Are We Really Kiwi As When It Counts?

July 4. Disneyland. I queued for the Alice in Wonderland Tea Cup ride with my family and marvelled at the sea of red, white and blue around us. There was a family of six in front. Each and every one of them wore a ‘Faded Glory’ t-shirt, white wash with stars and stripes flying across the front.

January 26. Bondi Beach. The sand was speckled with gold and green sports shirts and Australian flags cut into bikinis.

February 6. Nothing.

On Waitangi Day New Zealanders sleep in. We go shopping. We go out for lunch (with a surcharge of course). We do anything but celebrate.

For too many years, Waitangi Day has been an open invitation for political and activist groups to complain about settlements. Very few Kiwi’s attend organized celebrations, like the annual festival at Okahu Bay. Instead they ignore the day completely. Waitangi Day is supposed to be our national day, but it is infamous for being surrounded by heated debates. Is that really how we want to celebrate what it means to be a New Zealander?

February 6 is undoubtedly an extremely important day in New Zealand’s history. In 1840 representatives of the British Crown and 500 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document. But ever since, the significance has been lost in arguments of land, and demonstrations against the injustice of what happened over a century ago. Our country is stuck in a place where the majority of people are unable to celebrate the nation’s day.

We are a patriotic nation. Many of us have All Black jerseys and we’re always ready to wear them. Many of us mourned the deaths of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Peter Blake. Many of us love fish ‘n’ chips, L&P, barbeques, pavlovas, kiwifruit, backyard cricket, pineapple lumps, and our childhood buzzy bee toy. Why then, is Waitangi Day not a day where we can reflect on what it is to be a New Zealander with the Kiwiana symbols we all love?

America celebrates Independence Day with passion. Australia celebrates Australia Day with enthusiasm. The sky is alight with fireworks on their sacred days. The streets are paved in their colours. They know what it means to be patriotic.

We, as New Zealanders, need to take a leaf out of their book and show off our pride. We need to leave the anger and blame of the past behind us on Waitangi Day. We need to come together as a nation and celebrate our country.