One of the more quaint archival items we hold is this wee pamphlet from our stacks. It was first published in 1933, and is called the First New Zealand Christmases by A.H. & A. W. Reed: BV 3667.M3 REE.
Here are few snippets from the pamphlet:
1642 ABEL JANSZOON TASMAN
‘On Epiphany eve … he sighted a small groups of islets to the northward … and, being a good churchman and explorer of some originality … named them Three Kings, a tribute to the Wise Men from the East who followed the Star.’
1769 CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
‘On 17th December he sighted the north-eastern extremity of the mainland and named it North Cape. On Christmas Day he was in the neighbourhood of the Three Kings, and thereafter the Endeavour was tacking to and fro, day after day, in a heavy gale, in a vain attempt to round Cape Maria Van Diemen … Christmas was celebrated in the old-fashioned way, as Banks tells us, by the eating of Goose Pye. The ‘geese’ were provided by shooting gannets on Christmas Eve.’
1814 REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN
‘On the afternoon of 16th December 1814, Samuel Marsden stood upon the deck of the brig Active as she sailed to the Three Kings … a few days later the Active anchored inside the north head of the Bay of Islands, opposite Rangihoua … on Christmas Day in the morning every European with the exception of the Captain and one seaman, went ashore.
At Oihi, in the Bay of Islands, stands Marsden Cross, bearing this inscription:
ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1814, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN SERVICE IN N.Z. WAS HELD ON THIS SPOT BY THE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN’
