Pasifika

Talofa lava! Fakalofa lahi atu! Malo e lelei! Ni sa bula vinaka! Kia orana! These are all different greetings from Pacific Islands such as Samoa, Niue, Tonga, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Auckland has the biggest population of Pacific Islanders in the world. Sometimes Kiwis call them PIs for short. They come from islands scattered all over the Pacific Ocean, but a lot of them now call New Zealand 'home'.

Pasifika is an annual festival held at Western Springs in summer. This year it is on the 9th and 10th of March. There is a concert on the Friday night and then during the Saturday you can walk round stalls and displays for each of the main island groups. It's free and there's loads of entertainment and Pacific island food and goods to buy. It starts at 10 in the morning and goes through until 5 pm.

Last year my husband and I strolled through a variety of different areas at Pasifika. We enjoyed some of the performances, but when we got to the Niuean area, my husband ended up being dragged up to dance with some of the Niuean women. He got given a lei, and his partner won the competition!

lei = necklace made of flowers as in the picture above

New year celebrations

Whoops! That was the sound of a Valentine's Day arrow whizzing past - I missed it. I guess I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day although I like the idea of being able to tell special people that you love them. My 15 yr old son informed me last Tuesday that since I was in a long-term stable relationship (25 years of being married!), I didn't really need to do anything in the roses or chocolate department!

And now it is Chinese New Year. Gong xi fa cai to all my Chinese students. I expect my pronunciation is shocking - and maybe this is the Cantonese version?

I learnt lots about Chinese New Year when I went to live in Brunei (see map if you have no idea where Brunei is). The date was just a few days after we arrived and we were still living in a hotel. One night we were woken out of our sleep by all the firecrackers being let off just under our window. I enjoyed seeing all the Chinese shops and homes decorated and visiting Chinese friends who always had delicious food and those lovely easy-to-peel oranges. And my kids liked the red envelopes with crisp dollar notes inside!

I actually have to confess that I don't know when other Asian countries celebrate New Year. Maybe you could add a comment below or on the podcast to let me know? And what special celebrations do you have? And if you are Chinese, is it difficult celebrating away from home?
I'm hoping to catch the lanterns and maybe a lion dance this weekend at the celebrations in Albert Park...

Listen to this on my souNZ English podcast.

Waitangi Day

Waitangi Day is a pretty low-key affair for most New Zealanders.

It is our national holiday, and commemorates the day that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between Maori and Pakeha. Well, really it was between the representatives of Queen Victoria and a large number of Maori chiefs.

How do we celebrate? Usually there are ceremonies at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, which is where the treaty was actually signed. In the recent past, the ceremonies have sometimes been disturbed by political protest.

It's summer, so most Kiwis are glad of Waitangi day as a holiday, where they can relax at home, go sailing or go for a swim and maybe have a BBQ with friends.

Overseas this year, about 300 New Zealanders gathered on a beach in Los Angeles to make a huge 30 metre long silver fern in the sand. In Afghanistan, some NZ soldiers were digging a hangi so they could have some Maori-style food.

Vocab
a low-key affair - an event where not a lot of fuss is made
commemorates - is an official reminder of ...
silver fern - a NZ plant, sometimes used as a symbol for NZ eg. the Silver Ferns is our national netball team
a hangi - food that is cooked by being steamed in a hole in the ground

If you would like to listen to this, go to souNZ English.