Event Details
Jun 26
The beach, Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke's Bay
Matariki Mahuika is a people-powered Matariki project that involves welcoming people to share the warmth of their fire on beaches right around Aoetaroa New Zealand.
A tradition that began in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke's Bay in 2023, this DIY celebration has seen many thousands of people answer the call to "take your mates, your mokos, your marshmallows" and head to the beaches to celebrate Matariki.
At the fourth Matariki Mahuika on July 11 2026, an estimated 10,000 took part in the celebration in Hawke's Bay, most of them at a spectacular festival on Ahuriri Napier's Marine Parade organised by Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc. DIY fires lined the beach in rows up to 5 deep. Here's a report on 2026's event:
MEMORIES MADE AND REKINDLED AT MATARIKI MAHUIKA
It wasn’t the flames of hundreds of fires but the human warmth shared between thousands that shone on the Hawke’s Bay coast on Saturday July 11 2026.
An estimated “10,000 plus” attended Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc’s Matariki Mahuika event on Napier’s Marine Parade and more on other parts of the coast.
The fourth Mahuika - a tradition begun in 2023 after Cyclone Gabrielle - was another beautiful night of friends and whānau gathered around small fires, which in the absence of driftwood on the Marine Parade, were lit with pine offcuts generously provided by Tumu Timbers and Pan Pac.
We’d asked people to share the warmth of their fires but they went much further.
I’ve been to festivals with a great atmosphere where you know anyone would help you out if you asked but never to an event where it's the norm for strangers to be asking and offering to help each other, sharing their kindling, their marshmallows and matches, handing round hot drinks … The vibe at Mahuika isn’t just special, it’s extraordinary. Everyone on the beach is whānau at Mahuika.
A key component of Matariki is memory, not just remembering those who have passed but pausing and taking stock of where we are now, creating new memories.
That’s what was happening last night, people loving sharing stories and creating lasting memories. People of all cultures and all ages were there, some of them from the heat-pump generation sitting around a fire for the first time in their lives.
The key demographic who have always responded most strongly to Mahuika are grandmothers.
There’s a generation of older folk with strong memories of sitting around a fire with their parents and grandparents who are passing that on - almost literally handing the torch - to a younger generation who will remember last night until the day they’re sitting there with their own mokopuna.
People from around the world were stunned by what they took part in in Napier last night and travellers from other parts of Aotearoa were equally thrilled.
Waka Maimai Aroha (lanterns of affection) were again a hugely popular feature of the night with whānau writing messages to the departed and hopes for the future on more than 1000 lanterns that were first floated in the Spirit of Napier statue and later burned in the fires.
For the first time this year the event grew to include a night market of 24 food trucks, three hours of entertainment on a large stage and fire artists.
The iwi’s event was supported by Napier City Council and Mana Ahuriri Trust, who also collaborated to run a Matariki beach clean up Sunday morning with the help of Sustainable Hawke’s Bay and 20 volunteers.
Matariki Mahuika is always held on the Saturday of the long holiday weekend. 2027’s Mahuika will be on Saturday June 26.
Fire and Emergency NZ have always supported the event because the fire risk in midwinter is, they say, zero.
Lighting beach fires is what Hawke’s Bay people have always done at Guy Fawkes and New Year but that’s the wrong time of year to do it from a fire risk perspective and also because there are rare birds nesting on our beaches between August and March.