Next: 6 Feb 2027
Waitangi Day
Red, black and white: the colours of Māori carving, weaving and the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, flown beside the national flag.
The colours of Waitangi Day
On 6 February 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and Māori chiefs. The day is kept at the treaty grounds in the Bay of Islands with dawn prayers, speeches, and the launch of waka, long carved canoes. Red, black and white are the traditional colours of Māori art: red ochre mixed with oil on carvings, black from soot, and white. The same three colours make up the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, chosen in 1990, where black stands for the darkness from which the world came, red for the earth, and white for the world of light, with a curling koru shape between them. It flies beside the blue New Zealand flag. Performers wear woven cloaks and flax skirts.
#B5121BKōkōwai redRed ochre of carvings; the earth on the flag.#101010Te Pō blackThe darkness before the world, on the flag.#FFFFFFTe Ao whiteThe world of light, on the flag.#012169Flag blueThe field of the New Zealand flag.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
More colours tied to Waitangi Day
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Waitangi Day" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.