We’re only 10 weeks into 2012 yet already there have been several opportunities for cultural activity – opportunities we have happily signed up for.
Auckland has a population of roughly 1.4 million, which means nearly a third of all New Zealand inhabitants live here. And around 40% of that population were born overseas. Roughly 20% of all Aucklanders come from China, and around another 25% of them are either Maori or Pasifika. It is a very diverse city, and since it amalgamated all seven councils into one supercity in 2011, it now covers a huge area:
All of which means that this multicultural city gets to celebrate in lots of different ways!
Saturday 21 January: Chinese New Year comes first. The fast-growing Chinese population is still relatively new to Auckland and is still finding its feet, culturally. There is a celebration at Roy’s museum. As it is the Year of the Dragon we have two dragons, several drummers and a corps of young Chinese dancers doing their thing. They gather outside the south entrance to practise, and find themselves in competition with some Scottish bagpipes practising on the Domain nearby (didn’t mention the Scots, did I?). A quiet word and the Scots kindly move off to wail elsewhere…..
[The dragons prepare to mount the steps and enter the museum]
[A whirl of colour and concentration]
I am asked to catch the flower tossed out by one of the dragons; to drop it is to bring bad luck onto our heads (and who knows whose else). The dragons weave up and down, then one snatches the ‘flower’ from its stand. I wait, watching nervously. The dragon is struggling to manage the flower. Suddenly it is hurled at me from the dragon’s mouth. Luckily I manage to catch it left-handed before it touches the ground, and I thank my old netballing skills. No-one warned me that it was a life-like large plastic red rose – complete with thorns! Ouch…. Roy gets to make another speech and is awarded a print of a favourable Chinese symbol for his pains. The rose comes home with us; the print stays in the office.
Saturday 28 January: Opera in the Park comes to our own Dingle Dell Reserve, a 5-minute stroll from our house. Only by a chance meeting do I discover this gem, part of Auckland Council’s Summer programme of free concerts all over the city. We take a picnic rug, some food and wine and at 6 pm along with 500 other discerning locals we enjoy 2 hours of New Zealand Opera’s Young Artists, offering us Europe’s finest operatic arias from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner et al.
[Dingle Dell Reserve prepares for a musical feast]
Monday 30 January: Next, Auckland celebrates its 172nd birthday - a public holiday for Aucklanders and the harbour spectacle of the annual Regatta (which is also 172 years old). Well, it is called the City of Sails. Curiously, although this day celebrates the founding of Auckland in September 1840, the actual date chosen commemorates the landing of William Hobson in the Bay of Islands earlier that same year. Not many Aucklanders know that…
[HMNZS Otago awaits embarkation of guests, 0830]
We are invited as guests on board the HMNZS Otago, one of New Zealand’s two new Offshore Patrol Vessels, accepted into the fleet in 2010. We are joined by the Governor-General, Sir Jerry Mataparae, Lt General, a delightful man who gets to stand on the bridge wing and fire the rifle for the official start of the Regatta. We spend the day anchored off Orakei, talking and enjoying naval hospitality.
[Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mataparae, Governor General of NZ,
fires the starting rifle]
[Up on the bridge I am thrilled to note several Servowatch displays - Go Tollesbury!]
[Up on the bridge I am thrilled to note several Servowatch displays - Go Tollesbury!]
[The RNZN equivalent of the Royal Marines band serenades us during lunch]
William is Chairman of the Museum Trustee Board]
The sun shines, the sea shimmers, the boats sail past, large and small, though fewer of them than we had imagined. This time last year we were also in Auckland (for Roy’s interview) and there were 50 knots of wind causing yacht mayhem. Not today, thankfully. It is a strange meeting of two lives, the once familiar naval setting jostling against our new roles in museum and church.
[Sky Tower prominent in this classic Auckland skyline]
[With Devonport as a backdrop, five very different yachts race for the finish]
[Reminiscent of the Onedin Line... the majestic Spirit of New Zealand in full fig]
Monday 6 February: A week later, it is Waitangi Day, and a national public holiday this time. This is a ‘celebration’ that continues to remind New Zealanders about the tensions underlying the nation since the Waitangi Treaty was signed in 1840. British representatives and Maori chiefs signed together, placing Maori Aotearoa under British protection, or so thought the Maori. As far as Britain was concerned New Zealand was now under British sovereignty. The resentment continues, on both sides, as financial compensation is still being paid to various iwi (tribes) to make up for the wholesale land-grab that took place over decades. Maori do not believe in personal ownership of land, so how can white people think that having paid for it they now own it? The land belongs to all and is to be respected and cherished so that it will yield food. So think the Maori. Many Pakeha (white New Zealanders) do not ‘celebrate’ Waitangi Day at all, but still take it as a public holiday. Others are determined to find ways of marking the day, bringing people together in a festive mood, with music, food and entertainment.
The main Auckland event takes place for the first time in south Auckland, near Manukau. Around 35000 people gather, mainly but not exclusively Maori and Pasifika. Roy and I are there for the formal mihi (greetings), along with Mayor Len Brown and some politicians. The Mayor makes an excellent speech; he was formerly mayor of south Auckland and knows his audience. I get to hongi lots of people again, though no rugby players this time. Roy talks to people afterwards about the forthcoming Waitangi 175 celebrations in 2015, which need careful planning. The museum should play a key role. Good connections take place. Meanwhile I watch the young Maori dancers do a kapahaka. No beer and no drugs allowed in the grounds. It’s a good family day out for those who’ve made the effort:
[Mayor Len Brown, far left, introducing the Maori dance troupe]
[Revellers enjoying their substance-free day out]
Saturday 10 March: Yesterday, the annual Pasifika Festival. This is in its 20th year, and it’s huge. It is held at Western Springs Park, near Auckland Zoo. There are 10 Pacific nations represented - Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Niue, Tahiti, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Aotearoa – each with their own ‘village’. It’s their chance to showcase their culture, with music, dancing, cooking, crafts and heritage. Roy’s museum has a stand in the main arena, where museum staff encourage children (and adults) to colour and make badges of images from the collections, try their hand at basket-weaving (with flax pulled fresh from the park) and garland-making with fresh flowers - and record their interesting T-shirts at the museum’s latest show ‘Identi-tee’.
[The museum tent attracting steady numbers of badge-makers]
[Bethany, from the museum, making flax baskets]
Upwards of 50000 turn out to enjoy the day. We wander slowly through the grounds, stopping to watch, enjoy, occasionally buy. The atmosphere is friendly, involved, relaxed, and it’s not raining (Jess says it always rains at the Pasifika Festival).
[Tahitian dancers - look how small the youngest is!]
[Tongan carving, from a single tree trunk]
[Also Tongan, sadly not for sale]
[We watched the artist Marcus Winter create this in 6 minutes,
using rags and two different sized paint brushes. Retail $25 - about £13.
And yes, we bought one, of Rangitoto naturally]
All this organisation and effort for a 24-hour extravanganza. Sally was at the opening the previous night. ‘What was it like?’ I ask. ‘Lots of music, and singing, and people bringing picnics and rugs,’ she replies. ‘Oh, like Glyndebourne,’ I say. Perhaps not quite…..
Every one of these events is free to the public (though not the day on the Otago). There is a rich tapestry to explore and enjoy here in Auckland. Thank you Auckland Council : )
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