Preschoolers and siblings line up to hold their lanterns for the procession.
Kuaotunu Rudolf Steiner Kindergarten put on a magical evening for their preschool children and their families as well as their community – the Mataraki Lantern Festival last Tuesday evening, 22 July.
This is their own tradition – simple, gentle, participatory and they have been doing it for over 15 years, holding the evening when the weather suited. This year, the festival was postponed for almost a month due to bad weather, but a glorious night last Tuesday was their reward for waiting.
At 5.30pm, a traditional story telling of the creation of the stars of Matariki is told by one of the teachers. this year it was the head teacher, Tracey Buchanan. It is dramatic and some of the children know it by heart. The building is twinkling with little lights as is the pathway up to the kindergarten in Irishtown Road, Kuaotunu. The room is also dimly lit like stars, to enhance the power of the story. The children and their families are all so attentive and expectant.
Once the story is told, each pre-school child called by name and leaves the story telling area with their parents and siblings to pick up their Matariki lanterns. They hold them ever so carefully – each lantern is housing a real candle. There are enough lanterns for every child and most adults have brought their own lantern also flickering with real candle light.
There is more magic to come. A piper and resident of Kuaotunu, Phil Neilsen, begins playing his bagpipes and leads the lantern procession of about 60 people down the gentle slope to Irishtown Road, past the Kuaotunu General Store, across the main road, to process over the wee bridge to the Kuaotunu Reserve.
For this night, the darkness was all around but the last of the sunset sky glowed with orange and purple hues adding to the glow of processing lanterns. There were even twinkling lights on the bridge in preparation for this perfect night.
Phil piped the community procession to a prepared brazier fire where tables and barbeques awaited, ready to serve the traditional hot dog dinner. Jan, a new teacher to the pre-school, led the child in a thank you song for their pied piper and for the fun of the Matariki Lantern Festival.
30 minutes of good simple food, toasting marshmallows and just enjoying being together, concluded a magical evening for the people of Kuaotunu. Thank you to the Steiner Pre-school for sharing the magic of their Matariki celebrations, so simple, enchanting and so well planned.
Phil Neilsen finishes piping for the procession at the Kuaotunu Reserve; gathering around the brazier fire after the procession – ready for hotdogs. Below: Finn and Ruby Kaska with their candle lit lanterns; Tracey Buchanan, Head Teacher at the Steiner Kindergarten.
