Kiwis celebrate Waitangi Day 2012

From North Cape to southern Stewart Island, each Kiwi community has its own unique local way of celebrating New Zealand’s national day - Waitangi Day - on 6 February.

While the formal national commemoration takes place at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds - on pohutukawa-fringed lawns overlooking the boat-filled Bay of Islands - many other celebrations around the country reflect laid-back outdoor Kiwi summer life.

Gatherings planned for 2012 offer heaps of summer happenings inspired by the great outdoors, food, music, sport, and Māori culture - ranging from a giant beachside hangi and Māori kai food festival, to outdoor concerts and kite-flying contests in urban and country settings.

There’s even an amateur rocketeers’ day out on a Waikato farm, and Stewart Island’s Islanders vs the Mainlanders rugby match attracts international players and a rowdy local crowd.

Treaty of Waitangi
The annual holiday marks the 1840 signing of New Zealand’s founding document - the Treaty of Waitangi - which brought together representatives of the British Crown and more than 500 Māori chiefs.

Waitangi Day / Te Rā o Waitangi was first officially commemorated in 1934, and it has been a public holiday since 1974.

Many celebrations focus on cultural diversity, and the ever-increasing range of ethnic communities that flavour 21st century New Zealand.

Others celebrate with family events - heading to the beach, country race days, or taking part in sports events like the Wellington Sevens with its cast of thousands of costumed rugby fans.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds
The national celebration at Waitangi usually features Māori waka / canoes, the NZ armed services and re-enactments of events around the Treaty signing.

Celebrations will follow tradition with a dawn service and flag raising ceremony in the Treaty grounds, as well as cultural displays and an aerobatic display by the New Zealand Air Force Red Chequers.

The Waitangi Festival - a three-day event during the long weekend - will include concerts by high profile Kiwi musicians and the national ki-o-rahi championships. Ki-o-rahi predates rugby and is a traditional pre-European Māori ball game that is played on a circular field with swift inter-passing of a ki / ball woven from flax.

Auckland - Waitangi Day Festival
Auckland will celebrate with two big Waitangi Day family events - featuring music, Māori food, and art - that will take place in a South Auckland park and in a bush clearing near the West Coast surf beach of Muriwai.
Top Kiwi musicians Anika Moa, Moana & the Tribe, Pacific Curls, Nat Rose, and Majic will be on the programme at Muriwai, along with local artists participating in a special Waitangi Day exhibition.

Further south, the Toi o Manukau Waitangi Day Family Celebrations will include an exciting mix of live music from top artists, arts and crafts and free children’s activities. This event aims to raise awareness and understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty through sharing arts, crafts, music and food.

Waikato - Kawhia Kai Festival
Meanwhile in the Hamilton Waikato region - just south of Auckland - a huge traditional Māori food festival will draw thousands of eager foodies looking for an authentic culinary experience.

Kāwhia Kai Festival, acknowledged by Lonely Planet as one of the top Māori attractions in New Zealand, is a full celebration of the indigenous culture with particular focus on native foods.

Locals call the coastal town of Kāwhia ‘kai food heaven’ because of the plentiful supplies of seafood and wild game, and festival-goers feast on wild pork, a wide array of New Zealand shellfish as well as mud snails.

Each year more than 2500 kono / traditional flax baskets are specially woven to serve up portions of delicious hangi kai which has been cooked in a series of gigantic underground ovens - often required to feed more than 10,000 visitors.

Kāwhia, a coastal town in the central North Island of New Zealand, is the spiritual home of the Māori Tainui tribe and the resting place of their waka / ceremonial canoe.

Wellington - waterfront celebrations
Local Māori iwi / people will host Wellington’s Waitangi Day celebrations on the waterfront near the striking Wharewaka / canoe house - opened last year to house the capital city’s ceremonial Māori canoe.

The day will begin with a formal opening and traditional salute by kaihoe / paddlers on the Te Rerenga Kōtare and Te Hononga canoes. This will be followed by a concert, Māori / Kiwiana-themed food, craft stalls and story telling.

In nearby Waitangi Park, there will be a ki-o-rahi Māori rugby tournament which should please the thousands of rugby fans in town for the annual NZ International Sevens Tournament.

Christchurch - Waitangi Day market
Christchurch is planning a big combined farmers' and artisan market to celebrate Waitangi Day in the grounds of Riccarton House and Bush with a programme that includes live music, coffee, cold beer on tap, fresh produce, and local crafts.

On nearby Banks Peninsula, at historic Okains Bay, the tiny local village turns out to celebrate with a Māori hangi, a ceremonial Māori waka / canoe outing on the river, traditional games and family activities.

The stars for the day are two ancient wooden waka. Usually housed in the Okains Bay Museum, the huge three-ton craft make an impressive sight as they are paddled up the Opara Stream to the landing area.

Apart from the waka, the museum holds an extensive collection of valuable Māori taonga / treasures - including smaller waka-titi which were used for fishing and eeling. Other treasures include weapons of war, Māori cloaks and practical elements of everyday Māori life.

The museum is part of an historic local precinct comprising the shop, church, library and school dating from the 1870s.

Queenstown - Shotover Sunshine Festival
The southern resort of Queenstown is planning an inaugural Waitangi Day in the Park, with a line-up of music, cultural activities such as flax weaving, Māori language and storytelling, musical performances, a hangi and a sausage sizzle.

Background: Waitangi Day
February 6 marks the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi - New Zealand's founding document.
Waitangi Day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and has been a public holiday since 1974.

Official celebrations at Waitangi commence at the Te Tii marae, where political dignitaries are welcomed onto the marae to hear speeches from the local iwi / tribe. These speeches often deal with the issues of the day, and vigorous and robust debate occurs.

Communities throughout New Zealand celebrate Waitangi Day in a variety of ways, often with public concerts and festivals. Some maraes hold open days that offer educational experiences promoting Māori culture and protocol.

Since Waitangi Day is also Bob Marley's birthday, reggae music is especially popular at concerts.
As Waitangi Day is a public holiday, occurring during the warmest part of the New Zealand summer, many people take the opportunity to spend the day at the beach.