Te Harinui

Te Harinui

Christmas is almost upon us, and here at the Presbyterian Archives we have prepared some short photo slide shows looking at how Presbyterians in Aotearoa New Zealand, and further afield, in the New Zealand Presbyterian Missions, have celebrated the coming of Te Harinui, the great good news.

To move between the photos, click on the arrows at the far right and left of the photographs.

Initially many New Zealand Presbyterians did not celebrate Christmas in the way that we do today. In Scotland where the first Presbyterian settlers came from, the New Year celebrations called Hogmanay,rather than Christmas, were the main mid-winter festival. Many Scottish Presbyterians maintained that there was no instruction in the Bible to celebrate Christmas, and also that the date of Christ’s birth was unknown, and so not necessarily December 25th.

In New Zealand however, these Scottish settlers encountered people from other Christian denominations for whom Christmas was a major celebration, and they gradually began to adopt the Christmas traditions of their neighbours. By the early 20th Century Presbyterians in Aotearoa New Zealand had become enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas!

Christmas Preperations

Getting ready for Christmas has often involved decorating churches and other spaces that were to be used for Christmas events. This might involve congregations making their own Christmas decorations, often using what was readily available, such as the garlands of tropical vegetation which were used to decorate churches in Vanuatu [the New Hebrides].

A church hall decorated for Christmas events, in Caversham, Dunedin, about 1940.
Making star decorations, Knox Church, Dunedin, about 1990.
The interior of Taloa Church on Nguna Island, Vanuatu [New Hebrides], decorated for Christmas with garlands of tropical vegetation, about 1910.
Children preparing an outdoor stage for the Christmas Pageant at St. Thomas’ School, Jagadhri, in North India, 1979.

“And she brought forth her firstborn son; and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger for there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7)

The nativity pageant was not originally part of Presbyterian Christmas traditions, but become more popular from the early twentieth century onward, and many Sunday Schools would perform a Christmas play featuring the nativity story.

The Christmas crib, a display of figurines illustrating the nativity has also became increasingly popular.

A nativity scene performed by children at Tanatana Church, about 1970.
Sunday School children from Knox Church, Dunedin, dressed in Nativity costumes and leading a donkey, about 1981.
The children of St. Stephen’s Sunday School, Dunedin, dressed for a Christmas Pageant in 1974.
A Christmas crib scene, Anderson’s Bay, Dunedin, 1994.

Keeping Christmas

Christmas services have taken a variety of different forms, from the outdoor service of a Second World War army encampment to the midnight service of an inner city church, complete with choir and candles.

New Zealand troops at a Christmas service, about 1942.
Christmas Eve service at Knox Church, Dunedin, 1957, with the church’s first Christmas tree.
A group beside the Christmas tree, Auckland Chinese Church Christmas service, 1948.

Christmas Cheer

“Not on a snowy night, By star or candlelight…”, the words of the New Zealand carol, Te Harinui, written by Willow Macky, emphasise that the Christmas celebrated in Aotearoa New Zealand is not the winter festival of the Northern Hemisphere. Here Christmas comes in the summertime, and traditional Christmas features such as Nativity plays and decorated Christmas trees were joined by other activities such as outdoor races and Christmas camps.

“The Old Ladies Race”, Christmas day at Maungapohatu, 1933.
St. Paul’s Young Men’s Bible Class Camp at Glentui, Christmas 1897.
On the way to Bible Class Camp at Glentui, Christmas 1897.
Bible Class Camp at Pounawea, South Otago, Christmas 1909.

“In a Far Land Upon a Day…”

(Eleanor Farjeon)

The celebration of Christmas took many forms in the New Zealand Presbyterian Church’s foreign missions.

The Christmas Pageant at St. Thomas’ School, Jagadhri, in North India, 1979.
A New Hebridean “Santa” standing with balloons in front of a decorated tree, Vanuatu, about 1945.
A Christmas Day gathering of Christians at Jagadhri, North India, 1912.
A Nativity play performed as part of a Christmas Pageant staged by a Christian school in Hong Kong, about 1955.