Assyrians in New Zealand

Last updated
Assyrian New Zealanders
Total population
900 (2022) [1]
Regions with significant populations
Wellington and Auckland
Languages
Neo-Aramaic, English
Religion
Syriac Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Assyrian Australians

Assyrians in New Zealand are New Zealanders of Assyrian descent or Assyrians who have New Zealand citizenship. The Assyrian community in New Zealand began in the 1990s when refugees from Iraq and Iran settled in the country.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The majority of Assyrian New Zealanders live in Auckland, in the suburbs of Manurewa and Papatoetoe.[ citation needed ] They have an Assyrian church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church. Wellington has a sizeable Assyrian population consisting of several hundred people. Smaller communities can be found in Miramar, Newtown, Strathmore, and in the Island Bay area.[ citation needed ]

History

In 2018, the Assyrian community of New Zealand unveiled a monument at Makara Cemetery in Wellington to immortalize the souls of the Assyrian martyrs in the WW1 Assyrian genocide. [2]

The Holy Cross Primary School in Wellington began teaching about Assyrian New Year as a subject through the Intensive Oral Language Program, where students learn about Assyrian culture, language and heritage. [3]

Religion

Majority of Assyrians in New Zealand adhere to churches of the Syriac Christian tradition. These churches include the: Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Demographics

According to the 2013 Census: [4]

The statistic of the number of Assyrians in New Zealand may be inaccurate as many Assyrians would identify as Iraqi or Middle Eastern before Assyrian when completing the Census.

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Assyrians are an indigenous ethnic group native to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians descend from Ancient Mesopotamians such as ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, originating from the ancient indigenous Mesopotamians of Akkad and Sumer, who first developed the civilisation in northern Mesopotamia that would become Assyria in 2600 BCE. Modern Assyrians may culturally self-identify as Syriacs, Chaldeans, or Arameans for religious, geographic, and tribal identification.

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Assyrians in Iran, or Iranian Assyrians, are an ethnic and linguistic minority in present-day Iran. The Assyrians of Iran speak Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, a neo-Aramaic language descended from Classical Syriac and elements of Akkadian, and are Eastern Rite Christians belonging mostly to the Assyrian Church of the East and also to the Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Chaldean Catholic Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church.

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References

  1. "2013 Census ethnic group profiles: Assyrian". Stats NZ. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  2. Wright, Tony. "Memorial unveiled for 'martyr' Kiwi WWI soldiers who fought against Armenian Genocide". Newshub. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  3. Yalda, Ashoor. "New Zealand Primary School Adds Assyrian New Year to Curriculum". AINA. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  4. "2013 Census ethnic group profiles: Assyrian". Stats NZ. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2019.