Posts related to Christchurch City Libraries monthly theme for June 2010, Celebrating Winter
Kete Christchurch is a collection of photographs and stories about Christchurch and Canterbury, past and present. Anyone can join and contribute.
A Luncheon Interval On Mt Sebastopol While On A Ski Trip At Mount Cook National Park
Matariki – the Māori New Year – will take place on 6-9 July 2018. During Matariki we celebrate our unique place in the world. We give respect to the whenua on which we live, and admiration to our mother earth, Papatūānuku.
Matariki 2018 at Christchurch City Libraries continues the theme of ‘Te Iwa o Matariki – the Nine stars of Matariki’, this year with a focus on Toitū Ngā Mahinga Kai o Matariki – Sustainable natural resources of Matariki: Tupuānuku, Tupuārangi, Ururangi.
During June in the lead up to Māori New Year we’ll be offering a range of whānau-friendly celebrations and activities at our libraries.
Each year a community art project runs in our libraries for all to explore their creative side. This year the project is create a replica manu tukutuku (traditional Māori kite). Materials are supplied, all you have to do is bring your creativity.
In addition to our normal Storytimes we have Matariki Storytimes. Come celebrate and welcome the Māori New Year with stories, songs, rhymes and craft activities. All welcome, free of charge.
See our list of Matariki Wā Kōrero – Matariki Storytimes.
Celebrate Matariki at our two free whānau fun days! We’ll have art activities, colouring competitions, storytelling, exploring the stars with Skyview and much more!
Aranui Library
Saturday 9 June
10am-1pm
Ōrauwhata: Bishopdale Library and Community Centre
Saturday 23 June
10am-1pm
Our Learning Centres are offering special Matariki Connect sessions for schools, introducing students to the key concepts of Te Iwa o Matariki, and involving a range of fun activities. This programme is now fully booked.
The Arts Centre invites you to come together as a community / whānau to celebrate Matariki 2018 with a variety of activities including a talk by Māori astronomer Dr Rangi Matamua, kapa haka, music and themed storytime sessions.
Ara will be having a whole programme of celebrations and activities 11-15 June across all of their campuses, including waiata, games, speakers, and food.
Pop along to the Bromley Community Centre to celebrate Matariki (Māori New Year)
Free entertainment, free activities, free tea and coffee, free fruit, plus affordable, yummy Māori kai available to purchase! Bromley School Kapa Haka Group will be performing at 4:30pm
4-7pm
Bromley Community Centre
45 Bromley Road
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū – Listen to a new story, The Stolen Stars of Marariki by Miriana Kamo and Zak Waipara, and then make your own Matariki mobile to take home. Ages 4-9. $5 per child, book online.
Organised by Avebury House, Avon-Ōtākaro Network and Richmond Community Garden. Guests are encouraged to contribute produce from their own garden or pantry, dropping off at Avebury House at 11am to contribute to the shared meal from 12 noon to 2pm. Please RSVP to let them know participant numbers and harvest contribution at: www.aveburyhouse.co.nz
Avebury House,
9 Eveleyn Couzins Ave
Richmond
Beginning on Monday 18th June at 5pm with a powhiri, this exhibition showcases contemporary and traditional art works by local Māori artists. Free Kapa haka classes will be held throughout the exhibition and follow the theme of the seven stars of Matariki. The classes offered this year are kite making, movies, waiata and a concert on the final night of Friday 6th July at 5pm.
The children’s activities will be held Tuesdays 4.30pm – 6.30pm & Fridays 5pm onwards throughout the exhibition.
Tuesday 19 June Kapa Haka arts storytelling
Friday 22 June Traditional Games
Tuesday 26 June Movie night
Friday 29 June Whānau movie night
Tuesday 3 July Kapa Haka arts storytelling
Friday 6 July Concert night.
There is no charge for classes however registrations are essential. Call 981 2881 to book. Children and families most welcome.
Eastside Gallery
388 Worcester Street
Gallery Hours:
Monday to Friday 11am – 4pm
Saturday 12pm – 3pm
Most art works will be for sale
Subscribe to the Facebook event.
Create nature inspired lanterns this Matariki at the Gardens. Combine twigs, leaves and paper to make LED candle lanterns and light up the chilly nights of Matariki. Limited places and parents and guardians will be required to help with construction. Please note that we will be using hot glue. This workshop is most suitable for 7 to 12 year olds, but all ages are welcome. Cost $5 per child.
