Māori Language Week is an annual celebration held in the third week of September. This year, it takes place from September 11 to 18.

Māori Language Week is an annual event that exists to celebrate the culture and language of the Māori people. In 2023, Māori Language Week starts on the 11th of September until the 18th of September.

With a population of over 875,000 Māori people living in New Zealand and thousands of various nearby islands and countries, the existence of Māori Language Week holds great importance. It is celebrated through language, song, dance, cultural displays, and community events. The overarching theme for the 2023 Pacific Language Weeks is sustainability.

Take part

We invite all of Aotearoa and further to stop what they’re doing and celebrate te reo Māori at 12pm, on 14 September. You can kōrero (speak), waiata (sing), pānui (read) and more - Whatever you do, do it in te reo Māori.

This marks the very moment the Māori Language Petition was presented to Parliament in 1972, on the first Māori Language Day. Three years later, it became what we now know as Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

Join us and take a moment for te reo Māori as we acknowledge the past, celebrate the present, and prepare for the future.