“Not one of New Zealand’s local authorities will hold celebrations for the Queen this Queen’s Birthday weekend” according to Lewis Holden, who chairs the New Zealand Republican Movement.
The Republican Movement wrote to all of New Zealand’s district and city Mayors in May. Not one indicated any celebration of the Queen’s Birthday for the upcoming long weekend – instead, several announced they were holding celebrations for Matariki, the Maori new year.
“Queen’s Birthday weekend is supposed to be a time to celebrate the monarchy. But the weekend is a celebration of nothing. The Queen’s actual birthday was on April 21. The date was moved to June because the weather is better in the northern hemisphere. The reason for the holiday is ignored by most New Zealanders and marked only as a long weekend. We should celebrate something unique about our place in the world. We could celebrate Matariki or the Winter solstice, a fun winter festival. New Zealanders simply don’t care about the monarchy anymore.” concluded Mr Holden.