Waitangi Day is the national holiday celebrated in New Zealand on 6 February every year. It commemorates the signing of a treaty between the British Crown and the indigenous Maori population in 1840.

Aggie blogged about the significance of Waitangi Day:

Today is a public holiday throughout New Zealand. It commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 which is considered to be our country's founding document.

Signed between the Maori chiefs (natives) and the representatives of the British Crown allowing British/European settlement here.
As far as the document is concerned it is a matter of our history. The Spirit of the Treaty is sometimes controversial amongst New Zealanders in the understanding of what it was meant to represent. Those cultural differences in understanding are still being worked out here, and sometimes the tension between the two mars the formal celebrations of the day.

Kate at Fossage has a beautiful post on her blog about what Waitangi Day means to her:

I am here, in my case because one of my ancestors threw an ink well at his father and was sent to New Zealand (or so the story goes). I feel like I owe it to Aotearoa to tread more lightly, with compassion, peace and understanding for the environment and the peoples of this land - indigenous or not. My ancestors did not fully comprehend what lay behind their passage here; the cost of their being here. Some of my generation sees this a little more clearly; rights of first peoples' being abused, land being altered and sometimes desecrated and a new way of being being imposed. I hope that tomorrow I can consciously tread lightly and honour this place.

Tiny Happy took inspiration from Kate's post (above) and also blogged about her thoughts on Waitangi Day:

After reading Kate's beautiful post yesterday, I thought about what Waitangi Day means to me. And imagined I was celebrating at Waitangi itself, rather than in Nelson, where I must say, it's easy to forget we live in a multi-cultural country. I visited Waitangi for the first time over a year ago, and fell in love with the feel of the place, and the expansive grass field in front of the meeting house which stretches right out to the sea and could be the end of the world.

I think to me, the day is about remembering the past of our land, feeling connected to and part of the land we're living on, and looking towards a hopeful future here in this country. One where all people are welcome, and can take refuge in our communities. And one where we can learn to walk more lightly on the earth itself. I think we have a long way to go, but there's so much hope there.

Caroline at Bibliocook lives in Ireland with her Kiwi boyfriend, and blogs about sending him off to work with suitable celebratory food for Waitangi Day:

Although we may be back in Ireland, today we are celebrating Waitangi Day, a national holiday in New Zealand, with that ubiquitous Kiwi desert - the pavlova. After bemoaning the lack of pavlovas in Irish supermarkets, the Boyfriend went off to work this morning laden with boxes of meringue nests, tubs of cream, my hand whisk and a nice pink bowl to assemble a selection of impromptu pavs for his workmates.

Bron celebrates Waitangi Day with a "uniquely Kiwi dessert". She has some amazing photos of pavlovas and a recipe, as well as a staunch defence of the claim that pavlovas are a New Zealand national dessert, and not an Aussie creation as it is usually attributed (I, of course, vigorously disagree with her, which I guess you would expect since I am an Aussie!):

There ain’t one thing “true blue” or “Aussie” about this dessert… it’s all KIWI! Plainly put, the Pavlova ‘debate’ has always been the bigger guy on the left (Aus) thinking he can steal our, the little guy’s (NZ) lunch. Now come on, how pathetic is that, really?!

Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.