Tautoru (Orions belt) and Te Kakau (Orion nebula) rising from Te Moana nui a Kiwa (Pacific Ocean).

Te Waka O Rangi is a canoe with Matariki at the front and Tautoru (Orion’s belt) at the back, captained by a star called Taramainuku. Te Kupenga a Taramainuku is the net of Taramainuku and every night the constellation is in the sky, Taramainuku casts his net down to earth to gather the souls of the people who died that day. He carries them along behind his waka for 11 months and then takes them to the underworld when the constellation sets next to the sun in May. The constellation rises again in a month and Taramainuku releases the souls of the dead into the sky to become stars. This is the origin of the saying ‘kua wheturangihia koe’/’you have now become a star’.

Dr Rangi Matamua

Taken 16 June 2020 7:26am