GGG Bites: Valentine’s Day

Today is apparently Valentine's Day - not that you'd know it in my household! Whether you love it or hate it, Valentine's Day has an almost 2000-year history (think pagan festival) that took off in popularity in the Victorian age. Valentine's Day was incorporated into the rituals of courtly love in the 14th and 15th centuries, and…

Waitangi Day (Te Rā o Waitangi)

Yesterday, February 6, New Zealand marked Waitangi Day. Waitangi Day commemorates an agreement made in 1840 between representatives of the British Crown and (ultimately) more than 500 rangatira Māori, the Treaty of Waitangi (in Maori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi). It resulted in the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand by Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson in May…