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Kōrero: Eating

Saying grace, 1958

Image
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.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Kerryn Pollock, Eating – Table etiquette, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/38620/saying-grace-1958 (accessed 26 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Kerryn Pollock, i tāngia i te 20 November 2012.