The activities for the Art Deco Weekend got off to a great start on a bright sunny day in Napier. The event held each year in February celebrates the earthquake of 1931 and the rebuilding of Napier in Art Deco style.  These photographs show the enjoyment of young and old who visit this event each year.

at the Hastings Show grounds

This is regarded as the biggest show in the southern hemisphere,

and a celebration of all things Equestrian.

Entrants come from all corners of the Globe attracting Olympic and World renowned participants

In addition, supporting acts will entertain from time to time.

Dressed for Art Deco

Harmony Singers

For many years now, Napier has been celebrating the dramatic change from the earthquake.  For one week each February, thousands of visitors from around the world, come to experience hospitality, and the many exciting activities within the area.

There are 1930’s themed picnics, concerts, soirees and vintage car displays.

The BBC World Service recently rated this event as one of the top ten international events for February, beaten only by The Rio Carnival and Japan’s Ice Festival.

Every year there is something new added to involve all who come to participate.It is unusual to find local residents who are not dressed in 1930’s clothing. Including most shop keepers.

This year  2012, the Art Deco begins in the week of February 14^th with the main events taking place on the 17th  18^th, and 19th  of February.

Join an ”Art Deco” walk, swing and dance to the music of jazz bands, and be part of the Gatsby Picnic on Sunday 20th February, concluding the day at the “Swing and a Prayer” in St John’s Cathedral.

We invite you to join the people of Napier to experience something unique, but  Remember to book accommodation well in advance.

Morning tea time on Tuesday February the 3^rd 1931, was shattered in Napier and Hawke’s Bay, by the force of a 7.8 earthquake, killing 256 people. The quake lasted two and a half minutes with 525 aftershocks recorded over the following two weeks.

Nearly all buildings in the central areas of Napier and Hastings were leveled. The death toll included 161 people in Napier, 93 in Hastings, and two in Wairoa. Thousands more were injured, with over 400 hospitalised.

The local landscape changed dramatically, with the coastal areas around Napier being lifted by around two metres. Some 40 km² of sea-bed became dry land, where the airport, housing and industrial property developments now exist.

The most noticeable land change was the uplifting of the Ahuriri Lagoon. The lagoon was lifted more than 2.7 metres which resulted in draining 2230 hectares of the lagoon. Today, the area is farmland and where the Hawke’s Bay Airport  is located.

The death toll might have been much higher had the Royal Navy ship  HMS Veronica not been in port at the time. Within minutes of the shock the Veronica had sent radio messages asking for help. The sailors joined survivors to fight the fires, rescue trapped people and help give them medical treatment. The Veronica’s radio was used to transmit news of the disaster to the outside world and to seek assistance. As news spread, two other ships travelling nearby joined the rescue workers. Two cruisers, HMS Diomede and HMS Dunedin were dispatched from Auckland that afternoon with food, tents, medicine, blankets, and a team of doctors and nurses. The cruisers sailed at high speed overnight, arrived on 4 February and provided valuable assistance in all areas until their departure on 11 February.

Rebuilding

It is often said that out of adversity comes the courage, and determination to recover. It would have been easy to walk away from it all, but the people of Napier set about to rebuild, and in doing so we now have a city unique in character and style. The 1930’s was a period when Art Deco was fashionable, with the result that by 1933 we had a city that is now regarded as one of the finest examples of Art Deco in New Zealand, and indeed the world. It is a city like no other.

Pania

The statue was first formed in clay from a photograph of Mei Robin (now Mei Whaitiri), who was 15 at the time. A mould was made of the clay figure and then was cast in bronze by the Italian Marble Company of Carrera, Italy and brought back here in 1954. It sat on a limestone base on Napier’s Marine Parade.

The Legend of Pania:

Pania today is a ledge or reef of rock, lying about four miles beyond Hukarere point. The Napier breakwater was the home of Pania, a beautiful sea maiden who, in ancient times, daily swam shorewards at the setting of the sun and returned to her sea people before the break of day. While on shore she hid herself in a clump of flax beside a freshwater spring at the foot of Hukarere cliff, close by the sea.

One evening Karitoki, the very handsome son of a Maori Chief who lived in a nearby Pa, , quenched his thirst every evening at the stream where, Pania rested because it had the sweetest water. He was unaware she was observing him for many weeks until one night she whispered a faint spell. It carried on the wind to Karitoki who turned around to see Pania emerge from her hiding place. Karitoki had never seen someone so beautiful and instantly fell in love. Pania fell in love also, and they pledged their lives to each other and were secretly married. Pania and Karitoki went to his whare (house), but because it was dark no-one saw them enter.

But always, every morning, Pania would return to her sea folk and every evening come back ashore to her husband. After a while Pania gave birth to a son who was completely without hair and so was named Moremore, ‘the hairless one.’ With the birth of this child, Pania’s husband became concerned that he might lose him to the sea people. So he consulted a tohunga, in the hope of finding how to keep his child and wife with him always.

The tohunga told him to place cooked food upon the mother and child while they slept, and they would never again return to the sea. Evidently something went amiss. Perhaps the food was not properly cooked; for Pania returned to her people never to return.