National Day of Remembrance: Anzac Day
April 25 commemorates New Zealanders killed in war and honours returned and serving servicemen and women.
Kia inoi tātou - Let us pray
Remember, O Lord, all those the brave and the true, who have died the death of honour and are departed in the hope of the resurrection to eternal life. In that place of light from which sorrow and mourning are far banished, give them rest, O Lord, thou lover of humanity. Amen
From: Prayers for Anzac day services
Recitation of 'The Ode'
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget!
E kore rātou e kaumātuatia
Pēnei i a tātou kua mahue nei
E kore hoki rātou e ngoikore
Ahakoa pehea i ngā āhuatanga o te wā
I te hekenga atu o te rā
Tae noa ki te arangamai i te ata
Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou
Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou
The Ode comes from ‘For the Fallen’, a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binon and was published in London in The Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914. This verse, which became the Ode for the Returned and Services League, has been used in association with commemoration services in this country since 1921.
Peace Blessing
May Peace be within us
May Peace be around us
May Peace be beside us
May Peace be between us.
May we walk peacefully on our journey.
May peace fill our days and nights.
May Peace fill the earth.
Amen
From A Prayer Companion (TCI) 2014
The National Anthem
Sing two verses - first in Māori and then in English. Words and Sign language are included in the following video.
Click here to sing our own anthem in honour of those who defend our free land.