10am to midday
Christchurch Botanic Gardens
Visitor Centre and Ilex Cafe
Rolleston Avenue
Celebrating Matariki at the Phillipstown Community Hub!
A family day with lots of activities, bouncy castle, face painting, carving, music, waiata, traditional sports, photo booths, arts & crafts, kapa haka, and – of course – kai!
11am-2pm
Phillipstown Community Hub
39 Nursery Road
Christchurch
Matariki celebrations at Rehua Marae – subscribe to the Facebook event.
Kai and craft stalls, entertainment from local kapa haka and Maori musicians, free workshops. Entertainment: Kaitaka Tupuna O Rehua, Nga Toi O Te Rangi, Lisa Tui, Nga Manu a Tane, Mahina Kaui, Te Ahikaaroa, Te Kotahitanga, and the Koro Band. Workshops (start at 11.30) include star weaving, miniature kite making, tiki making, lantern making,and poi making. Some workshops have limited spaces.
The mobile library van will also be on site.
11am-3pm
Rehua Marae
79 Springfield Road
Christchurch
A student led market with stalls, performances and lots of fun. All welcome.
2pm to 4pm
Haeata Community Campus
240 Breezes Road
The Matariki Night Markets will include:
4-10pm
The Arts Centre
2 Worcester Boulevard
Christchurch Central
Join rongoā practitioners as they celebrate Matariki the Māori New Year with a dawn karakia and tree planting as a symbol of new beginnings. The dawn planting will be followed by a hui with kai (bring a plate of food to share) and discussion of the plans for the next 12 months for this new park.
There will also second planting event at 10am. This planting event is suitable for families.
Rongoā Garden – Styx
565R Marshland Road
Ouruhia
Christchurch
At first glance there seems nothing remarkable about the swampy scrubland which lies in the shadow of Mount Harper on the northern banks of the Rangitata River. Separated from the valley road by the braided course of the river, it is easily bypassed by tourists, as they journey further inland to visit Mount Sunday, the filming location for Edoras in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is only when you closely examine the area using Google Maps satellite imaging that you notice an unusual circular patch of land. Long since overgrown, it shows signs of having been altered by human activity at some stage in its past.
A physical journey to the site, itself a difficult undertaking unless you are in possession of a boat or a 4WD, would offer more clues. There you would find the ruined remains of concrete culverts, causeways, bund walls, machinery, and buildings. These are the only reminders of a facility which, at one point, attracted up to 3,000 people in a single day; the Mount Harper ice rink.
Even at the beginning of the twentieth century, ice skating was already a well established pursuit for those who lived on the remote back country stations in the foothills of the Canterbury mountains. For early settlers in the nineteenth century, the winter months could be bleak and gloomy. One of the means of passing the time for those residing in the high country was ice skating. Newcomers to the region were told of lakes set further inland, which froze so hard during winter that a team of bullocks could be lead across the surface. Lake Ida, near Lake Coleridge, was one such popular destination for the sport.
“On either hand rose up, shear from the water’s edge, a great, barren, shingly mountain; before us loomed a dark pine forest, whose black shadows crept up until they merged in the deep crevasses and fissures of the Snowy Range.”
Prior to the construction of the Mount Harper rink in 1931 and 1932, ice skating in Canterbury had largely been confined either to these high country residents (some of whom made their own private rinks), or members of winter sports clubs (in 1930 the Canterbury Winter Sports Club began construction of an ice skating rink and toboggan run on Mount Cheeseman at the foot of the Craigieburn Range).
Although it was a pastime which couldn’t be so easily undertaken by the average citizen of Christchurch, it was still popular enough for a local industry to arise. By 1934 Ice skates were being manufactured locally at the firm of P. and D. Duncan who used boots made in Christchurch by Duckworth, Turner and Company Limited. It was in this same year that a synthetic ice skating rink opened in Christchurch on Kilmore Street opposite the Caledonian Hall (it is possible that it was not feasible to operate, as by 1936 it appears to have become a roller skating rink).
That outdoor skating was a popular activity for the people of Christchurch can be seen by a 1937 article in The Press which estimated that up to 600 people left the city every winter weekend to find suitable locations for skating.
