Matariki

Two weeks ago we had a school Hangi to celebrate Matariki.
Matariki is a time of year when we celebrate the Maori New Year. If the stars are shining brightly, it means it will be a good year for growing crops. If they're not so easy to see it will be a bad year.
We dug a hole behind the P.E. shed and Thursday just before school we started a fire with Irons in it to heat them up for the Hangi. At lunch time they put the Irons into the Hangi and started putting the baskets of kai in. They then covered it up with soil and dirt. (The food was covered with foil and old rags.) They uncovered it at about 5:30 pm to have it for dinner.
When they uncovered they found that some of the food wasn't cooked properly, so they told all the parents and children to go and heat it up in their ovens.
They did a lantern walk with lanterns the children made in class on the end of their torches.