"New Zealand is not a small country but a large village." – Peter Jackson

Date: February 6th, 2018

Occasion: Waitangi Day

Country: New Zealand

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XLI | Into The Shire

In a land far, far away, you will find the place which shall not be passed, and where the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe reside.

That wonderful place? It's called New Zealand, and no, the things listed above are not the only factors which define us as a country. Let me tell you about the time a bunch of white guys made a pact with some Māori natives, and how the exchange miraculously did not end in bloodshed.

Shall we visit the Shire and see the real history behind the land where it's located?

I liked my description about the white guys meeting natives more, but the document is formally called the Treaty of Waitangi. It's the reason why people like me can live on this luscious, green land today. Well, actually, some of the land is a bit yellowed now. Too much sun exposure.

So, pre-1840 was a wild ride for New Zealand residents. Aotearoa, which is the Māori name for New Zealand, was the largest habitable land mass to be discovered in recent times. We're a hella young country. Captain James Cook, one of the aforementioned white guys, was the first person to discover this land mass on what was probably considered the edge of the world.

I mean, some people still thought the earth was flat at the time. I'm sure the only reason why they didn't sail further to hang with the Antarctic penguins was because they thought they'd fall right off the edge.

So, Captain Cook discovered these two islands about a century before the treaty was signed, but it took these British guys several decades to figure out everything about New Zealand. Most of the land was occupied by wildlife, but there were also tribes of natives who had distinctly darker skin, and in those times, that was not usually not taken well.

However, this story doesn't take a dark turn. Unlike the founding stories for some other countries, discrimination was actually not much of an issue here. Of course, there were some Europeans who shied away from the Māori, but most of them had taken a liberal view, due to the worldwide reduction of slavery at the time, and accepted the Māori with open arms.

Well, sort of. Even though the Europeans had no issue with their skin colour, there were disagreements about land ownership. Once Brits began to invade, uh, I mean, settle in New Zealand, they needed more land. But, the Māori became less willing to give away the land they'd found, fair and square. I don't blame them. It's like, get out of my private space, right?

So came the Treaty of Waitangi, a signed document that secured British sovereignty over New Zealand. Ugh, I'm having flashbacks about learning this in social studies. If only someone could put Waitangi Day into a rap musical format and make it easier to learn. There's only so much history I can take before I want to stomp on my brain. I suppose that's what this article is for, to take boring history and twist it until it becomes interesting.

Anywho, back to the 1840s. One of the Europeans, William Hobson, was tasked with preparing the treaty and writing it out so it looked official. Another Brit, Henry Williams, translated the document into Māori overnight, with the help of his son. The Māori debated the treaty for a day or so before signing it on February 6th, which, you guessed it, is Waitangi Day in the present.

Also, yes, Māori is indeed a language. Here in the land of the long white cloud, we have three official languages. English, Māori, and sign language.

Fun fact, our National Anthem is sung in both English and Māori, and we're forced, I mean, asked, to sing it heaps in primary school. After that, they stop caring. We're too busy trying to pass our horrendous NCEA exams, or Cambridge, or IB, or whatever it is these days. May I just add that NCEA sucks? Well, it does. Three exhausting years of my life I'll never get back.

Right, yeah, the treaty. So, the treaty was signed by almost everyone in both the European and Māori parties, though some people refused. The majority still voted yes, though, so the treaty was put into place later that year.

The treaty meant that Britain had sovereignty over New Zealand, so Queen Elizabeth II is also our queen, even though we're independent from Britain in every other way. The Brits got full rights to the land that the Māori were willing to sell, while the Māori got full ownership of the land that they didn't want to sell. Over the years, trade with other countries started to occur.

Now, full disclosure here, New Zealand was not the most racially diverse country at the time. I mean, it's not like Europe, where you can start in Germany and drive to the Netherlands in a couple of hours. If you start in New Zealand, you end in New Zealand. Or, you somehow drive into the sea. Have fun drowning. The point is, we're geographically isolated as heck.

So, back to the racial diversity part, it took a while for more immigrants to seek New Zealand as their new home. The country had just been established. Not that many people knew about it.

But, since it's far easier to gain citizenship in New Zealand than another certain country I can think of, immigration increased. Case in point, me. I gained Kiwi citizenship in five years. You just need to be a good person and speak decent English. No joke, those are legit the only requirements. If you think I'm kidding, check the website for yourself.

