The First Christmas on New Zealand Shores

Just a few years less than two hundred years ago, the first church service commemorating Christmas was held on New Zealand shores. Not quite two hundred years earlier, in 1642, the Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, had been sailing in New Zealand waters on Christmas Day, followed by Capt James Cook and his crew celebrating Christmas on their ship Endeavour in 1769.

But it was the missionary Samuel Marsden who was the first to hold a church service in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand on Christmas Day, 1814. Marsden had arrived on the brig Active to spread the gospel in New Zealand.

The very first Christmas service must have seemed a strange affair for the group of English people arriving for the first time in such a strange land, so far from all they knew back home. Equally, it must have been beyond comprehension for the native Maori people, most of whom had never seen a white man, let alone sailing ships, cows and horses. The language and behaviour of the new arrivals must have seemed quite a curiosity.

One of the local Maori chiefs, Ruatara, had been to Sydney, Australia, and was familiar with the white man’s ways. He was able to communicate with the new arrivals and encouraged Marsden in his plans to hold his service upon the small Bay of Islands beach at Oihi.

Imagine the group of English people led by Marsden gathered on the beach, dressed as they would have been for Christmas Day back home in England. Their roof was the blue sky above; their church pews were upturned native Maori canoes. Behind them was the blue sea over which they had travelled, and in front of them the magnificent New Zealand bush. Around them the bright red flower of the pohutukawa tree blossomed, reminding the new arrivals of the holly their families and friends back home would be experiencing. Even the fact that they were celebrating Christmas on a hot summers day, rather than surrounded by snow, would have made it a remarkable occasion. The sound of singing from the new arrivals off the ship soon mingled with the native bird song, as Marsden held the very first church service in New Zealand. The chief Ruatara explained the meaning of the service to the Maoris watching closely throughout the proceedings.

As a reminder of the first Christmas Day in New Zealand, the Marsden Cross stands at Oihi in the Bay of Islands. Unveiled at a ceremony in 1907 it bears the following words.

“On Christmas Day, 1814, the first Christian service in N.Z. was held on this spot by the Rev. Samuel Marsden.”

 Picture from the postcard collection of Val Mills