John Robertson: Matariki the spiritual spearhead of a broader ideological movement

Now, cue the inevitable deflection: “But what about Christmas and Easter?”

It’s the go-to rebuttal. As if raising questions about one tax-funded spiritual holiday demands you condemn all the others. But let’s get something straight — this isn’t about whether a holiday has religious roots. It’s about how that holiday functions today.

Christmas and Easter have long since shed their theocratic teeth. They’re secular rituals at this point — family, food, presents, chocolate. They don’t come bundled with state-backed cosmology. No one's rewriting property law in Jesus’ name. No public school is teaching transubstantiation as science. And nobody’s losing land or legal rights because the Easter Bunny says so.

Matariki, on the other hand, is being introduced not just as a cultural nod, but as a sacred framework — one embedded in policy, classrooms, and courts. It comes with an origin story that’s not just acknowledged, but publicly funded and politically enforced.

We’re told it’s not a religion — yet speak against it, and you’re treated like you just insulted the Pope on live TV.

So no — the comparison doesn’t hold.

Matariki isn’t just a day off. It’s the spiritual spearhead of a broader ideological movement.

And if secularism still means anything, then all belief systems — even the fashionable ones — must be open to scrutiny.

Because once one myth becomes law, the rest are only a referendum away.

John Robertson is a patriotic New Zealander who frequently posts on Facebook.