09/07/2026
This Friday, 10 July, marks a uniquely Aotearoa New Zealand celebration - Matariki. It begins with the rising of the Pleiades star cluster in the Southern hemisphere and marks the start of the Māori New Year.
It’s a time built around three simple, beautiful ideas: remembering those who’ve passed, celebrating those still with us, and looking ahead with hope.
The remembrance part is the one that sits closest to my heart, and closest to why Vaso exists. During Matariki, whānau (family) speak the names of those they’ve lost aloud, under the stars, as an act of love and continuity. There’s something in that ritual, naming someone, out loud, on purpose, that feels exactly like what we try to hold space for here too. Not as an ending, but as a thread that keeps going eternally.
One of the nine stars in the Matariki cluster, Pōhutukawa, is specifically associated with those who have died — a quiet, built-in reminder that grief and joy aren’t opposites at Matariki. They sit side by side, the way they so often do in real life.
However you’re marking Matariki this year, with kai, with whānau, with quiet reflection, or all three – we hope it’s a special one.
Mānawatia a Matariki.
– Bridgit, Vaso founder
