Young Professionals - Leading the Change

New ZeaLAND Day

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Seeding the idea of re-appropriating the meaning of the Queen's Birthday Weekend Holiday to a day that celebrates our treasured land - in its true form - as a gift.

Website: http://www.nzLANDday.org.nz
Location: Aotearoa NZ
Members: 23
Latest Activity: Sep 19

It's a seed - take the idea, it's yours - grow it however you'd like - connect with the treasured land beneath your feet

New ZeaLAND Day Manifesto:

Ours is a land of profound natural beauty and treasures. This is a land home to unique fauna and flora, found nowhere else in the world; a land with an abundance of fertile soils and a welcoming, hospitable climate. The scenic landscape is second-to-none and, in the eyes of the world, we are seen as an enchanting clean, green oasis.

This land has been home to people for only a relatively short time. Maori originally made their home here, cultivating a deep, holistic and spiritual connection with the land. The more recent arrival of Europeans brought with it a different understanding of land, based on individual ownership, productive and economic value. Productive use of the land has remained, from this colonial past, as the country’s primary export industry through agriculture. Fuelled by these histories, a ‘kiwi’ culture has developed with a unique sense of relationship to the land. Our love for the outdoors is demonstrated in such iconic pastimes as rugby, netball, sailing, surfing, mountaineering, tramping and adventure sports. Similarly, we are a nation that likes to take its celebrations outdoors, such as Christmas on the beach, New Year’s outdoor parties, beach holidays, backyard BBQ’s and outdoor festivals.

New Zealand of today is a mix of people from many different places. From those having been here for generations to those having arrived recently, in making New Zealand home, they bring a rich diversity of cultural traditions to this nation. And, as a nation of different cultures living together we all have questions of what it means to live here, to be a ‘kiwi’. A sense of a modern New Zealand identity has slowly been forming – from an acknowledgement of the importance of indigenous culture, an identification of ourselves as a pacific nation with a colonial past, and now as a nation of cultural diversity. The explosion of recent creative culture expresses this forming sense of cultural self –through music, art, fashion, movies, TV. And, as a diverse nation, the one thing that we all share is this treasured land beneath our feet – and this is something to be celebrated together.

We propose a day that celebrates the land nationally. A day where the land is celebrated in its true form as a gift; as a place where we can stand and find a home; as a provider – biological, physical and spiritual; as a place to find a sense of community, to play, to work and create, to live together. By celebrating our land on a national holiday, we declare its significant and sacred importance in culture. We propose that this day – ‘New ZeaLAND Day’ – can help build on the sense of connection and belonging for us as a nation with this place we have in common.

We propose that New ZeaLAND Day be celebrated on the first Monday in June – the public holiday that we currently call Queen’s Birthday. As a commonwealth country, we have inherited the tradition of having a national day that symbolically celebrates the Queen’s sovereignty over this country (though not her actual birthday). We acknowledge that this day, for New Zealand, has served us in marking an important aspect of our nation’s history but, that for the majority of New Zealanders today, Queen’s Birthday no longer holds strong cultural meaning, but is simply another ‘day off’. A public holiday as a day that acknowledges place and culture needs to be relevant to people today. The re-assigning of meaning to a celebration of the land builds on the sentiment of Queen’s Birthday, but moves it forward, as we are moving forward as a culture, marking an evolution of our own sense of nationhood and identity.

We invite the people of New Zealand to celebrate and connect with the land in whatever way they see as relevant and meaningful. People cannot be told what or how they should value, and we make this proposal as an opportunity for New Zealanders to find their own personal ownership of how they celebrate the land. This might be symbolised in practice by going to the beach, sharing a fresh garden harvest dinner, volunteer tree planting, taking grandchildren for a bushwalk, throwing a mid-winter beach party, feeding the ducks after a romantic picnic in the park, or watching some NZ documentaries, a sacred ceremony acknowledging the land or planting some last minute broccoli. However people celebrate, what is important is that this cultivates a sense of connection with the land, and in turn each other.

