On Friday, Feb. 6, New Zealand celebrated a national public holiday called Waitangi Day.  Waitangi Day marks the accord between the English settlers and the native Maori people signed in 1840.  According the Wikipedia article on the subject , “the Treaty made New Zealand a part of the British Empire and guaranteed Maori rights to their land and gave Māori the rights of British citizens”.

Waitangi Day in Christchurch was celebrated in Hagley Park with a free concert by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra complete with fireworks.  The concert started around 8:00PM, so Monique and I decided to check it out (Rus had to work at 4:00AM the next day, so he decided to sit this one out).  It was cold and windy; we were bundled up in jeans and sweatshirts.  The park is a five-minute walk away, and we could already hear the concert from the moment we walked outside. When we got there, there were about 15,000 people of all ages; they brought chairs and blankets and plenty of their own beverages.  The drinking age is 18 here, and I am still not used to seeing drunk teenagers walking around with open beer containers (even adults doing this in America would be violating the law).  We stayed for a few songs, but we got cold and decided to go to one of our favourite watering holes around the corner, a place called Dux de Lux, which brews its own beer and has an awesome old brick patio (and lots of outdoor radiant heaters!).  We sat outside under a heater, had a glass of wine, then headed back to the concert - just in time for the finale!

Here is the video of the Waitangi Day fireworks finale, set to the William Tell Overature performed by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.  Enjoy!