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Story: Eating

Saying grace, 1958

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Saying grace, 1958

Saying grace – giving thanks to God for food before eating a meal – was once a common practice, but its use declined throughout the 20th century as regular church-going decreased. Here, kindergarten children are saying grace at a party held at Karori West School in Wellington in 1958. The child at left seems far more interested in watching the others say grace than actually doing it.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1958/1269-F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, Eating – Table etiquette, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/38620/saying-grace-1958 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 20 November 2012.