In light of such uncertain times as a nation and globe in an unprecedented recession, the immense threat of global warming and a myriad of other challenges that we face, returning our thoughts to the nurturing and abundance that the land provides us helps us connect to it and to each other, giving us hope and opening up creative solutions for the future.

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Comment by Moira Gaerty on September 20, 2009 at 11:52am: I'm a painter, and semi-employed so have a bit of spare time. I'm really keen to help a good cause and of course more public holidays would mean more time when friends are free to hang out and celebrate together. Glad to have found intersect yesterday, I just want to join ALL the groups!

Comment by Stephanie Fill on August 31, 2009 at 4:16pm: Hi sounds awesome Megan! If forces were joined then the momentum for NZ-LANDDay, with Intersect heading it, could leap frog and purposely lead straight into Matariki, with partnering to relevant networks for Matariki celebration build-up support...

An idea for a lead up came to me which I'd put to a fellow intersector just yesterday, and can put to the floor:

In time for this xmas, collect up all the kiwi celebration dates, and get some of our skilled artsy freinds (or you and I? I paint etc) on board and make a beautiful kiwi2010 wallplanner calendar PDF that can be printed off onto A3. People can forward it around as an xmas gift, or print on gloss to give out at key events etc (like the kiwiana ball - although that's a bit soon).

Megan and others would you like to collaborate on this fun, artsy, festive wee idea? Drop me a line and we could start one of those lovely group email discussions! :)

Cheers
Steph

Comment by Manu Caddie on August 31, 2009 at 2:51pm: Awesome idea Megan - I'm sure there are a number of national organisations that would support this concept for a 'Day On'. Also, on Matariki as a public holiday, the Private Member's Bill unfortunately did not gain enough support to pass it's first reading... I guess if there was enough national support built up there should be more support from MPs and their parties.

Comment by Megan Hosking on August 31, 2009 at 2:37pm: Fellow intersectors, I have been thinking about New Zealanders and what they need most right now, but also how this group of citizens can inspire the rest of our sleepy little nation. I had an idea about New Zealand Day (which I also hope manages to incorporate Matariki) being a 'Day On' as opposed to a 'Day off'.

By this I mean that rather than take the day off, drinking too much the night before and lying in bed with a hangover till midday the next day... or going to the movies (remember - its the middle of winter) that this could be a day where New Zealands get really active. It is their feel-good day to give back to the community - planting trees, getting their hands into a community garden, painting the local school, cleaning up a stream near them, singing in an old folks home, doing random acts of kindness...growing a culture of generousity and active connections with our community life. There are a whole lot of people who wouldn't know where to start, but there would be loads of inspiring media stories and it would just feel soooooo good!

I think intersect could put forward a very strong case for this, and we could start by taking it over next year, planning a whole bunch of great activity around it and making a big media song and dance about it.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts...

Megan

Comment by Stephanie Fill on August 30, 2009 at 10:45pm: Hi thanks for recent comments. Shay - for a bit of background the original idea was to go on making Matariki a public holiday so definitely in support.

The thinking around re-naming a public holiday was around recession and Govt less likely to be forthcoming of another official one just at the moment. and some similar conversations around tie in or where to put the energy has been had. This concept is about the people taking it into their own hands, proactively build kiwi culture almost.

There are some cool things happening - a kiwiana ball end of Sept:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129464511024

A full calendar of kiwi celebrations that are all really ours and special - why not!

Comment by Joseph Nicholls on August 30, 2009 at 12:14pm: Great idea! I have long been struck by the contradictory ideologies of our national obsession with land. That we celebrate the scenic value of theses unbounded lands while we are all about compartmentalising it. An infatuation with the property market and private commodification of land. That we are encouraged to get on the ladder, to buy and sell small portions of land for individual gain while promoting designated zones of scenic merit; is a superficial level of respect. That we do have national parks is great, lets hope national government don't truck on with mining them.