The Mount Harper rink was constructed by Wyndham Barker (1886-1958). The son of a Rangitata farmer, he developed a passion for ice skating while living abroad in Europe. Upon returning to Canterbury, it seems he had a desire to raise the profile of the sport in New Zealand. His rink would differ from other rinks in that it was the first purpose built public ice skating rink in Canterbury, and possibly the southern hemisphere.
The rink was set on land leased from Mount Possession Station, in a cold location which remained without sun between the months of May to August. After the first rink failed to prove satisfactory, another was constructed. The number of rinks expanded until there were at least eight (though not all were successful at forming ice). Buses would bring visitors all the way from Christchurch, and after crossing the Rangitata River on a punt, they would initially take in their surroundings from the warmth of the ‘skate shed’ (in reality more of a clubhouse and cafeteria) before venturing out onto the ice. There they could enjoy not only skating but tobogganing, curling, and ice yachting. Floodlights were also installed for those who were willing to brave the chill and skate at night.
Perhaps the most significant sport performed at the rink was ice hockey. In 1937 Barker established the Erewhon Cup, an ice hockey tournament which continues to this day.
The Mount Harper rink continued to provide the people of Canterbury with an array of winter sport activities until it was finally closed to the public in the 1950s. Left to fall into ruin, it is now located within the Hakatere Conservation Park and administered by the Department of Conservation.
Despite the closure of the Mount Harper rink, the ice would soon come to Christchurch. When Victoria Lake in Hagley Park froze in 1945, it was followed by calls for a permanent artificial ice skating rink to be established in the city. In 1952 Centaurus ice rink opened at what is now 12 Centaurus Road, Cashmere. The rink operated until 1982 when it closed and was demolished. The location of the former rink became the site of Torvill and Dean Lane, which was named after British skaters, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics for ice dancing.
In 1985 the Alpine Ice rink opened on Brougham Street. Today, the venue is the home of the ice hockey team, the Canterbury Red Devils (formed in 2005).
Do you have any images of ice skating in Canterbury or of the former ice skating rinks which you would like to contribute to Kete Christchurch?
Matariki – the Māori New Year – will take place on Pipiri 25 June 2017. During Matariki we celebrate our unique place in the world. We give respect to the whenua on which we live, and admiration to our mother earth, Papatūānuku.
Matariki 2017 is a fresh look through old eyes at Māori oral traditions, practices and customs associated with the Māori New Year. Over the next three years the Christchurch City Libraries will be re-introducing ‘Te Iwa o Matariki – the Nine stars of Matariki’ beginning with Te Kātao o Matariki – the water stars of Matariki, Waipuna-ā-rangi, Waitī, Waitā.
Each year a community art project runs in all our libraries for all to explore their creative side. This year the project is weave a star. Materials are supplied, all you have to do is bring your creativity.
In addition to our normal Storytimes we have Matariki Storytimes. Come celebrate and welcome the Māori New Year with stories, songs, rhymes and craft activities. All welcome, free of charge.
See our list of Matariki Wā Kōrero – Matariki Storytimes.
Christchurch City Libraries and Kotahi Mano Kāika (KMK) host a family day at New Brighton Library. Activities will include:
a presentation relating to the book by Associate Professor Dr Rangi Matamua, Matariki, The Star of the Year.10:30am – 3pm
New Brighton Library
Matariki celebrations continue at Rehua Marae. Stalls, waiata, workshops for the whole family to enjoy. Pop in and say kia ora to staff from Christchurch City Libraries at our library stand/table.
10am-4pm
Rehua Marae
79 Springfield Road
Christchurch
Our Learning Centres are offering special Matariki Connect sessions for schools, introducing students to the key concepts of Te Iwa o Matariki with a focus on the three water stars, and involving a range of fun activities. This programme is now fully booked.
Organised by the Avon-Ōtākaro Network – a celebration of Matariki at the Mahinga Kai Exemplar site including the opening of the Poppies commemoration garden. Activities include –
10am-2pm
Anzac Drive Reserve
Corserland St (access of New Brighton Road)
Year 1-13 pupils can submit a written work (up to 2000 words) or artwork (maximum size A3) along the theme of “This is what the river told me”. Entries close 16 June and should be emailed (for artworks a photograph of the art and dimensions/media) to kathryn.avonotakaro@gmail.com
Please include your first and last name, age, school and year.
