Matariki 2025 - Māori New Year

Matariki in 2025 (Māori New Year) will be celebrated on Friday 20th June 2025

Matariki is a special occasion in the New Zealand calendar which marks the start of the Māori New Year.

Matariki takes place in mid-winter from late May to early July. The dates vary according to tribes and geography.

This annual event marks the appearance of the Pleiades star cluster and holds significant cultural and astronomical importance in New Zealand.

Closely connected with the maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar), the reappearance of the Matariki stars in the early morning sky brings the past year to a close and marks the beginning of the new year.

Mātauranga Māori (ancestral knowledge and wisdom) is at the heart of celebrations of the Matariki public holiday and it will be a time for;

Remembrance - Honouring those we have lost since the last rising of Matariki

Celebrating the present - Gathering together to give thanks for what we have

Looking to the future - Looking forward to the promise of a new year

Historically, the stars of Matariki were also closely tied to planting, harvesting and hunting. If the stars appeared clear and bright, it signified an abundant season ahead.

Passage of Legislation: Public Holiday

In April 2022, Te Ture mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki 2022 / Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Act 2022 came into effect. A dual language Act (an Act that is published in both Te Reo Māori and English), it established Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki/ Matariki Observance Day as a public holiday - the first public holiday to recognise Te Ao Māori, and the first new public holiday since Waitangi Day became a public holiday in 1974.