Name: Victory Matariki Celebration and Lantern Hīkoi
Start: 2026-07-01T05:00:00+12:00
End: 2026-07-01T09:00:00+12:00
Location: Victory Community Centre

$Victory Matariki Celebration and Lantern H\u012bkoi$

Mānawatia a Matariki! We’re looking forward to our Celebration and the lantern hīkoi on the 1st of July! We'll have school and community performances, hot soup, Hāngī, a Lantern Hīkoi along the Railway Reserve, Fire Poi, African drumming and more! Our annual celebration of the Māori New Year, a time for remembrance, celebrating the present & looking forward to the future. The theme of the event this year is Matariki Herenga Waka – For Everyone. A theme that encourages everyone to come together to celebrate Matariki, embracing the values of reflection, celebration, and preparation.
This year we are planning to take our hāngī back to the roots...literally...by cooking all of the kai in baskets woven with harakeke (rourou/ kono). Not only is this revitalizing Mātauranga Kai Māori but it will reduce our landfill waste from the hāngī by 100%! We need 400 rourou for the event and we’ll need help from the community. If you would like to get involved, come along to weave at one of the rourou wānanga we’ll hold in June. Details will follow on the dates and timing of these. Then take the mātauranga/knowledge to your friends and whānau to weave more and then drop them off to VCC by 25th June. Provide 2 or more rourou and get pre-sale ticket access on delivery of your weaving/raranga
Please bring your lantern or torch & wrap up warm. Children under 12 must be accompanied by a responsible adult. We ask that people stay at home if they are feeling unwell.
The success of this event is only possible because of the help and enthusiasm of local people so if you would like to be involved, to volunteer, donate or sponsor the event please do get in touch. Give us a call on 03 546 8389 or email [email protected]
Approximate timeline:
2.45pm - Free soup for tamariki and whānau
3:30pm - 4:30pm VPS School Performances - School Performance - Opened by Ngāti Rārua
4:30pm - 5:20pm Community Performances – Thanks to the Community Groups sharing their performances with community.
5:20pm - 6:15pm Kai to be served * Fire Poi & African Drumming Entertainment as well as a Light Art Projections!
6.20pm - Lantern Hīkoi – A map of the route will be available closer to the time.
* ticketing for the hāngī will be a bit different this year. We will look to prioritise people who help weave rourou and then school whānau first and we will be using the humanitix ticketing platform. Rourou will be available in a small size, serving two people for $15 and in a large size, serving four people for $25. There will be a veggie hāngi option, a heads up that the stuffing contains egg. We will be limiting to eight portions per purchase so we can share the kai as far as we can around our community.
The route for the Hīkoi is the same as recent years, we will head south along Vanguard St from Victory Primary School then up on to the Railway Reserve. We will then head north back to the Community Centre. Stewards and First Aiders will be at several points along the route as well as accompanying us during the hikoi.
The VCC carpark will be closed to traffic from 1:30pm - 8pm.
Thanks to the amazing people and organisations who are helping to make this year's event happen...
Victory Primary School
Ngāti Rārua
Karolina Gorton
Community Organisation Grant Scheme
Nelson Tasman Methodist Parish
Community Artworks
Dance Mob Nelson
English Language Partners Nelson
Fire & Emergency NZ Nelson
Gravity Events
InRhythm
La Corale – Community Choir
Meat Solutions
Nelson City Council
Nelson Environment Centre
Nelson Light Collective
Sport Tasman
TCC
Te Puni Kokiri
Victory Community Church
Viva La Vaca
Whakatu Rotary