Why Puanga is the star of this Matariki:

Māori ways of marking time are inherently place-based, whakapapa-based, and deeply rooted in the local knowledge of each hapū.

… we don’t just read the stars – we read the land, the tides, the birds, the trees and the wind. Puanga’s reappearance in the pre-dawn winter sky is just one tohu among many. It signals a time of pause, of remembering those who have passed and of planting seeds – literal and metaphorical – for what comes next.