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Mānawatia a Matariki! Celebrating Matariki, our way, in our language

Olivia Author Photo
By Olivia Shivas

For Tamara Grant, Matariki signals a calling to come together with whānau and celebrate neurodiverse ways of understanding a time of reflection.

  • Mānawatia a Matariki! Celebrating Matariki, our way, in our language
    Olivia Shivas
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  • Matariki holds a deeper significance than just a holiday for Tamara Grant (Ngāti Tūwharetoa). “For me, it's a way to bless your next year, [be] thankful for your current year, and a way for you to connect yourself to your ancestors, to your whakapapa and to your whānau,” she says. 

    As an autistic person, Matariki is also a time of connectivity for Grant in other ways. She’s “very affected by the energies” around her, especially at Matariki.

  • “Having the energy and having the stars, our ancestors, everything's aligned for this time for us to really embrace this year and to ground ourselves.” 

  • This Matariki, Grant is hosting a gathering. As the founder of Xabilities, Aotearoa's first neurodiversity centre made by and for neurodiverse people, Grant has designed the celebration to be a neurodiverse-friendly environment for all whānau attending.

    Through engaging presentations, videos, cartoons and dyslexic-friendly written materials, she aims to provide an experience where other neurodiverse people can "learn about it in our language". “I really want [people who attend] to go back and be like, ‘Wow, I understand what Matariki is’, not that it's just a holiday.” Creating an environment where neurodiverse whānau can experience Matariki in ways that resonate for them “helps people think, feel, and move without fear of judgement to reach their full potential,” she says.

    Grant’s aspirations for the next year are for neurodiverse people to have a better quality of life. Matariki is a time for reflection and a reaffirmation of purpose. For her, it’s “a time to remind us of why we're doing this, and that's also why having a social celebration is so important at Matariki and being around your whānau,” she says. 

    It always comes back to connecting with whānau. 

  • “My whānau at Xabilities is the neurodiverse people, so reminding myself of who my people are, where I come from, and in regards to that I'm not alone being neurodiverse, and that my people aren't alone.”

  • Event: Celebrating Matariki with Xabilities
    When: Thursday 13 July, 2023 
    Time: 12pm-2pm
    Location: Shore Junction, 19 Northcote Road, Takapuna, Auckland
    For more information, including contact details, visit Xabilities.com

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