Although New Zealand Day is officially 6 February, New Zealanders celebrated it in London on Saturday 2 February, when large numbers of mostly young people  in fancy dress roamed the streets, being particularly evident at the southeast corner of Kensington Gardens and near Gloucester Road tube station.  A few had silver fern, the floral emblem of New Zealand painted on their faces, a practice very popular with the country’s rugby supporters.

The silver fern (Cyathea dealbata) was first adopted as a symbol of New Zealand when it was worn by soldiers during the second (1899-1902) Boer War.

Further information on the Day, which is ‘a fancy dress pub crawl basically using the Circle Line as its template’, started in 1986, can be found on https://traditionalcustomsandceremonies.wordpress.com

Updated 5 February 2023.