February 6th: Waitangi Day

It would be remiss of me to not have a blog post about Waitangi Day.  Waitangi Day is a national holiday here in New Zealand and is a day set aside to commemorate and reflect on the Treaty of Waitangi which was signed on February 6, 1840.  We visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds during our great Kiwi roadtrip - click here for the blog post.

The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty between the Maori and the Crown.  Controversy surrounded the treaty as it was being signed and ever since.  There are several great websites with better summaries than I could ever do of the day, the treaty, and its history.  If you're interested in learning more (and I would encourage you to be), click on over to any of the websites listed below.

Treaty of Waitangi (website: Waitangi Tribunal)
http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/treaty/

Signing the Treaty (website: New Zealand History Online)
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/treaty

Waitangi Day (website: Waitangi Treaty Grounds)
http://www.waitangi.net.nz/waitangi-day/

Waitangi Day (website: New Zealand History Online)
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/waitangiday-introduction