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A day off for Christmas
It's hard for most of us today to imagine Christmas Day not being a holiday, but a day off on 25 December hasn't always been a legal entitlement.
Summer holidays
Come late December and thousands of Kiwis get ready for their annual holiday. They look forward to lazy days at the beach or the bach (or crib), games of backyard cricket, food on the barbie and the holiday uniform of shorts, jandals and T-shirts.
Kiwis' attitude to Christmas
See a video and related text about a 2006 survey of New Zealanders' attitude to Christmas.
Kiwi Christmas
Christmas in New Zealand is less about snow and sleigh bells and more about sun, sand and backyard barbecues. Over the holiday season we explore the Kiwi Christmas experience – from Abel Tasman’s first New Zealand Christmas in 1642 to the declining reign of the Queen’s message
Easter by rail poster, 1930
Stylised ‘bathing belles’ and other images of women figured prominently in inter-war railway advertising.
Demise of Dominion Day
Dominion Day, 26 September, never really took hold in New Zealand. Wellington was one of the few places that kept up ceremonies after 1907.
The first Dominion Day
The first Dominion Day, 1907, was a holiday for public servants as all government offices closed to mark the occasion.
Modern Anzac Day
Each generation of New Zealanders redefines Anzac Day to suit the mood of the times, but the last 40 years have been a time of much redefinition.
Another war and peace - Anzac Day
Anzac Day came to have a wider focus and the commemorations became more popular in the years after the Second World War.
A sacred holiday - Anzac Day
Anzac Day became a public holiday and took on new meaning in a time of peace. It became a time to express sorrow, not glorify war, and was a sacred day that had a secular tone.
The making of Anzac Day
Anzac Day was made a half-day holiday in 1916, and the pattern of the day's events that occur now began at that time.
Anzac Day
First observed in 1916, Anzac Day - 25 April - commemorates those killed in war as well as honouring returned servicemen and women. The ceremonies that are held at war memorials across the country, or in places overseas where New Zealanders gather, are rich in tradition and ritual.
The ceremony - Anzac Day
The Anzac Day ceremony of 25 April is a form of military funeral and follows a particular pattern. The day's ceremonies have two major parts: one at dawn and another, more public event, later in the morning.
Report of first Labour Day, 1890
This reports the first Labour Day parade in Wellington, 28 October 1890.
Empire Day address
For years schools lined up children for patriotic addresses before giving them the rest of Empire day off as a holiday
Empire Day ceremony, 1903
Parades, flag raising ceremonies and unveilings and openings were common on Empire Day. The Victoria Ward of the Wanganui public hospital opened on Empire Day 1903
Anzac Day ceremony outside Parliament House, 1927
Anzac Day ceremony at the temporary Cenotaph, outside Parliament House, 1927
Waitangi Day 1980s
The 1980s brought changes in the way Waitangi Day was marked officially, as well as growing Māori protest.
Waitangi Day 1970s
Waitangi Day, a public holiday from 1974, briefly became New Zealand Day in the 1970s. Increasingly, it became a focus for Māori protest activities.
Waitangi Day 1960s
The Waitangi Day Act 1960 declared 6 February to be Waitangi Day – a national day of thanksgiving in commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

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