Interestingly enough, Google also put out an image of a marae (a traditional Maori meeting house as pictured) on our Waitangi day that annually falls on the 6th of February.
It's commemorated as the day, in 1840, when representatives of the Crown (meaning England as a sovereign state with Queen Victoria) signed a treaty with many representatives of Maori iwi (tribes) from around the country.
What we find out later, in my own studies, was that there were two versions i.e. the English version and the Maori version of which many Maori paramount chiefs signed and they both have different meanings to what was understood about the treaty partnership.
Fast forward to today and still that partnership is honoured at a beautiful place called Waitangi which is located to the North of Auckland of several hours drive, and many government officials and Maori iwi representatives join together to celebrate the occasion on this day.
As for my family, we take it easy and realise how blessed we are in living in this country especially as the pandemic war wages across the globe killing hundreds of thousands for which we often pray about but thankful for our relative safety, isolation and the growing positive relations that are being forged between the various ethnicities in our small country...
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