Waitangi Day is a public holiday in New Zealand held each year on February 6 to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document on that date in 1840. The first Waitangi Day was not celebrated until 1934 and the day was not made a public holiday until 1974. Although this is New Zealand's national day, the commemoration has often been the focus of protest by Maori activists, and is often marred by controversy. For a time it was renamed "New Zealand Day" and the official celebrations were shifted from Waitangi to Wellington. However today the anniversary is officially commemorated at the treaty house at Waitangi where the treaty was first signed.
