Although intrinsically the culture of New Zealand is something of a melting pot all New Zealanders have a fiercely proud, strong sense of national identity and what it means to be a Kiwi.

Traditionally, the New Zealand culture was that of either Maori or Pakeha (white people) with many people claiming mixed descent of the two.

Maori culture is still very much alive in New Zealand and is particularly strong in certain areas such as the Eastland and the Northland on the North Island. A stroll around towns such as Ruatoria illustrate this perfectly where older Maori citizens display the moko or traditional tattoo on their faces. Moko tattoos were used to denote rank and status as well as tribal history or marks of beauty. More recent years have seen a revival of this tradition and many younger Maoris are choosing to display their culture in this way. Maori populations are, in the main, markedly absent in the South Island.

Any New Zealander of Maori descent will be able to tell you which waka or canoe their ancestors arrived in. Long, seemingly unpronounceable Maori place names abound and most small communities have at least one marae which is the traditional Maori meeting house and epicentre of both tribal society and religious matters. There are many active Maori groups and institutions which focus their efforts on keeping traditional Maori culture and language alive. Moreover, many of these groups are continuing the political fight for regaining lands to which they have ancestral rights. The main TV stations broadcast Maori language programmes although it is unusual to meet younger Maori New Zealanders who have any knowledge of the language.

New Zealand has a population of only 4.4 million but of this number just over half live in one of the four biggest cities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton and 72% of the total population live in urban areas. There is a fairly marked cultural divide between urban dwelling and rural New Zealanders. As a result rural New Zealanders tend to display stronger evidence of the tough pioneering stock from which they come although of course there are exceptions to this in either case.

In addition to those of white and Maori descent there is now an ever burgeoning number of New Zealanders who claim Asian descent although in the main this is found almost entirely in the huge sprawl of the Auckland region. Polynesians are the other main cultural group which include Tongans, Fijians, Cook Islanders and Samoans.

Furthermore, every region of New Zealand has a strong local identity with every tiny town proudly displaying this. Approaches into towns are often met with large structures in the shape of a fruit, vegetable or more obscurely a gumboot (Wellington boot) and a large sign which will say for example -Welcome to Taihape – the gumboot capital of New Zealand. Even the most random of these are only half tongue-in-cheek.

There are virtually no regional accents evident in New Zealand with two notable exceptions. The Northland of the North Island and most markedly of all in the Southland of the South Island. Many of the people who live here are of Scottish descent and this is still evident in the heavily burred accent of this region. Furthermore, many of the place names are Scottish either as direct copies of existing place names in Scotland or with their roots in the same.

Kiwis are very definitely a nation of outdoor people and sport plays a huge part in their national identity which is seen through their world domineering rugby team, the All Blacks and also with cricket and netball.

Where New Zealanders of Maori descent are aware and proud of their ancestry so too are the Kiwis of European descent. It is still the norm for all young New Zealanders to experience the big OE (overseas experience) as it is termed, with Europe and often the UK being the destination focus. While recognising and embracing their European roots, Kiwis are also aware of their need to distance themselves from their once colonial ties and stake their identity independence along with the political independence that they already have. Hence there has been a move for some time to replace the New Zealand flag which currently incorporates the British Union Jack.

It is interesting that in the 2006 census New Zealanders identified themselves in the following way – 67% of European descent and 14% Maori with the remainder divided between Asian, Polynesian and other. A significant proportion of 11% said they were New Zealanders. This figure alone perhaps illustrates how New Zealanders see themselves.