Looking forward to a long weekend? The NZS.com team certainly are. Queen’s Birthday is celebrated is this Monday - but you may not know that it’s not actually her real birthday, the celebratory date changing of the monarch’s birthday is a long standing tradition amongst the British royal family. To get the full story on why the Queen has two birthdays, check out our Queen’s Birthday Holiday article.

What’s a better way to celebrate Queen’s Birthday this weekend than catching Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical live on stage! The classic Aussie road movie is brought to life (or shall we say, larger than life?) across the Tasman for 2 weeks only, now showing in Auckland until June 7. Tickets are available from Eventfinder.

Not interested? Enjoy the last public holiday of the season, for most New Zealanders we won’t get another one until Labour Day!

Image from Flickr.

If you’re in Auckland this week leading up to Anzac Day, pop down to the Auckland War Memorial Museum for a spectacular cinematic experience brought to you by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

Jackson has restored footage shot by famous war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett for the rare film “Heroes of Gallipoli”. The twenty-minute film is being projected on the outside of the museum, and will play continuously from 7.30pm until 10.00pm until the end of the week.

Visitors to the museum are invited to watch the film and then venture inside to see collections of art and photographs by current New Zealand soldiers, look up relatives’ war records on the database, and enjoy some light refreshments at the cafe.

Peter Jackson’s terrific restoration has just been listed with UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme.

For those outside of Auckland, documentaries and other ANZAC related features will run all day Friday on Maori Television, so whip some biscuits with our Anzac biscuits recipe and relax on your day off while learning about New Zealand’s history.

Image from Flickr.

What does Waitangi Day mean to New Zealanders?

Every year on 6 February, New Zealand celebrates its national day and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. More than 150 years ago, a contingent from Britain signed our nation’s founding document with over 500 Maori chiefs, making New Zealand part of the British Empire and establishing formally what would become a problematic relationship between European settlers and native Maori.

So, what meaning does the Treaty have in a modern, multicultural New Zealand?

While we celebrate as a nation, we also reflect on what the Treaty means in the 21st century - and how we live together in New Zealand, as Maori and Pakeha. With disagreement over the terms of the Treaty, and even the original translation from English to Maori, tensions have run high for many years. Waitangi Day may be a public holiday and our national day, but it continues to raise important issues: Maori land rights, sovereignty and race relations in New Zealand, to name just a few.

What do you know about Waitangi Day? Do you celebrate our national day? Find out more about about Waitangi Day celebrations in our Articles section.

Image from Flickr.

I was researching top New Zealand sites today and came across nzhistory.net.nz in the list, which I hadn’t come across before.

It turns out this is a well-known and highly popular website of the “Official New Zealand History”.

A feature on the website which I quite liked was being able to see a calendar of important events in history within this month. On the 1st of August 1985, The Maori Language Act came into force and Te Reo was able to be used in some legal proceedings. Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Maori (the Maori Language Commission) was also established.

Hopefully as Internet research levels increase, more people will be start to use these and other wonderful online New Zealand resources.