Harakeke Basket

                                              

The past few days our class has been making a flax basket for Matariki. First we each got a big piece of flax each and we had to make it into twelve strips. First we had to put seven of the strips down and weave the other five in it. Then we had to make the handle we used the side with seven, you had to fold parts down and eventually you were left with three. I tied them off and then did the same to the other side. Then I went back to the other side and took the middle piece and folded it over to the other side. I took the middle piece from the other side and folded it over like the other one. Then I took the two pieces from the sides and I folded them around the handle and used a small thin strip of flax to tie the ends off. the I gathered all of the flax that was on one side and tied it to look kind of like one side of a boat. Then I did the same with the other side and it was finished. My favourite part about this was pulling the flax into pieces because it felt relaxing. This was important because it was the way that our school showed that we celebrate Matariki

Do you celebrate Matariki?