Waitangi Day in New Zealand
Waitangi Day in New Zealand is held on February 6. Niue, New Zealand, Tokelau; celebrates the founding of New Zealand in 1840. This event in the first decade of the month February is annual. Help us
Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Māori chiefs signed what is often considered to be New Zealand's founding document. Waitangi Day became a national public holiday in 1974. The name has alternated between Waitangi Day and New Zealand Day a couple of times.
Commemorations are centred on Waitangi but are held throughout the country. Public celebrations include Māori ceremonies as well as sporting events, music, and parades.
Black was the colour of Maori ta moko and woven attire, and signified the void from which the world began. During the Victorian period, it remained a marker of status but for women it started to dissipate in the Edwardian era.
Similar holidays and events, festivals and interesting facts
Nelson Anniversary Day in New Zealand on February 3 (Date for 2025. Holiday is actually the 1st of February but it is observed on the Monday closest to that date);
Buller Anniversary Day in New Zealand on February 3 (Date for 2025. Celebrated on the first Monday of February);
Children's Day in New Zealand on March 2 (celebrated on the first Sunday in March);
Taranaki Anniversary Day in New Zealand on March 10 (Date for 2023. Holiday is actually the 31st of March but it is observed on the second Monday of March. Taranaki Anniversary applies to the Taranaki Region which includes Inglewood, Waitara, Hawera, Stratford, and Eltham);
Otago Anniversary Day in New Zealand on March 24 (Holiday is actually the 23rd of March but it is observed on the Monday closest to that date)