Though the haka may have started out as a war dance meant to inspire fear, it has evolved to mean so much more
In this March 18, 2019, file photo, students perform the haka during a vigil to commemorate victims of Friday's shooting, outside the Al Noor mosque, in Christchurch, New Zealand.Their voices have thundered across this heartsick city, in parks and at flower memorials and schools. Day after day, the students of Christchurch have gathered, feet smashing the ground in unison as they chant the words of their nation’s indigenous people in an outpouring of grief and love and support.
“Whenever I haka, I feel like I am from the tribe, standing with them – that all their spirits are with us,” said high school student Georgia Horiana Myers Meihana, after she and her classmates finished reciting a karakia, or Maori prayer, at a flower memorial. “To us, it doesn’t feel like we’re just shouting words.”
Haka have reverberated not just around Christchurch, but around the world, as New Zealand's multi-cultural diaspora honours the dead from last week's shooting.Though hakas were traditionally performed by the Maori people in preparation for battle, they are not all about war, Wehi says. Hakas are performed to celebrate and to mourn, and are often part of important events such as funerals or 21st birthdays.
This haka, called Tahu Potiki, comes from the South Island Maori tribe Ngai Tahu, said Cashmere High Principal Mark Wilson. Tahu Potiki was an ancestor of Ngai Tahu, and the haka calls for his descendants to rise and claim their place in the new day, Wilson said. Being part of a haka group can be a powerful emotive moment, he said, one in which people are left uplifted and strengthened.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has encouraged students to turn to the haka in the wake of the attacks, particularly if they are struggling to express themselves.
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