New Zealand's Pakeha Folklore and Myths of Origin

When migrants from the British Isles came to New Zealand, they brought not only sheep, dogs, and gorse with them, but also many vernacular cultural traditions. This article proposes a research programme in folklore studies and cultural anthropology to investigate those parts of Pakeha (non-Maori) cultural continuity that can be traced to a set of largely working class and rural rituals and practices from Britain. These rituals and practices have been adapted in New Zealand and continue to thrive. Work on such a research programme has barely begun, in part because New Zealand intellectuals and state agencies neglect the myths and realities of origin in their search for a national identity.