It’s a holiday over here in New Zealand, as we celebrate the Queen’s Birthday. It will be the last holiday and long weekend we’ll have until October. Unlike the Philippines and Singapore that cater for many different religions and historical events, there are very few public holidays celebrated here in New Zealand.
Right now, the latest I saw for the Philippines is about 17 public holidays for 2019, and that’s not counting any random no-work days declared during the year. Lucky you, my Philippine-based friends!
Here is the list of New Zealand’s public holidays, with a brief explanation for the unfamiliar ones.
New Year’s Day – 1 January
Day after New Year’s Day – 2 January
Waitangi Day – 6 February
Waitangi Day celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by representatives of the British crown and 45 Maori chiefs in 1840. The Treaty is basically the founding document of New Zealand.
On Waitangi Day, there are commemorations all over New Zealand, but most especially in the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Islands, in Northland. There are Maori cultural performances and speeches from Maori and Pakeha (European) dignitaries.
Good Friday
Easter Monday
ANZAC Day – 25 April
ANZAC Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”.
There are various dawn memorial services around the country, as well as military parades. Shops are prohibited from opening before 1PM to allow everyone to join in on the commemoration.
Queen’s Birthday – first Monday of June
Strange, that Queen Elizabeth’s birthday is actually 21st of April, but in New Zealand, we celebrate it in June. Other countries of the Commonwealth celebrate at different times of the year. There is a lengthy explanation over here, but mostly, it’s all about the celebrations to be done in warmer weather in the UK, which is around June. Although June is the start of winter in New Zealand, the climate is not as bleak as winters in the UK, hence we still celebrate it this month.
Here in New Zealand, the Queen’s Birthday Honours are handed out to individuals who have made significant contributions to the country in different categories.
Labour Day – 22 October
We Filipinos are quite used to celebrating Labor Day on May 1st, as with most of the world. Over here in New Zealand, it is celebrated every 4th week of October, to commemorate the eight-hour working day movement that started in Wellington in 1840.
Christmas Day – 25 December
Boxing Day – 26 December
For most countries that celebrate Boxing Day, this is a day for shopping because most stores have huge sales. But that’s not the reason it’s a holiday. According to Wikipedia, it’s actually out of the British tradition of giving Christmas boxes (with food, gifts, money) to servants and tradesmen for service done the entire year, because they could not celebrate Christmas on the 25th. You get it — boxes…boxing day.
In New Zealand, this is the biggest day for sales in stores, just like Black Friday in the US. So on this day, you will see lots of people in the malls to take advantage of the huge discounts on all sorts of goods.
Anniversary days
Each region would have their own anniversary or founding day. Wellington’s anniversary day is every 22nd of January.
What to do on holidays
Aside from participating in the celebrations for each holiday, most people go on road trips or book flights to other cities for holidays that make a long weekend. Others spend time at home, working on their gardens or other things that they can’t otherwise do when working. What I’ve noticed here, though is that workers don’t really complain about the lack of public holidays, they just carry on about their work. I guess it’s because most employers here offer flexible working arrangements, and vacation leaves are easily approved.
There you have it, these are all the holidays in New Zealand. In my three years living here, I haven’t seen any announcements declaring a special non-working holiday. I guess that’s one way that NZ is different from the Philippines. We haven’t really participated in any commemoration ceremonies, but I think we will be doing that soon when the girls go to school and they need to join in on programs to celebrate these holidays. But until then, these holidays for us are for rest and exploring more of New Zealand.
