Pasifika festival: the celebration of culture
The Pasifika Festival is Auckland’s award-winning Pacific Islands-themed festival which is held in Western Springs every year. It was celebrated for the first time in 1993. It is one of the largest cultural festivals in the world which attracts around 200,000 visitors annually. Pasifika festival consists of fashion shows, sports competitions, theatre performances, etc. A large number of Pacific Island leaders, community groups, and performers participate in this festival. This festival usually lasts for one to two days.
Roy Vaughan who was the secretary of the South Pacific Forum was the person who was behind the inception of this festival. He thought of an event that celebrates the different cultures of the South Pacific and brings people closer. He showed his proposal for this festival to several high-ranking officials of South Pacific nations in 1991. Those officials included Cook Islands Consul General Bill Te Ariki, Papua New Guinea Consul General Alister Martin, and many others. It was met with success and the festival was greenlit. At first, the festival was supposed to happen in Central Auckland. But the newly established South Pacific Island Nation Development Agency got feedback from the local community and reached a decision that the festival should be held at Western Springs. This decision came just a week and a half before the event.
Thus the first Pasifika Festival was held in Western Springs on 6–12 March 1993. The festival was well received with around 30,000 people visiting during that time period. The festival was then awarded the Creative New Zealand Creative Places Award next year. And it has been creating waves around it since then.
The festival features around 220 local and international performance groups every year. There are more than 200 food and craft stalls. It presents a variety of cultural experiences like traditional food from the Cook Islands, Samoa, Niue, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Māori, etc. It started in 1998 when the village concept was introduced to the festival. It shows off the diversity within the Pacific region in terms of food, culture, and lifestyle. Each village has a separate performance stage that features traditional and contemporary performances. The market stalls sell their signature dishes and crafts which represent their culture.
The Pacifika festival is a celebration of different cultures of New Zealand. It represents the diversity and rich culture of the country. Be a part of this mesmerizing and memorable festival now. Plan a trip to Manukau and book your stay with Proximity Apartments now.
