> > My Dilbert desktop calendar says that today is
> > "Waitangi Day" in New Zealand.
> >
> > I was wondering if Brunnen-G might be able to
> > explain this to me...
> >
> > Gri"hope it's something COOL"shny
>
> d00d! I wondered the same thing in my LJ.
>
> I looked it up. It has something to do with a treaty that the Maori chiefs signed with the British government way back in 1840, and seems to retain some element of controversiality (Don King, eat your heart out!).

> The main reason it is celebrated seems to be because the treaty introduced the colonial form of government to New Zealand.

Waitangi Day is our national day. The Treaty of Waitangi is considered our founding document. It's the treaty which combined the British crown and the Maori tribal system under one government.

Controversy surrounding the Treaty of Waitangi has to do with the endless ongoing arguments about whether the Maori chiefs got shafted or not. Land claims are still being settled by a Waitangi Claims Tribunal on a case-by-case basis. However, this is really a separate issue to the idea of Waitangi Day, which is a public holiday on which we celebrate The Birth Of The Nation and all that good stuff, usually by watching prominent politicians either boycotting or refusing to boycott the official celebrations at Waitangi.

In fact, there is far more national feeling on ANZAC Day, which is the public holiday for war veterans and associated memorials, and there is much talk of making this our official national day instead.

Brunnen-"Waitangi is a small town up north, where the treaty was signed"G