Te Matatini. It's New Zealand’s largest kapa haka festival and in 2025, due to the sheer numbers of our kapa that are coming through, an extra day will be added into the festival to accommodate the growth of kapa haka here in Aotearoa. This competition rotates around the different parts of New Zealand every two years and a different rohe hosts what feels like the whole of New Zealand for 4 days. Did I mention that there’s a stage that floats and moves to the different hosting rohe too?
Te Matatini made its way to Ōtautahi Christchurch in 2015.
This year's festival will be in New Plymouth at Pukekura/Bowl of Brooklands, 25 February to 1 March.
Evolution of a kapa haka festival
In 1970, The Maori Purposes Fund Board gave $5000 to fund the first festival and Sir Duncan McIntyre donated the trophy for the national festival's overall winner. The New Zealand Polynesian Festival would be the first name this festival would take on, and Waihīrere Māori Club won this first festival in 1972. Between the years of 1972-1983, The New Zealand Polynesian Festival opened its stage to our whānau from around the Pacific.
In 1983, the festival was renamed the Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Festival and then finally in 2004, the festival took another turn where it was again renamed Te Matatini. The name Te Matatini itself refers to the ‘many faces’ that reflect the diversity of the competitors and their audience.
In 2010, Te Matatini became an international competition again when Manawa Mai Tawhiti from Perth, Western Australia participated. Fast forward to 2025, we now have between 2-4 kapa from Australia that come to compete in this festival.
In 2022, Te Matatini not only celebrated their 50th year, but it also saw an increase in funding from $1.94 million – $2.94 million.
Streaming into the mainstream, and more funding
The year 2023 saw Te Matatini being broadcasted on TVNZ as well as streamed online with almost 730,000 watching the live broadcast and 188,000 streaming it on the TVNZ+ platform - viewership that at that time represented "the biggest week for the platform to date", and this growth has continued with regional competitions also garnering significant audiences.
‘The resurgence of Te Matatini and kapa haka is reflected in the viewing numbers, with the regional viewership in 2024 up 72% from 2020, with a TV audience of 225,000 and online viewership of almost 1.5 million.’ ('Te Matatini 2025: Stage set for New Plymouth as 55 teams battle for kapa haka supremacy', NZ Herald)
In the 2024 budget Te Matatini received $48.7 million over three years, in part to support the growth of kapa haka in the regions.
This year's festival
Now in 2025, Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga will be hosted by our whānau up in Taranaki who will welcome our four teams from Waitaha*: Te Ahikaaroa, Ngā Manu a Tāne, Kōkō Tangiwai, and Te Kapa Haka o Ngā hau e Whā ki Murihiku.
On behalf of all The Christchurch City Libraries are so excited and proud that Kris Jones from Aranui Library will be representing our kapa Te Ahikaaroa at Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga. We are wishing Kris the best as he travels up to Taranaki!
Where to watch
The livestream will also be broadcast live on TVNZ 2 and livestreamed on TVNZ+, with catch-up viewing available on TVNZ+, as well as Māori+.
There is also a Te Matatini app with Haka Translate, that you can download where it has real time translations, information about the teams and so forth.
Support your local kapa haka teams
As mentioned above there are 4 Waitaha* region teams performing this year. Watch them perform during their pool rounds at the following times.
- Te Ahikaaroa: Tuesday 25 February at 1.02pm
- Ngā Manu a Tāne: Tuesday 25 February at 5.35pm
- Kōkō Tangiwai: Wednesday 26 February at 12.25pm
- Te Kapa Haka o Ngā hau e Whā ki Murihiku: Wednesday 26 February at 2.17pm
If any of these teams get through they will perform again in the finals on Saturday 1 March.
See full performance schedule.
* Waitaha: For the purposes of Te Matatini, Ōtepoti (Dunedin) and Murihiku (Invercargill) are included in the Waitaha rohe. Nelson/Marlborough teams are represented in Te Tauihu o Te Waka ā Māui rohe.
More kapa haka
- Our Matatini resource list
- Our kapa haka page
- Te Matatini website
- Images of local kapa haka performers from Canterbury Stories
Justice
Kaitakawaenga Māori
Māori Services
Add a comment to: Everything you need to know about Te Matatini