When is Matariki? Public holiday dates 2026 to 2035 and the full NZ 2026 list
Matariki moves every year because it follows the Māori lunar calendar, but the dates are fixed in law decades ahead, so you can plan for them now. Here are the next ten, plus the rest of New Zealand's 2026 public holidays.
Matariki public holiday dates
| Year | Matariki public holiday |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Friday 10 July |
| 2027 | Friday 25 June |
| 2028 | Friday 14 July |
| 2029 | Friday 6 July |
| 2030 | Friday 21 June |
| 2031 | Friday 11 July |
| 2032 | Friday 2 July |
| 2033 | Friday 24 June |
| 2034 | Friday 7 July |
| 2035 | Friday 29 June |
The first Matariki public holiday was Friday 24 June 2022. The date is chosen to fall near the Tangaroa lunar phase when the Matariki star cluster rises again in the pre-dawn sky, and it is always placed on a Friday so it makes a long weekend. Because it is gazetted rather than calculated by a simple rule, software should use the official table (which this calculator and API carry through 2052) instead of trying to work it out from the moon.
Every New Zealand public holiday in 2026
| Date | Weekday | Holiday |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-01 | Thu | New Year's Day |
| 2026-01-02 | Fri | Day after New Year's Day |
| 2026-02-06 | Fri | Waitangi Day |
| 2026-04-03 | Fri | Good Friday |
| 2026-04-06 | Mon | Easter Monday |
| 2026-04-27 | Mon | Anzac Day (observed; 25 April is a Saturday) |
| 2026-06-01 | Mon | King's Birthday |
| 2026-07-10 | Fri | Matariki |
| 2026-10-26 | Mon | Labour Day |
| 2026-12-25 | Fri | Christmas Day |
| 2026-12-28 | Mon | Boxing Day (observed; 26 December is a Saturday) |
Mondayisation, in one paragraph
Since 2014, when Waitangi Day or Anzac Day falls on a weekend, New Zealand moves the day off to the following Monday for people who would not normally work that weekend day. Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and the day after already worked this way. In 2026 that moves Anzac Day to Monday 27 April and Boxing Day to Monday 28 December. Australia does something different: it keeps the weekend date and adds a Monday, which is explained in additional public holidays explained.
Regional anniversary days
Each region also has a provincial anniversary day (Wellington in January, Auckland in late January, Canterbury in November and so on). They are local, not national, so they are not in the table or in the API's nz list. Add your own region's day when you count working days for a contract.
Working days and countdowns
2026 has 261 weekdays, and all 11 holidays above are weekdays, which leaves 250 working days. To see how many sleeps or working days are left until Matariki, put the date into the countdown.
# every NZ public holiday in 2026, as JSON
curl -s 'https://api.oddlathe.com/v1/holidays?region=nz&year=2026'
# the next upcoming NZ holiday from today
curl -s 'https://api.oddlathe.com/v1/holidays/next?region=nz'
# subscribe-once calendar feed (rolls into future years automatically)
https://api.oddlathe.com/v1/holidays.ics?region=nz
Related
NSW public holidays 2026 · Australian additional public holidays · How many sleeps until Christmas · Countdown · Bank holidays calculator · Anvil holidays API
Questions
When is Matariki in 2026?
Friday 10 July 2026.
When is Matariki in 2027?
Friday 25 June 2027. In 2028 it is Friday 14 July.
Is Matariki always on a Friday?
Yes. The law sets each year's public holiday on a Friday close to the Tangaroa lunar phase, with dates fixed through 2052.
Is Anzac Day 2026 mondayised in New Zealand?
Yes. 25 April 2026 is a Saturday, so the day off moves to Monday 27 April for people who don't normally work Saturdays.
How many public holidays does New Zealand have in 2026?
Eleven national public holidays, all landing on weekdays after mondayisation, plus one regional anniversary day depending on where you live.
Published .