Waitangi Day marks the first signing of New Zealand's founding document: The Treaty of Waitangi or Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Māori. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon bucked tradition by choosing not ...

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks at the Waitangi Treaty House marae ahead of Waitangi Day celebrations in Waitangi, northern New Zealand, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, center, arrives on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, for the Waitangi Day ceremonies at Ōnuku Marae, New Zealand. Credit: AP/Kai Schwoerer ...

Waitangi Day is considered to be New Zealand’s national day and has been observed as a public holiday since 1974. Read More New Māori queen, 27, crowned in New Zealand as her father is buried ...

Waitangi Day was declared a national holiday in 1974, then named New Zealand Day. Since 2013 if the day falls over the weekend, the holiday is moved to the following Monday. Related articles ...

Waitangi Day was once an irrelevant and marginal part of New Zealand's official calendar, with European New Zealanders more focused on the settler ships that arrived at the same time as Hobson ...

This year's Waitangi Day is bigger than any of the past 30 years, as Māori from all over Aotearoa unite against a controversial government bill that could change the Treaty of Waitangi.

Eventually, a national holiday was granted from 1974 onwards, but it was called “New Zealand Day”; however, only a few years later, the Waitangi Day Act 1976 reinstated the name to Waitangi Day.

In his message, King Charles says, “On this Waitangi Day, my first as King of New Zealand, I send my warmest greetings to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Waitangi Day marks the first signing of New Zealand's Treaty of Waitangi or Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Māori between the British Crown and Māori chiefs in 1840.