The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the Crown and indigenous Māori chiefs, and so is regarded by many as the founding document of the nation.

A variety of events are held, including parties, Māori hui (social gatherings), reflections on New Zealand history, official awards and citizenship ceremonies.

[2] Over the course of the next seven months, copies of the treaty were toured around the New Zealand archipelago by the British,[3] and eventually around 540 Māori chiefs would sign.

[8] In 1932, Governor-General Lord Bledisloe and his wife purchased and presented to the nation the run-down house of James Busby, where the treaty was initially signed.

[14] The Labour Party stated in its 1957 election manifesto that it would make Waitangi Day a public holiday.

Waitangi Day underwent 'Mondayisation' in legislation enacted in 2013, meaning the public holiday is observed on the following Monday if 6 February falls on a Saturday or Sunday.

[23] Politicians are usually granted speaking rights, but on occasion, the privilege has been withdrawn, as with Leader of the Opposition Helen Clark in 1999,[24] Prime Ministers John Key in 2016,[25] and Bill English in 2017.

[28] According to The Guardian, "Under Ardern the celebration has taken on a more conciliatory tone, with the prime minister usually spending several days at the treaty grounds listening to Māori leaders and in 2018 memorably asking those gathered to hold her government to account.

[29] Throughout the day, cultural displays such as kapa haka (Māori dance and song), wānanga (educational discussions), and other entertainment take place on stages throughout the treaty grounds.

[34][35] City councils, museums, libraries and galleries across New Zealand put on free programmes of public events commemorating Waitangi Day for example in 2023 Waikato Museum had Māori weaving demonstrations with Te Roopu Aroha Ki Te Raranga, live music and a film screening of the movie Whina.

The festival featured displays of artefacts, performance of a haka, and Māori culture (cuisine, tattooing and wood carving).

[44] 6 February 2015 saw the inaugural Waitangi Day Commemoration held at Nurragingy Reserve, where the focus is more on the document itself, the treaty process and the significance to Māori and Pākehā today.

[49] A tradition, observed for more than 30 years as of 2016[update], takes place on the closest Saturday to 6 February: New Zealanders, predominately Pākehā, participate in a pub crawl using the London Underground's Circle Line.

[50][51] Controversy arises regularly after some Pākehā New Zealanders perform drunken and semi-incomprehensible imitations of haka, which has been considered to be offensive.

After a walkout from the ceremony in 1972, Governor General Arthur Porritt responded saying "I just do not believe that racism or discrimination exists in this country," demonstrating the gap in mutual understanding.

[56] Activists initially called for greater recognition of the treaty, but by the early 1980s, they were also arguing that it was a fraud and the means by which Pākehā had conned Māori out of their land.

[57] A hīkoi travelled from Tūrangawaewae Marae to the treaty grounds in 1984, in protest of Waitangi Day celebrations.

When the treaty gained greater official recognition in the mid-1980s, emphasis switched back to calls to honour it, and protesters generally returned to the aim of raising awareness of it and what they saw as its neglect by the state.

[63] Because of the level of protest activity that had previously occurred at Waitangi, Prime Minister Helen Clark did not attend in 2000.

In 2004, Leader of the Opposition Don Brash was hit with mud as he entered Te Tii Waitangi marae as a response to his controversial Orewa Speech that year.

In 2016 a nurse protesting against the proposed signing of the TPPA trade agreement threw a rubber dildo at Steven Joyce, the MP representing Prime Minister John Key, who had refused to attend, having been denied normal speaking rights.

Ardern is also the first female prime minister to be given speaking rights on the marae by Ngāpuhi, who also offered to bury her child's placenta on the treaty grounds.