Hua Whenua for Matariki

A warming and inviting way to bring family and friends together to celebrate this very special date.

For generations, the Māori have relied on Matariki to plan their harvests. During this season, a cherished tradition is to come together and enjoy lovingly prepared kai (food) with our whānau (family), friends, and community.

Hua Whenua, also known as Friendship Soup, is a fantastic choice because everyone pitches in with ingredients from their pantry, fridge, or vegetable garden to create a large pot of hot, nourishing soup. Children can join in by helping gather and prepare the ingredients, which offers many opportunities to learn about Māori culture and taking care of Papatūānuku (the Earth mother).

In our version of Hua Whenua we went to our school garden to see what was ready to harvest: we found celery, kumura and some fresh herbs. We also invited everyone to bring a vegetable from home. While making the soup, we made sure to save all our vegetable peelings to feed them to our worms. This helps our vegetables grow better and tastier, and it reduces waste that would otherwise go to the landfill.

Harvesting our veggies

Let's see if we have everything for our soup?

  

We helped to peel all the veggies

Yummy, all done!!

Dished up and ready to eat!!

Perfect for the cold day!

Since Matariki is closely linked to Ranginui (the Sky father) and the stars, next time we will make tasty star-shaped croutons with cheese and herbs to accompany our soup. 

 

We used the Matariki Soup recipe from Twinkl.