Story: Weekends

Māori gather for a Sunday service at the Catholic chapel at Opanaki (later renamed Kaihū), in Northland, in the 1880s. From the 1820s many Māori, both Christian and non-Christian, adopted the Pākehā concept of a day of rest on the seventh day of the week. Christian Māori were often stricter in their sabbath observance than many Pākehā. Most Māori held their sabbath on a Sunday, but followers of prophetic movements such as Papahurihia and Ringatū followed the Jewish practice of a Saturday sabbath.