Waitangi Day 2026 karakia begins at 5am on Friday next week, with the annual Dawn Service broadcast live on Māori TV and TVNZ channel one from Te Whare Rūnanga, the elaborately carved wharenui built to commemorate the Treaty of Waitangi's first 100 years. 

Pīhopa Te Kitohi Pikaahu, who is Bishop in Te Tai Tokerau, has been responsible for church leadership of the dawn service for 25 years, picking up the mantle from Bishop Ben Te Haara, for Ngāpuhi and the Waitangi National Trust. 

He reports that this year leaders from the Salvation Army, Presbyterian Church, and Methodist Church will speak at Waitangi services, while at dawn, Papal Nuncio Archbishop Gábor Pintér will read the gospel and Catholic Bishop of Auckland Stephen Lowe will preach.

Bishop Te Kitohi says that as always this year's Waitangi Festival themes help shape the dawn karakia, with the 2026 kaupapa focused on manaakitanga (extending warmth, respect and hospitality) and 'Mō tātou, mā tatou'(By us all, for us all).

"The theme of manaakitanga this year shapes the liturgy of our karakia as it places emphasis on our unity as a nation." said Bishop Te Kitohi today.

Looking back, he remembers how Bishop Ben Te Haara always maintained that Anglicans needed be at Waitangi Day. 

"We have an obligation to show up each year and keep ourselves accountable to our part in the consultation and decision-making that took place leading up to the 6th of February 1840." says Bishop Te Kitohi.

Anglican leaders Archbishop Justin Duckworth, Assistant Bishop of Wellington Anashuya Fletcher and Bishop of Christchurch Peter Carrell will join the Waitangi Day prayers at Te Whare Rūnanga this year, while along with Hatea Kapa Haka and the Ratana Band, Māori Anglican school students from Te Aute College will lead waiata at the 9am service.

State and political leaders speaking at the dawn service, include: Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro, Deputy PM David Seymour, Chief Justice Dame Helen Winkelmann, Chief Ombudsman John Allen, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, along with leaders of Political Parties, Chiefs of Defence and Government Department Directors.

The Waitangi Dawn service livestreams begin at 4.55am next Friday morning 6 February on Māori TV and TVNZ channel one.