Christmas in New Zealand
Christmas traditions in New Zealand are similar to those in Australia in that they incorporate a mix of British and North American traditions, such as Christmas symbols featuring winter iconography. However, the timing of Christmas occurring during the Southern Hemisphere's summer season has resulted in the development of some local traditions as a result of the warmer weather. New Zealand Christmas dishes include summer fruits and vegetables, and pavlova. The New Zealand Christmas tree, the pōhutukawa, is displayed as well as the traditional Northern European tree.
Christmas, observed on 25 December, became widely celebrated in the late 19th century among Pākehā settlers. Today, Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both statutory holidays in New Zealand. While Boxing Day is a standard statutory holiday, Christmas Day is one of the few days of the year where all but the most essential businesses and services must close.
History
The religious festival of Christmas was introduced to New Zealand by Christian missionaries in the early 19th century. In the mid 19th century observance of the holiday varied along sectarian grounds. English and Irish settlers, who were typically Anglicans and Catholics respectively, brought their own Christmas traditions. Scottish settlers did not widely celebrate Christmas as the Scottish Presbyterian church never placed much emphasis on the Christmas festival, on the grounds that it was unscriptural. In the late 19th century the Presbyterians began to embrace Christmas celebrations, and as sectarianism between the different ethnic communities decreased the holiday became widely observed by all New Zealanders—albeit as a low-key, private affair until the late 20th century.Christmas Day became a bank holiday following the Bank Holidays Act 1873, and all workers were entitled to a day off for Christmas as a result of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894. The Public Holidays Act 1910 further established Christmas Day and "the day after Christmas Day" as non-working days.
Imagery and decorations
New Zealanders celebrate Christmas with mainly traditional Northern Hemisphere winter imagery, but mixed with local imagery. Native plants, ferns, and flaxes are displayed alongside traditional Christmas flowers such as mistletoe. The pōhutukawa, which produces large crimson flowers in December, is an often used symbol for Christmas in New Zealand, and subsequently the pohutukawa has become known as the New Zealand Christmas tree.Many homeowners decorate the exterior of their houses. Displays range from the modest to elaborate, sometimes with hundreds of lights and decorations depicting seasonal motifs such as Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer, or nativity scenes. Particular regions have a tradition for elaborate displays, and attract a great amount of pedestrian and vehicular traffic during the Christmas season. This is despite the longer days, resulting in dusk occurring as late as 10:20 p.m. in the south of the South Island.
Food
Families traditionally gather for a Christmas Day lunch. Traditional foods include roast beef, turkey, lamb, salads and roast vegetables. More recently, as appropriate to the often hotter weather of the day, it has become popular to serve local seasonal produce such as cold meats and seafood. Increasingly common, instead of a formal dinner indoors, New Zealanders relax outdoors on Christmas Day and enjoy a barbecue lunch on the beach—popularised since the 2000s.Similarly, dessert also includes a mix of traditional winter Christmas food alongside local traditions, such as pavlova topped with summer fruits or kiwifruit.
Parades
Several Christmas themed parades are held in New Zealand. A popular event is Auckland's Santa Parade down Queen Street. This features numerous floats and marching bands and attracts large crowds every year. It is held late November to accommodate holidaymakers and is seen as the preamble to the later festivities. The Australian tradition of Carols by Candlelight is popular in New Zealand, especially in Auckland and Christchurch, where there is usually a large outdoor carol-singing gathering known as Christmas in the Park.Retail
The lead-up to Christmas is the busiest shopping season in New Zealand. Paymark, who provides EFTPOS services to 70 percent of retailers, recorded a total spend of $8.6 billion of transactions through its network in the six weeks leading up to Christmas 2019. On Christmas Eve 2019, the Paymark network processed 199 transactions per second at peak times.Black Friday sales began to be adopted by New Zealand retailers in 2013, largely to remain competitive with US-based online retailers. In 2015, major retailers such as The Warehouse, Noel Leeming and Harvey Norman offered Black Friday sales, and by 2018 were joined by Farmers, JB Hi-Fi, Briscoes and Rebel Sport. Paymark processed $253 million in transactions though its network on Black Friday 2019, overtaking Boxing Day for the first time.
Media
As Christmas falls in summer, the watching of television is not a strong part of New Zealand Christmas traditions, unlike in the United Kingdom, in which it is one of the most important days for television ratings. Television ratings in New Zealand are not taken during the summer and schedules are mostly filled with repeats of old programs or previously cancelled shows. Some locally produced programs have a Christmas special, though often it will be shown early December and not on Christmas Day itself. Many television stations rerun Christmas-themed films in the weeks leading up to and including Christmas Day, such as Miracle on 34th Street, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and various film versions of A Christmas Carol.No advertising is allowed on New Zealand television or radio on Christmas Day, a rule that also applies on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.