Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand

Celebrating  Ni-Vanuatu Bislama Language Week

Join us for the official launch of the Vanuatu Bislama Lawis Wik 2025 – a celebration including official speeches, singsing (waiata, songs), tok stori (whaikōrero, storytelling), and Tanna Naio making, a traditional head piece from Tanna Island in Vanuatu.

When | Āhea

Sun 27 Jul 2025, 10.30am–1.00pm

Where | Ki hea

Rongomaraeroa, the marae, Level 4 

Cost | Te utu

Free event, with museum entry

Marking the first official launch of Vanuatu Bislama Language Week in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The 3rd Melanesian pidgin creole language to be included in our Pacific Language Week Suite to the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. 

We welcome the High Commissioner of the Republic of Vanuatu, His Excellency Jimmy Nipo and the Wellington Vanuatu Community in marking this special occasion for the Ni-Vanuatu Communities across the country, and within the larger diaspora of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, our Wan Solwara. (One Salt Water).

Programme

  • 10.30am: Opening speech from His Excellency Jimmy Nipo, High Commissioner of Vanuatu

  • 10.35am: Speech from Wellington Vanuatu Community President, Roy Stephens

  • 10.40am: Speech from MPP Representative

  • 10.45am: Sing sing String band and community 

  • 11.00am: Tanna naio making station starts with Vanuatu community

  • 1.00pm programme finishes.

About Tanna naio

To the Ni-Vanuatu people, Tanna naio is a body adornment worn during ceremonial kastom (custom) practices and celebrations. Tanna naio is a head piece made up of colourful feathers bound by string along a stick, worn by women and men as an embellishment, symbolising prestige, beauty, and cultural identity. 

Only the Paramount Chief of the village will wear Tanna naio made from the large tail feathers of a rooster, marking his distinct and significant status, showing his position, power and placing within the tribe. 

Vanuatu woman wearing Tanna Naio, 2024

Bislama Language Week 

In collaboration with the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, this week-long celebration focuses on the Bislama language, one of the official languages of Vanuatu.

Bislama is a creole language that originated from English and various Melanesian languages, and it serves as a common language for many people in Vanuatu and is spoken widely, as well as French, English, and over 110 distinct dialects, making Vanuatu the most language-dense country per capita in the world. 

In New Zealand, Bislama Language Week is observed to honour and celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Ni-Vanuatu (local or native from Vanuatu) community. It provides an opportunity for Ni-Vanuatu diaspora in New Zealand – as well as the broader population – to learn about the language, its history, and the cultural practices of Vanuatu.