Kiwis of All Backgrounds put their Celebrations on NZ’s Map

Race Relations Day 2022 saw the launch of Multicultural New Zealand’s (MNZ) nationwide survey, Celebrating Special Occasions of All Cultures in New Zealand.

The survey was a first step in mapping the days and occasions that are significant to the number of diverse cultural backgrounds found among the New Zealand population. This is part of MNZ’s initiative to publish NZ’s first Tiriti-based multicultural calendar later this year. The initiative has garnered positive feedback across communities and has received the support of the NZ Police.

“We want to hear from every single New Zealander,” says MNZ President, Pancha Narayanan, talking about the survey. The survey asked for information on foods, costumes, activities, locations and dates on an occasion of the respondent’s choice. “With this we can begin to paint a rich picture of the 200 plus ethnicities that make up New Zealand.”

“Aotearoa has embraced its multiculturalism in leaps and bounds in the past decade,” Narayanan says, “but there is still much more to the people of this country. There are in total, 213 ethnic groups identified in the census, and 196 countries recognised by Statistics New Zealand. All of which have occasions throughout the year that we celebrate - some in different ways, some in more similar ways that we may realise.”

“New Zealand is this incredible cultural mosaic – one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world,” Narayanan concluded. “And together we are going to see it flourish.”

This survey is closed now, and a calendar web site based on this survey will go live coinciding with Te Tiriti-based Multicultural Day on Friday, 26 August 2022.