New Zealand — Time & Holidays
New Zealand uses New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12) and moves to UTC+13 for daylight saving over the southern summer, making it one of the first places to see each new day.
National & Public Holidays
| Date | Holiday | What it marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 January | New Year Fixed | Two days to start the year. |
| 6 February | Waitangi Day Fixed | Marks the 1840 founding treaty. |
| Movable | Good Friday & Easter Monday Movable | The Easter weekend. |
| 25 April | Anzac Day Fixed | Honours those who served in war. |
| 1st Mon Jun | King's Birthday Movable | Official birthday. |
| Movable | Matariki Movable | The Māori New Year. |
| 4th Mon Oct | Labour Day Movable | Honours the eight-hour working day. |
| 25 December | Christmas Day Fixed | Celebrated in the southern summer. |
| 26 December | Boxing Day Fixed | The day after Christmas. |
Time and holidays in New Zealand
New Zealand sits close to the international date line, which makes it one of the first countries on Earth to greet each new day. It keeps New Zealand Standard Time at UTC+12 through the winter and moves to UTC+13 for daylight saving over the southern summer, roughly late September to early April. Because it is in the southern hemisphere, its seasons are reversed from Europe and North America, so Christmas arrives in summer and the holidays many associate with cold weather fall in the warm months.
From Waitangi Day to Matariki
Waitangi Day on the sixth of February commemorates the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document between the Crown and Māori, and is a day of both celebration and reflection on the country's bicultural identity. Anzac Day on the twenty-fifth of April honours those who served and died in war, shared with Australia and marked by dawn services. A notable recent addition is Matariki, the Māori New Year, signalled by the rising of a star cluster and the first public holiday anywhere to be drawn from indigenous tradition; its date moves each year with the lunar calendar. The list is rounded out by the New Year break, the Easter weekend, the King's Birthday in June, Labour Day in October and the Christmas holidays. The live clock above shows the current New Zealand time with the right seasonal offset.