More special pleading for Matariki?

Following my earlier post I came across this piece of self serving BS from ‘one of the co-governance partners’

Warnings for Matariki not to be used as an excuse for sales was the headline for a Newstalk ZB item

Apparently according to our cultural overlord:

Matariki is about resetting and remembering those who have died in the past year.

Chief Executive of Tātou – a Māori cultural marketing and communications agency, Skye Kimura doesn’t want Matariki to be used as an excuse for sales.

Matariki will be marked as a public holiday for the first time this Friday.

Kimura told Tim Dower we should learn what Matariki is about.

She says she sees Matariki as being different to other holidays.

Stop trying to guilt trip us into thinking Māori are some special race that requires preference. Given that the great majority of Māori have mixed ancestry, though many seem to ignore it for their own societal advantage, I see no reason to treat this holiday differently.

Let us just take a moment to think about this. Ah, I know She says she sees Matariki as being different to other holidays. – well if Christmas commemorating the birth of Christ and Easter the death are not immune to commercialisation why should Matariki be different?

Why should we accord a different treatment to this holiday than to others? Perhaps this is what we have to look forward to under ‘co-governance’?

Furthermore, New Zealand is a secular state, so I am not going to accord any set of beliefs held by individuals to dictate how I should spend my time or resources.