Cultures & Traditions of New Zealand

LIFESTYLE
For most of its history, NZ's small population and plentiful land has seen its people live in stand-alone houses on large, green sections.

In Auckland, concern about the suburban sprawl and poor public transport, and the gentrification of once-poor inner-city suburbs, has seen a boom in terraced housing and apartments, either in the central city or on its fringes. As immigration-fuelled population growth continues to put pressure on space, more Auckland citizens are learning to do without the birthright of a back yard.
Wellington's inner-city boom is slightly different. There, as the public service has shrunk and large companies have moved their head offices away, old office buildings and warehouses have been converted to apartment living.

A bach in New Zealand

At the same time, a parallel trend has seen a rush to the coastlines, and to beautiful areas such as Nelson, at the top of the South Island, where property values have rocketed and orchards have been ploughed under to make way for housing. In the process, an icon of the Kiwi lifestyle, the bach (pronounced 'batch' and mentioned in the previous post)- a rough beach house, often passed down through families- has begun to disappear. Many New Zealanders feel this is a loss, especially when the land goes to foreign buyers, and the fear that coastal land is getting beyond the reach of ordinary families is a significant political issue.

The growth in economic inequality in recent decades has seen a serious problem with overcrowding in a few poor urban areas, such as South Auckland. Two or three families can share a single house, with attendant public health problems.

Family trends, meanwhile, re similar to those in other Western countries: New Zealanders are marrying later- the median age for marriage has increased from just over 20 to about 30 years of age in the last 20 years- or not marrying at all. A third of all people between the ages of 15 to 44 who are living in partnerships are not legally married. About 20,000 couples still get married every year, and half that many get divorced.

According to Statistics New Zealand, the Family Court granted 9700 divorces in 2008, slightly below the annual average of 10,000 for the past decade.

Still, it's not as bad as 1982, which witnessed 21,900 divorces.

And of those who married the following year, about a third had divorced in the following 25 years.

No silver wedding anniversaries for them last year.

-http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/65568/untying-knot

Law changes in recent years have aimed to extend matrimonial property principles to unmarried couples, including same sex couples. The growth in the number of sole-parent families (which tend to be poorer than two-parent parent households) has not been without controversy, but the majority of NZ children are still raised in the traditional family unit.

The second term of Labour-led government will be remembered for two controversial pieces of social legislation: the Prostitution Law Reform Act and the Civil Unions Act. The first legalised prostitution and made  it subject to standard workplace regulation. The second created a new category of union- similar to but separate from marriage- open to both heteosexual and same-sex couples. This is a 'moral backlash' driven by the Pentecostal churches accompanied the latter in particular, but opinion polls consistently showed a majority of public supported the establishment of civil unions.

Lastly, NZ has one book shop for every 7,500 people. That's more book shops per head of population than anywhere else in the world!

POPULATION & MULTICULTURALISM

main urban areas
Auckland	1 050 000	Invercargill	52 000
Wellington	329 000	New Plymounth	48 520
Christchurch	318 000	Nelson	50 000
Hamilton	153 000	Whangarei	44 180
Napier/Hastings	112 000	Wanganui	41 210
Dunedin	112 000	Gisborne	31 480
Palmerston North	75 000	Timaru	27 640
Tauranga	76 000	Kapiti	27 380
Rotorua	55 000	Blenheim	23 637

There are just over four million resident New Zealanders, and almost one in three of them now live in the largest city, Auckland, where the growth has been fulled both by a 'drift north' that has been going on for half a century, and more recent waves of immigration. The general drift to the cities means that urban areas now account for 72% of the population.

Auckland has easily become the most multicultural centre in NZ (while, at the other end of the country, the population of the southernmost town, Bluff, is 95% European). Auckland has also been the prime destination for ethnic Chinese since immigration rules relaxed in 1987. While many (east) Asian immigrants have chosen to cluster in Auckland's distant eastern suburbs, visitors are often startled by 'Asiansation' of its central city, where thousands of Asian students reside, either studying at Auckland University, learning English, or both.

Now, more than 13% of Aucklanders are Asians and 6% of of these are Chinese. About 20% of Auckland Chinese were born in NZ, but considerable attention has been focused on the so-called '1.5 generation': young Chinese born oversea but socialised (and sometimes educated) in NZ. The traditionally quiescent culture of Chinese New Zealanders has been challenged in recent years, and a dynamic group of young ethnic Asians is emerging into leadership roles not only in within their local community, but in wider NZ society.

The Maori population was somewhere between 100,000 to 200,000 at the time of first European contact 200 years ago. Disease and warfare subsequently brought the population near to collapse, but a high birth rate now sees about 15% of New Zealanders identify as Maori, and that proportion is likely to grow.

Within that bicultural nation, room will have to be found to accommodate the diversity, the developing multiculturalism of NZ.

So now my question is, how will the strong claim of cultural stake by the growing Pacific population be accommodated in coming years? The country has, over the years, absorbed and assimilated earlier waves of migrants- English, Dutch, Polynesian- but will it also do so with the more varied and, to some, exotic cultures no taking root? Will 'new' New Zealanders settle more widely, or stay in the urban north? These factors will now inevitably help shape what it is to be a New Zealander.

SPORT

1.Rugby

New Zealanders not only watch sport, they play it: and although golf can claim more participants than any other sport, no one doubts that the national game in rugby union. The game is interwoven with NZ's history and culture, and the national side, the All Blacks, have, even in the professional era, an almost mythical status.

