holidays

Waitangi Day: The Treaty of Waitangi

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The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the grounds of James Busby’s house in Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands. It was signed on February 6th 1840 and is considered by many to be the founding document of New Zealand. It was signed by 500 Maori Chiefs and the British Leaders representing the British Crown.

There were two different versions signed, one in Maori and one in English. The wording was not exactly the same. And so the words did not mean the same to both parties, this has caused many problems over the years. Especially as past Governments have not always abided by the Treaty agreements.

Since 1974 New Zealand has celebrated Waitangi Day On February 6th each year as a Public Holiday (which means you get a day off school!).

Some celebrate it by re-enacting the treaty signing at Waitangi (in the Bay of Islands) others as a day to celebrate being a New Zealander.

What are you doing to celebrate Waitangi Day?

Some Waitangi Fiction:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And non-fiction:

 

Celebrating Christmas

debbie

Christmas Day is the day that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus and many of us attend church on Christmas Day. It is also a time for us to get together and spend time with family and friends. Most of us enjoy a traditional Christmas meal with yummy things to eat like ham, roast turkey and Christmas pudding.

We also like to give each other presents on Christmas day just like the three kings gave presents to the baby Jesus.  Do you like looking at all the presents under the Christmas tree and wondering what might be in them? Remember not to poke and shake them!

We are also lucky that we live in New Zealand because we can enjoy Christmas in the summer and it’s great to spend time at the beach and in the water.

Christmas is a very special time of the year and I hope that you have a very merry one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Books for Hanukkah

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Hanukkah, or Chanukkah, is a Jewish festival that starts on the 8th of December and lasts eight days.  It celebrates the recapture of the Temple from the Greeks and its re-dedication. It also celebrates a miracle by which the Jewish people had only enough holy oil for one day, but it lasted for eight days.  To commemorate this, Jewish people who celebrate Hanukkah light candles in special nine-branch candelabrum known as a menorah.  One candle is lit on the first night of Hanukkah, two on the second, and then this continues until all the candles are lit. The candles themselves are not used for any other purpose, even to light the other candles in the Menorah, so the ninth candle is used to light all the others. During Hanukkah, special food is eaten such as latkes and sufganiyot, a pastry similar to a doughnut.  A game is also traditionally played during Hanukkah that involves a driedel, which is a spinning top.

The latke who wouldn’t stop screaming

A latke is a potato pancake traditionally served at Hanukkah. This particular latke is very annoyed because people keep thinking he’s part of Christmas. He keeps explaining that Hannukah is completely different from Christmas, but no one listens! Will he ever find a happy ending? Of course, this book was written by Lemony Snicket (Of the Series of Unfortunate Events fame) so a happy ending may not be what you’re expecting.

 

 

 

 

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins

Hershel of Ostropol is tired and hungry.  It’s the first night of Hanukkah and he’s cold and hungry. Luckily he finds a small village, but goblins are stopping the villagers from celebrating Hanukkah! But Hershel isn’t afraid of goblins, so he sets off to fight them. Eventually the Goblin King comes to fight him, but Hershel has a plan.

 

 

 

 

Hanukkah!

This lovely picture book follows a family’s preparations for Hanukkah. They light the menorah, make delicious food and decorations for their holiday meal.  It’s told in simple rhyming language and is great for younger readers.

History of Labour day

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This year Monday 22nd October is a public holiday – Labour Day. It’s really cool to get a day off school, but do you know why we have a public holiday called Labour Day?

 

The NZ History website as all the info you need. New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to have an 8 hour working day. Before then most people worked a lot longer than 8 hours in a day – sometimes, 10 or 12 hours or more. We got our 8 hour day because a man named Samuel Parnell decided that he would only accept a new job as a carpenter if he could only work 8 hours per day. After that more people demanded 8 hour working days and to celebrate people took a day off work and marched in parades on October 28th 1890 – New Zealand’s first Labour Day. the marches also had the effect of putting pressure on the government to make laws to protect workers. Labour Day holiday was unofficial until 1899, when it officially became a public holiday.

Labour Day is celebrated every year on the 4th Monday in October, and it’s a chance for us to celebrate workers’ rights – the hours we work, the pay we get, and our unions. Many countries don’t have laws and rights to protect workers like we do in New Zealand, and New Zealand was one of the first countries on the world to have an 8 hour working day.

If you’d like to find out more about Labour Day, Wellington Author Kevin Boon has written a great book full of pictures, facts and info.

World Wide Weird school holiday activities at Tawa Library

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About 30 children and adults braved Wellington’s coldest day of the year, to come along to the World Wide Weird School Holiday Programme at Tawa Library, on Monday 25th July.

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Shelley and Brigid shared some disgusting and weird facts from The Guinness World Records, before taking the children through some weird challenges: balancing on one leg for as long as you could; doing as many star jumps as possible in 60 seconds; balloon lacrosse and balloon racing relays, as well as trying to cross your eyes and wriggle your ears.

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Their final challenge was the Weird Wardrobe Challenge. The children had to form teams and make one costume out of pieces of newspaper using only sellotape! Some teams came up with great costumes.Tawa Library’s next holiday programme will be in October, and should be just as much fun!

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