Odd celebrations, weighty bread and uncompromising fairness

Kiwis have an underdeveloped part of the brain responsible for getting the rounds in.

Blog roundup: New Zealanders have some strange customs and habits that this week's blogs examine.

LAST night was Guy Fawkes and the familiar burst of rockets, roman candles and catherine wheels was delayed by three hours while New Zealand's children waited for it to go dark.

Unless you've experienced the kiwi version of these "autumn" festivals it's hard to imagine just how odd they seem when you have a tradition of pitch-black 5pm nights, parkin and baked potatoes in the bonfire embers.

It's a bit like eating a pub roast dinner with all the trimmings while sitting beneath a parasol on a steaming hot July afternoon.

While Halloween in the UK was never about trick or treating (not until recently) it is another matter entirely to see marauding hoards of kids running about in ghost costumes during the middle of the day.

Chez Lee looks at the origins of Halloween and wonders why Southern Hempispherers don't celebrate things at the right time of year, and the theme is taken up at Wellington Road.

Halloween down under is just a bit silly, when the DAYS are getting longer, and all the flowers are blooming. It’s more like being in a fairy grotto than anything spooky. It would make so much more sense to have Halloween on 30 April.

All these traditions are as a run up to the darkest of all the festivals, of course. That of Christmas. On this side of the world, and in particular now the post office is rife with industrial action in Britain, we have to think of xmas pressies well in advance.

At Avalon's blog she sings the praises of Amazon and its cash-preserving qualities.

There's also been an interesting development at Amazon.co.uk which can be even better for us. They are now charging in local currency – so if you live in New Zealand and have an NZ Credit card – you can be charged directly in NZ$.

The NZ dollar is still extremely strong so buying via the web in the UK is a great money saver at the moment. (And I still can't get over the price of those biscuits).

But to end this blog roundup I want to steer you to two posts at Kiwianarama. First, a discourse on Vogels bread, "Part bread, part muesli, and part vegetarian meatloaf," which you are bound to encounter while here.

And second, an investigation of the scrupulous fairness of kiwis when they split the bill at a restaurant -- the first time you come across this habit you might well lose the will to live!

Scientists believe that, possibly due to low selenium levels in the soil, Kiwis have by comparison evolved with an underdeveloped Non Stingyus gland, which is, in layman’s terms, the part of the brain responsible for 'getting the rounds in'.

Happy reading.

Comments

[Juli Ryan]

Thanks for the mention. I love all of those posts. And I need to get those Christmas pressies sorted!

[Sarah]

Great round up and thanks for the link to 'Kiwianarama' - a fabulous read. Oh the bill splitting thing really did take me a long time to get used to!