I've noticed that New Zealand has a lot of theme days and small-scale holidays taken from the U.K. and Canada. Last week was "Red Nose Day" by the Comic Relief foundation to raise money for children in need. We all wore red clown noses at work to promote the event and my Kiwi flatmates watched the nation-wide three hour long program of famous New Zealand comedians with great eagerness and anticipation (The Flight of the Conchords even made a special video exclusively for the cause).
Today in New Zealand we celebrate "Daffodil Day" which is a day to recognize and raise money for cancer support. At work we could send daffodils to one another for a $2 donation, buy pins of tiny daffodils and get our picture taken in a daffodil costume (the latter was actually mandatory). In addition, to raise money for the cause, the Remarkables launched the first ever "Run up the Road" which is a road race for ambitious runners to tackle the 13.5 km steep climb from the base to the top. We had a whopping seven entries for this event but the organizers considered it a success anyways. My job was to stand at the bottom and stop cars to warn them that there were runners on the road. I was pretty excited to wear a fluorescent vest instead of a daffodil costume.
I'm not sure yet what holiday we will be celebrating next week, but I'll keep you posted.