[1] According to Māori tradition, Tāwhirimātea, the god of wind and weather, was enraged by the separation of heaven and earth – his parents, Ranginui and Papatūānuku.

[2]: 19  In Hawaiʻi, the rising of Makaliʻi in November ushers in the four-month season Makahiki, which honours Lono, the god of agriculture and fertility.

[2]: 15 To the ancient Greeks, the Pleiades contained nine stars: the parents Atlas and Pleione, positioned to one side of the cluster, and their seven daughters Alcyone, Maia, Taygeta, Electra, Merope, Celaeno and Sterope.

[2] The manuscript of Rāwiri Te Kōkau passed on to Rangi Mātāmua recognised nine stars in Matariki, adding Pōhutukawa and Hiwa-i-te-Rangi (also known just as Hiwa) to make a total of eight children, five of which were female and three male.

[2]: 61 Traditional Māori culture was interwoven with astronomical knowledge, with constellations and the lunar cycle used for navigation, planting and harvesting, delineating the seasons, and marking the spawning and migration of fish.

[2]: 75 Because of the frequent poor weather in winter, the viewing of Matariki was spread across the three or four nights of Tangaroa to increase the chance that the stars would be clearly seen.

[10] The colour, brightness, and distinctiveness of each star in Matariki would be assessed, and forecasts made according to each of their associations: for example, if Tupu-ā-rangi did not shine clearly then hunters would expect a poor catch of birds in the coming season.

After the forecasts for the year had been read from the stars, the deceased were invoked with tears and song in a ceremony called te taki mōteatea ("the reciting of laments").

[2]: 63  Traditionally, Māori believed that the spirits of the dead were collected during the year and at the setting of Matariki in the month of Hautara they were led into the afterlife.

The reasoning was that Matariki, after shepherding the spirits of the dead up from the underworld and turning the sun back from the winter solstice, would be weak and in need of sustenance.

[2]: 69–70  The food was chosen to correspond with the domains of the stars in Matariki: these might include kūmara for Tupuānuku, a bird for Tupuārangi, freshwater fish for Waitī, and shellfish for Waitā.

[14] Te Rangi Huata of Ngāti Kahungunu began in 2000 an annual Matariki celebration in Hastings, which attracted 500 people, which reached 15,000 in 2001.

[2]: 88 Since then it has increasingly become common practice for people – Māori and non-Māori – and institutions such as schools, libraries, and city councils to celebrate Matariki in a range of ways.

[18] In 2017 Wellington City Council announced they would cancel the Sky Show fireworks held on Guy Fawkes Night for 22 years, and move them to a Matariki cultural festival from July 2018.

[19] The celebrations have taken place over the period of a week or month, anywhere from early June to late August, but increasingly coincide with the winter solstice or the traditional dates of Matariki.

[20][21] Earlier on 30 April, President of French Polynesia Moetai Brotherson in a session with his Council of Ministers agreed to make their local counterpart Matariʻi as an official public holiday on November 20th in place of Internal Autonomy Day on June 29th inspired by the success of the celebrations in Aotearoa following a proposal by its Minister of Culture Eliane Tevahitua;[22] the act would be implemented officially on 2025.

"[30] In July 2020, Laura O'Connell Rapira delivered two combined petitions calling for Matariki to be made a public holiday that were signed by 30,000 people.

[31] On 7 September 2020, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pledged to make Matariki a public holiday if the Labour Party were re-elected in the 2020 general election.

[35][36] On 2 July 2021, the day the constellation rose, Ardern announced the proposed dates of the holiday for the next 30 years, as determined by a Matariki Advisory Group drawn from iwi across the country.

During the debate, the National and ACT parties expressed concerns about creating a 12th public holiday; claiming that it would cost NZ$450 million and have a negative impact on businesses.

The Bill's sponsor Kiritapu Allan defended Matariki, arguing that public holidays reduced employee burnout and stress while boosting hospitality and tourism.

[49] Due to its proximity between King's Birthday and Labour Day, concerns were made regarding overcommercialisation of Matariki in terms of appropriating the extended public holiday as an opportunity for shopping events,[50][51] such as the sale of fireworks.

[51] There are concerns regarding the impact of commercialisation on Matariki in the future, potentially associating the holiday with binge-drinking instead of time with whānau (family) as intended.