Global glow

Two Marlborough ladies with roots overseas share their holiday traditions, both adapted and adopted.

Words: Evan Tuchinsky

Many in Marlborough take the Kiwi observance of Christmas and New Year as a given. These are summer holidays, favouring a caravan on the coast over a cabin in the cold. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Sure: a campfire. Champagne flowing from an uncorked bottle? Sure: chilled on ice.

As stockings, candles and sleigh bells suggest, these holidays (and Boxing Day) elsewhere are winter wonders. As such, newcomers bring distinct expressions of warmth and festiveness when they settle here. Some adopt local traditions; some adapt theirs; some do both.

Offering a glimpse into myriad ways our neighbours celebrate, two Marlburians whose roots stretch far and wide – one to Asia, one to South America – share how they enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

Paola Llosa de Rowden: Niño Jesus and new traditions

Living in Bolivia, Paola celebrated Christmas and New Year as summer holidays, albeit at 2,570m elevation in a landlocked country. Her husband, Kiwi-born Cory Rowden, grew up in her hometown, Cochabamba, and they’ve spent their 22-year marriage moving back and forth.

Family is a big reason. Cory and Paola have three sons – Hugo, now 19 and at university; Liam, 18; and Isaac, 17 – with the dual surname Rowden Llosa per Bolivian custom. After eight years in Auckland, they spent seven and a half in Bolivia for the boys’ primary education, then six and a half in Tauranga.

Like their parents, the boys are bilingual and bicultural, though Paola says they’re “more Kiwis than Bolivians.”

This will be the family of five’s first celebration in Marlborough. They arrived before Christmas last year, but with the boys spending summer break in Bolivia, Paola did not dip into her massive duffel bag of decorations. Besides, she started working full time as an early childhood teacher with the Marlborough Kindergarten Association, while Cory grew busy as branch manager at Blenheim Toyota.

Though in the same season, Bolivian Christmas and Kiwi Christmas differ considerably.

There, Paola says, relatives travel great distances to observe traditions more formal than “the laid-back affair” that’s typical in New Zealand. Christmas Eve has greater heft, with a Catholic Mass following a grand family gathering. Dressed in their finest attire, Bolivians dine on sumptuous fare and exchange gifts.

Decor receives the same dedication – particularly the nativity scene. Paola cherishes the “Niño Jesus” (statue of the infant Christ) she received from her grandmother. Nestled in a woven stick manger, her niño is central to the display she places atop the wood-burning stove. Accents include three ceramic llamas, three fabric elves and three painted stones a friend gave as a gift.

Christmas Eve in Tauranga, Paola filled her table with friends who she requested to “dress nicely.” She, Cory and the boys “would have family things on the 25th, but that (feast on the 24th) was our big thing.” Since they still are forging friendships in their new community, Paola anticipates inviting just a couple families to dinner at their Blenheim home.

New Year’s Eve may be even more low key. Back in Cochabamba, Paola fondly recalls, her mother followed a number of superstitious traditions such as “walking around with a suitcase so you would travel in the coming year” and “counting dollar bills” – in that currency, Bolivianos – “in the hope they would multiply.”

When the calendar flips in Marlborough, where the pace of life favours early birds, late parties are more of a memory. “We don’t celebrate New Year the way we used to,” Paola says. But with the boys becoming men, and the family in a region ripe with international heritages, new traditions may blossom in 2026 and beyond.

Sohee Bae: Sunrise wishes from Seoul to the Sounds

Korea has frigid temperatures this time of year. Sohee Bae grew up in Seoul associating December (“sibiwol” in her native tongue) with ice, snow and winter wear. Yet, she also associates the holidays, especially New Year, with the glow of the sun.

Sohee first saw New Zealand in 2004 while backpacking on a Working Holiday Visa. She was 24, midway through university, and aimed to improve her English and expand her understanding of another culture.

“After the second year (of four in university),” she explains, “you feel like, ‘I don’t want to graduate too soon’.”

She chose this country for her first trip overseas because an aunt and cousin lived in Christchurch, as well as safety in New Zealand versus other places she weighed. Sohee returned home, but a semester before graduating, she got a tug from the South Island.

During her initial travels, Sohee met the owner of a vineyard and olive orchard. He offered to sponsor a work visa if she would help him transition into retirement and move her into management. Her hesitation: withdrawing from school just her thesis away from a bachelor’s degree in International Business.

Apropos of the major, her professor granted Sohee permission to complete the paper here. Thus began four years in Renwick, during which time she met a Brazilian man, got married and moved into hospitality. She also became a mother – elder daughter Hannah is now 15, younger daughter Iris is 12 – and a diploma-holder in Viticulture & Winemaking from NMIT.

Encouraged by a classmate who worked at Indevin New Zealand, Sohee pursued a position in the wine company’s lab. She dropped off her application wearing a T-shirt and shorts, with young Iris in her arms. To Sohee’s surprise, she got an interview on the spot and, soon after, the job. That was in 2016; since, she has transferred to the Quality Assurance Department, where she’s been Assistant QA Manager (as a single mum) for five years.

Holidays are important for Sohee and the girls. Every few years, she takes them to Korea to reconnect with extended family. There, in weather “perfect for shopping,” she says Christmas revolves around gift-giving and charity.

“There, you feel the coldness, you want to wear a puffed jacket,” Sohee notes. “Here, the opposite – you want to go to the beach, grill some sausages, go for a swim. Days are longer, so you can enjoy longer.”

Their Christmas here starts with church services before embarking on a five-day trip to Quinney’s Bush Camp past Nelson. This “Kiwi Summer” vacation now includes a group of families from the girls’ school: Argentinians, Chileans, Chinese, South Africans and, of course, Koreans and Kiwis.

Their New Year, too, is quintessentially Marlburian… with a Korean twist.

Sohee’s clan, like many in Blenheim, head to Picton for 31 December fireworks. But that’s just the first leg. Joined by friends, they venture to the shore at Rarangi or Kaikōura for the first glimmer of daylight.

This honors a tradition from Seoul, where Koreans catch the last train to the east coast to await sunrise. Clouds may obscure the view, but even the glow has significance.

“To see the very first burst of sunlight is a blessing,” Sohee says. “You’re praying for the new year, praying for your family and friends. Sometimes the weather is not even clear, but sometimes you have an amazing view, seeing the massive sun coming up from the ocean.

“That used to be our tradition in Korea,” she adds – and continuing it here, “you feel so meaningful. It’s about appreciation, planting positive energy for the new year. That’s the focus for the family.”