The All Blacks are, however, the subject of extraordinary expectations; it frequently seems that nothing less than 100% success will satisfy the public. When the All Blacks dip out of the Rugby World Cup at semi-final stage, there is national mourning.

For all rugby's influence on the culture, don't go along to a game expecting to be caught up in an orgy of noise and cheering. Rugby crowds differ from city to city. For example, the rugby crowds in Auckland's Eden Park are as restrained as their teams are, but they get noisier as you head south. Fans at Canterbury's Jade Stadium are reputed to be the most one-eyed in the land. Auckland is home to the NZ Warriors rugby league team, which plays in the Australian NRL (National Rugby League).

2.NETBALL

NZ's netball team, 'Silver Ferns'

You need to go to the other end of the country to find the heartland of netball, the leading winter sport for women (and the one in which the national team, the Silver Ferns, perpetually vies for world supremacy with the Australians). The Invercargill-based, national women's netball team, Southern Sting attracts a fanatical following from the local community- and repay the support by winning most of the time.

3.CRICKET

New Plymouth's Pukekura Park, NZ

Cricket is the established summer team sport, and the State Shield (one-day) and the State Championship provincial competitions take place alongside international matches involving the national side, the Black Caps, through the summer months. Wellington's Basin Reserve is the last-sole test cricket venue in the main centres and New Plymouth's Pukekura Park is simply one of the prettiest cricket grounds in the world.

4.SOCCER

Have you heard of the country’s All Blacks? Of course you have. New Zealand’s national rugby team is legendary, number-one ranked in the world and boasting a winning record against every other national team in the world.

Ever heard of the All Whites? Didn’t think so. New Zealand’s national soccer team is pretty much unknown internationally and even at home has been a decided afterthought. New Zealand didn’t even compete in soccer World Cup qualifying rounds until 1970.But in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, New Zealand had played their best in their teams' history when they had a 1-1 draw with Italy, former World Cup champions, marking the first time NZ has ever led a match at a World Cup. They went on to become the only unbeaten team in the tournament. This pretty much looks like a growing sport culture in NZ.

The All White's NZ soccer team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

MEDIA

NZ Herald newspaper

Almost all NZ cities have their own morning newspapers, sometimes coexisting with the likes if the Auckland-based New Zealand Herald, which covers wider regions, and they're fairly good.
The magazine market is more varied, and dominated by independent publishers. Auckland's own magazine, Metro, is a good-looking guide to the style of the city. Cuisine is a sleek, popular and authoritative guide to food and wine.
Free-to-air TV is dominated by the two publicly owned Television New Zealand channels (TV One and TV2), versus the Canadian-owned TV3  and its sibling music channel C4. Regional TV struggles, but is stronger than on the South Island, where Nelson's Mainland TV and Invercargill's Southland TV are part of their communities. The country's only access TV station, Triangle, reflects Auckland's cultural and ethnic diversity.
There is also a nationwide network of iwi (tribal) stations, some of which, including Waikato's Radio Tainui, offer welcome respite from the commercial networks- others, such as Auckland's Mai FM, take on the commercial broadcasters at their own game. Also worth noting are the national Pacific Island station Niu FM and the dance station. George FM, which can be heard in central Auckland and Queenstown.

Changes in religious beliefs since 1991

RELIGION
Reflecting its English heritage, NZ is nominally of the Anglican-Protestant denomination, and where religion has a place in public affairs, it will be of that flavour. The Catholic church claims about 470,000 adherents to the Anglican church's 630,000.
According to the 2006 census, Christianity is the predominant religion in New Zealand, held by 55.6% of the population, a decrease from 60.6% at the 2001 census. Another 34.7% indicated that they had no religion, up from 29.6% in 2001, and around 4% affiliated with other religions. The main Christian denominations are Anglicanism, Roman Catholism, Presbyterianism and Methodism. There are also significant numbers who identify themselves with Pentecostal and Baptist churches and with the LDS (Mormon) church. The New Zealand-based Ratana church has adherents among Māori. According to Census figures, other significant minority religions include, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam which are the main religions in Singapore. 


WOMEN IN NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand is on its second female prime minister, Helen Clark, and women have held several of NZ's other top jobs, from Governor General to chief justice to CEO of the country's second largest company, Telecom NZ. There is also a Ministry of Women Affairs in NZ.

Lucy Lawless (Xena)

There is an extremely strong tradition of women's sport in NZ, and the world-champion Silver Ferns netball side and individuals such as Olympic boardsailor Barbara Kendall are household names. There is even a women's national rugby team, the Black Ferns, which labours under the same expectations as the All Blacks.


Nowhere is women's contribution to NZ stronger than in the arts and creative industries. Niki Caro, director of Whale Rider, is but one in a line of accomplished film-makers that include directors Jane Campion (The Piano, In the Cut, An Angel at My Table), Christine Jeffs (Rain, Sylvia) and Gillian Ashurst (Snakeskin), Peter Jackson's longtime collaboration Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and top-flight costume designer Ngila Dickson, and actors Anna Paquin, Kerry Fox and Lucy Lawless (Xena, Warrior Princess). In literature, Janet Frame, Fiona Kidman, Elizabeth Knox and Stephanie Johnson enjoy a stature equal to or greater than their male counterparts.