Comment by shay on August 27, 2009 at 6:59pm: hi,
i'm not sure if i'm missing something, but is it worth supporting the existing movement for a Matariki holiday - as a way of linking your ideas to a wider movement that shares some of your environmental concerns, as well as tying in with a whole lot of other dimensions?
best wishes

Comment by Kath Dewar on May 6, 2009 at 10:25am: Great work to get the ground prepared and this seed planted Steph - good for you

This inaugural New ZeaLAND day I'll be helping facilitate 200+ people to find consensus at the Green Party AGM :-)

Comment by Stephanie Fill on May 4, 2009 at 10:52pm: As a historical note - this was the description of the group before "New ZeaLAND Day" concept came to being below. Acknowledgements are in order - to all the people who were part of this process - all those at the first intersect drinks I attended last year and originally voiced an interest in some kind of national day movement, Maggie who backed it from the get go, and all who were at the brainstorms and meetings and support along the way - Kirk, Fraser, Amiria, Francesca, Mahara, Amanda, Tunch, Justin, Su-Yin, Craig, Eva, Divya, Josepha, Glen, Carl ++... Thank you! Let's let the seed hit the wind...

Historical Blurb:

Let's Create a National Holiday Based Around Being Treehugging, Beach-Bummed Kiwis!

Why?

It would be a platform to declare environmentalism into mainstream culture.

The movement would be a great leverage for a number of events/initiatives around the country.

There are some completely barren parts of the year where it comes to holidays so the gap is there for the taking.

We need some national holidays/traditions/celebrations of our own! Why not have Waitangi and another Green Kiwi Day as our core NZ holidays.

This would be a great way to work into the 350 strategy as well.

A brainstorm as to which day and the meaning behind it, then a petition leading to a referendum would seem to be the obvious place to start, what do other people think?

Long Version:

Not sure if you've heard about Mexico being the pilot project in developing a nation with a sustainable economic structure. Here in NZ we don't need to wait on the Govt to be designed and lead into being green... We are the nation that can approach strangers and make best friends wherever we go, we're welcomed into any country with open arms; we take the bits of capitalism that we like then are contented with our 1/4 acre section, beach bach, boat dream; we spend Christmas on the beach underneath a ready-decorated native Christmas tree that serves as the best jungle gym known to kids and big-kids alike; we are nuclear free without exception thanks VERY much Mr Bush; we are the true blue middle earth, first substantial land mass to see the sun each glorious morning and basically live on a slice of heaven. We are perhaps so contented with our lot that it hadn't occurred to us that

A. Nature-loving is a part of our identity and

B. This is something we, (once the game has finished and we've had enough kai off the bbq and have cooled off with a dip in the surf) best put our heads together - get our neighbour's cousin who's an engineer, the hairdresser's sister who's in local govt, our father's workmate's son who's an all black with shares in Fonterra, and our best friend's ex boyfriend who's on Shortland Street - and sort it out...

* There is currently a couple of periods in the year which are completely barren where it comes to holidays so is already needed.

* We are a super young country that seems to have just, from grass roots, decided that we're really proud of our own country and culture (eg Huffer and various Kiwiana T-shirt campaigns, the tiki clocks etc, etc), but are still not entirely sure what that means and haven't grabbed onto substantial things/traditions/celebrations encapsulating it.

* Currently New Years Eve is the only unanimous day of partying festivities and a mid year hype would be a lot of fun, and centred around the environment.

In the past this could have taken ages to achieve but maybe not now? As we know the earth doesn't have ages for action to start - luckily we're in the information age where everything is at superspeed. There's lots of momentum evident even solely on intersect, this could happen really fast, creating a platform to amp up transformation of our economies and lifestyles swiftly as is necessary.

A petition leading into a referendum would seem like the logical place to start (The many mentions of "GetUp" on various discussions could be really fitting here...). What do other people think?

Comment by Stephanie Fill on February 12, 2009 at 7:09am: Waitangi day was so beautiful to say the least! I believe you're onto something there Glen. The bottom line of my concept of the day is the perspective that NZ is a unique nation that could adapt and model and lead shifts needing to happen, and to bring it into mainstream the day is a way of going - yes - nature (our land...) is extremely important to us as a nation, then build on identity from there incorporating this value...to be continued! Hope to see you on Sat, talk more... :)