Culture

And nobody celebrates like Rio de Janeiro, where thousands of people come together to party in the streets, bars and restaurants and balls of Carnival.

Carnival 2017 starts on Friday, February 24 and ends on February 28, also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday. It's the hurrah before the Christian faithful start observing Lent, a period of contemplation and reflection before the coming of Easter.

A story says that a choirmaster, in 1670, was worried about the children sitting quietly all through the long Christmas nativity service. So he gave them something to eat to keep them quiet! As he wanted to remind them of Christmas, he made them into a 'J' shape like a shepherds crook, to remind them of the shepherds that visited the baby Jesus at the first christmas. However, the earliest records of 'candy canes' comes from over 200 years later, so the story, although rather nice, probably isn't true!

RNZI reports the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child raised the issue in a review recently, saying it was particularly true at the village level and among church leaders.

But the chief executive of Samoa's Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development disagrees.

RNZI reports Māori and Pacific Islanders make up nearly 70 percent of New Zealand's prison population, according to police statistics, and the force is hoping that the recently established liaison roles in districts across the country could help reduce the high number of Pacific offenders.

EFKS Aoga Amata Playgroup is the brainchild of Blenheim's Filifilia Puni and Taulapu Oliver who wanted to ensure the Samoan language and culture was being taught to Marlborough's New Zealand Samoan children. 

"We really aim to keep our language alive in the new families arriving to Marlborough. 

With the help of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been running workshops to educate performers about how to protect their livelihoods.

The Ministry's Director of Culture, Dennis Marita, says many need to be made aware of their rights and how to benefit fairly from the tourism dollar.