There's no such thing as an Independence Day here, since we sneakily inched our way out of the Brits' grasp, rather than having one glorious day of revolution. Also, rest assured, the Treaty of Waitangi remains in place. However, we're still an independent country. The only obvious evidence that remains of our relation to Britain is our flag.

If you search up a picture of the New Zealand flag, there's a Union Jack in the corner, which you may recognise as the flag of Britain. Oh, and our flag is the one with the four red stars, by the way. Not the similar looking flag with the white stars. That's for our neighbours, the Aussies.

Another fun fact, a few years back, our government wasted several million dollars trying to change a flag that no one wanted to change. So, congrats, government, you played yourself. Now, can you please put more effort into our education systems, thanks?

Right, so, that leads to Waitangi Day. It was officially established in 1974 as a public holiday. To be honest, many people don't treat it as anything more than a day off. I used to just be happy that I got to skip a day of school. However, there are loads of super cool traditions and festivals going on at the time, most of which can be watched on the Māori television channel.

The official celebrations are held at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Islands, but there are loads of other celebrations up and down the country. It's the only day of the year when Māori ancestry is truly celebrated, so we make it pretty special.

At Waitangi, there are tonnes of cultural performances. You ever heard of the haka? If you've ever seen a New Zealand rugby team play, you may be familiar with it. It's a dance, of sorts, but a dance designed to assert dominance. Well, the mens' part can be aggressive. The women actually dance. The haka always occurs at some point on Waitangi Day. It's a tradition.

In most, if not all New Zealand schools, there's a thing called kapa haka, which is a group you can join where you learn haka routines. It was compulsory to participate in kapa haka when I was in primary school. Of course, like I said, when we reached high school, we stopped caring since we were busy trying not to collapse under the weight of a thousand exam papers.

There are also Waitangi Day speeches from Māori and Pākehā representatives. Pākehā means Europeans in Māori, but it basically refers to all non-Māori. So, even though I'm Asian, I'm still a Pākehā.

Waitangi Day also gives a shoutout to Māori mythology, which is indeed a thing that exists. Another traditional symbol of New Zealand is the waka, a wooden canoe, which originated from Māori myths, but was later used to navigate the oceans. The Ngatokimatawhaorua is one of the largest ceremonial wakas. It sits at Waitangi, where it's carried to the shore each February 6th to be blessed by members of the local iwi, which is the Māori word for tribe.

By the way, have fun pronouncing Ngatokimatawhaorua. Better yet, have fun pronouncing Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, the longest place name in the world. It's even in the Guinness Book of Records, so it's official. Boom.

In other parts of the country, there are Waitangi celebrations galore. For example, Auckland, which foreigners often mistake as the capital of New Zealand, much to our frustration. Our capital is Wellington, people! That's where the Beehive is.

Side note, does every country have mysterious names for their government buildings? I mean, the United States has the Pentagon. We have the Beehive. Where else?

Right, yes, back to Auckland celebrations. There are festivals with heaps of live entertainment, food, and kite flying, which is actually a big deal here. When I was a kid, I used to fly kites all the time. So did everyone else. I have no idea why, but they did.

Aside from the festivals, there are also chill ways to celebrate Waitangi, such as picnics, food stalls, rodeos, sporting events, and more. Auckland lit up the Harbour Bridge with tons of LED lights this year, which was pretty cool. There are also audio-visual displays of Māori imagery and sounds around the city.

Wellington takes a more traditional approach in celebrating Waitangi by retelling Māori myths, weaving flax baskets, which gives me even more flashbacks to primary school, and building wakas. Also, you guessed it, kapa haka. Seriously, it's everywhere. You can't escape kapa haka.

So, those are the basics of it. I could've gone into more detail with the myths, and explained the celebrations of each city, but I don't want to keep you here for too long. I'm sure you've got better things to do, like trying to pronounce the longest place name in the world.

To sum up this overload of information, New Zealand is a wonderful place to live, and we spend too much money on pointless things like trying to change our flag, or changing the city name of Hamilton to, shudder, Kirikiriroa. Thus, on Waitangi Day, we respect our Māori-centric history and celebrate the roots of New Zealand as we know it today.

I need to take the hobbits to Isengard, so peace out, stay humble, and try a Pineapple Lump if you get the chance.