Download these colouring in pages.
Wow, we have some great knitting titles from the Scottish highlands and islands, and Scandinavia at our libraries.
Our Zinio for Libraries collection includes several knitting eMagazines that you can download for free and keep. PressReader has knitting magazines that you can view online. You will need your library card number and PIN/password.
Matariki – the Māori New Year – will take place on Pipiri 6 June 2016. During Matariki we celebrate our unique place in the world. We give respect to the whenua on which we live, and admiration to our mother earth, Papatūānuku.
Our theme for Matariki 2016 is Akoranga: Teaching and learning – Te Kete Aronui: Third kete of knowledge.
Come along to any library and learn about Te Kete Aronui. Take part in fun, Matariki-themed art and craft activities. Add your work to the community art space or take it home with you.
Join us and share stories, rhymes and songs themed around Matariki.
Suitable for tamariki aged 2 to 5 years. Sessions are 30 minutes with an art activity to follow.
See our list of Matariki Wā Kōrero – Matariki Storytimes.
Matariki storytime at Te Kete Wānanga o Ōraka. Shirley Library. Monday 16 June 2014.
Flickr 2014-06-16-DSC04495
Lots of creative fun – workshops, stalls, and waiata for the whānau to enjoy:
10am to 4pm
Rehua Marae
79 Springfield Road
St Albans
Browse all our Matariki events.
A Matariki event hosted by the Avon-Ōtākaro Network:
Come along to the red zone on the east side in Anzac Drive Reserve to celebrate Matariki.
Subscribe to the Facebook event for more information.
Download these colouring in pages.
Don’t miss this free, family fun day! Storytelling, Science Alive Star Dome, arts, crafts, 3D printing, virtual reality, kapa haka and more! Find out more.
11am to 2pm
Mohoao and Hao function rooms
Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre
341 Halswell Road
Subscribe to the Facebook event.
As winter drags on and we long for warm sunny days at the beach and outdoor entertaining around the bbq, consider this:
mulled wine or hot chocolate by the firesideCheck our catalogue for new winter cooking recipes from our books, DVDs, eBooks or magazines to help you create something to impress your family or friends and take your mind off the winter blues. Borrow a book on visiting one of our mountain resorts or ski areas. We also have books about various card games the whole family may enjoy.
Try a few of these ideas and before you know it Daffodil Day will be here and then the beautiful blossom will be sprouting on to the trees looking like popcorn and indicating that summer is on its way.
I know it’s hard to get excited about winter when there’s ice on the inside of your windows, but here’s something that should take your mind off your frozen toes!
Central Library Manchester and Central Library Peterborough are holding a joint Winter Reading Challenge which will run from now until the 20th of September this year. To be eligible to win some great prizes all you need to do is complete one line of winter reading challenges in any direction on your Winter Bingo card. Some challenges include:
Pick up and drop off your completed line or square to either Central Library Peterborough or Manchester and be in to win!
World Knit In Public Day was last Saturday (13 June), and to celebrate, Sally Blake (Riccarton High School Library Manager), Catherine Boyd and Heather Chambers (Upper Riccarton Library) joined 23 other crafters on the Orbiter Bus. Sally yarn-bombed a bike from the Eco Shed, which was put on the rack at the front of the bus, to advertise the event.
Photos by Sandy Brinsdon
We knitted, crocheted and had a hilarious time together. We comprised a core group from the Upper Riccarton Knit ‘n’ Stitch Group, complemented by friends, neighbours and new friends that found out about the event through Facebook. People stayed on the bus for one or two complete rounds, and it was such a resounding success, that it will be repeated next year.
See the Facebook event and more photos on Facebook.
Ko tēnei te wā o Matariki tāpuapua. It is the time of Matariki. Rāpare (Thursday) 18 Pipiri (June) 2015 is the start of the Māori New Year. Join the Christchurch celebrations at the Botanic Gardens on Sunday 21 June, and at Rehua Marae on Saturday 27 June.
Tell us in the comments what Matariki means to you, and then you are in the draw to win a Kobo Glo eReader! You can use your prize to enjoy our collection of eBooks and eMagazines.
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 
