WELLINGTON, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand marked Waitangi Day, which laid the country's bicultural foundation, on Tuesday to commemorate the 184th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the country's founding document.
A public holiday was taken and various events were held nationwide to celebrate the country's founding day, with the centerpiece being a dawn service in Waitangi, one of New Zealand's most significant historic sites where the Treaty was signed on Feb. 6, 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Maori chiefs, which allowed then British government to gain the sole right to purchase land in New Zealand.
"Waitangi Day is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the foundations of our nation, our history, and to look forward," Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said in his speech after arriving at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds on Monday.
The Treaty has shaped the country, Luxon said, adding New Zealanders must aspire to go forward not as two sides, but together as New Zealanders "because there is more that unites us than divides us."
However, protests participated by thousands of people started on Monday on the Treaty Grounds to challenge the coalition government's proposed Treaty Principles Bill, which was thought to degrade Maori's self-determination.
Luxon called on people to look beyond the protests and find common ground.
The Treaty of Waitangi takes its name from the place in the Bay of Islands where it was first signed in 1840. ■
