Waitangi Day

Yesterday was Waitangi Day. 

 

After many years living in New Zealand, we’re still getting our heads around Waitangi Day in our family. On the one hand, Jake and I were born in the UK so we didn’t learn New Zealand history at school. What we do know about the Treaty of Waitangi, we’ve picked up from the media, from books, and more recently from Molly who has learnt about it at school.

Waitangi Day would be as close as it gets to having a National Day in New Zealand. But it’s a unique sort of public holiday and New Zealanders have many different opinions about Waitangi Day and the Treaty.

I’ve heard plenty of Kiwis say that Waitangi Day for them is just a day off and the chance to go to the beach or go shopping (many of the big retailers have Waitangi Day Sales).

But I know for others it’s a very important national day, a day for celebration and a day for reflection on the nation and land rights and Maori culture and politics etc.

The Treaty has its problems (mostly caused by translation issues) but having lived in other countries which arguably should have signed a Treaty long ago (but didn’t) I can see how it’s shaped New Zealand in a generally pretty positive way.

Last year we stood at the waterfront and watched the official Waitangi Day celebrations: the speeches, Kapa Haka groups, bands and storytellers. 

This year we went the other way and spent the whole morning in a shopping mall knocking off as many birthday items as possible from our shopping list, and then we headed down to the beach. Jake went for an ocean swim while the kids pottered around searching for sea creatures (and found Molly's favourite, cushion starfish!). 

 For me as an ex-pat, both ways are based on celebrating what New Zealand is all about. It’s an amazing country and Waitangi Day is a big reminder to us of why we are so lucky to live here.