult local kaumatua with all our events.

We take our inspiration from Matariki, Te Paipera (Holy Scripture) and we have tried to use te reo Māori appropriately. We may have made some errors, if so apologies, aroha mai. Matariki is becoming a favourite season on our yearly calendar.