Haka in popular culture

The haka is a traditional Māori dance form. The use of haka in popular culture is a growing phenomenon, especially in New Zealand. Traditionally, haka were used only in Māori cultural contexts, but today haka are used in a wide range of public occasions to impart a sense of importance of the event.

Sports teams

Sports teams who perform a haka before international matches do so not only as a reflection of the importance of the game that is about to be played but also to motivate themselves and their supporters to greater efforts; indirectly then, as in days of old on the Māori battlefield, they are paying a compliment to the perceived skills of their opponents. The regular performance by New Zealand's national rugby union team, the All Blacks (see Haka of the All Blacks), is perhaps one of the more widely known uses of the haka.

Other New Zealand sports teams that perform the haka before commencing a game include rugby league (the Kiwis), Australian rules football (the Falcons) and basketball (Tall Blacks) teams. The haka is also performed by the football teams at Brigham Young University and University of Hawaii before games, as well as the Euless Trinity www.trinitytrojanfootball.com (Texas) high school football team, Euless Trinity first performed the Haka on August 26, 2005 at Pennington field in Beford TX before a game against DeSoto High School). the 2005 Class 5A Division 1 state champions, a team with many players of Tongan descent. In addition to Euless Trinity High School, some high school football teams in Hawaii also perform the haka before their games. Recently, American Fork High School has started to perform the haka before home games to excite fans and players, while intimidating opponents.

The Haka is also performed by Los Borregos Salvajes (Borregios)de Monterrey (México) and other colleague football teams in Mexico (UDLA, Los Aztecas, etc)

The Haka at Brigham Young University

The "Ka Mate" Haka has become well-known in the Mountain West Conference, and among the fans and opponents of the Brigham Young University football team. Prior to the BYU Cougars taking on Boston College, their season-opener in 2005, the Cougars instituted a new tradition when they performed the "Ka Mate" Haka. Minutes before kickoff, members of the BYU football team lined up on the southeast corner of the field and performed "Ka Mate" for a stadium full of cheering fans. Planned and prepared under a tight veil of secrecy for months, this new tradition was inspired by Bryce Mahuika, the team’s only player of Maori decent, who had recently lost his father, Michael K. Mahuika (the son of Napi Mahuika, chief of the Maori Ngati Porou tribe). As a boy, Michael K. Mahuika, his father's oldest son and next in line to become the chief of his tribe, was taught everything about his tribe's culture. When he attended the Church College of Hawaii, now Brigham Young University Hawaii, he was employed at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), where he performed haka and other dances of his people at the Maori Village for tourists. He passed these cultural dances on to his children, teaching them how important they were to his people and his forefathers. On March 27, 2005, Michael K. Mahuika died in Vancouver, Washington; Hodgkin's lymphoma had finally won. Over a thousand mourners attended his funeral, including Curtis Brown, Brigham Young University's star running back, to honor the fallen chief. Kyle and Bryce Mahuika, his sons, led them in a haka at the gravesite prior to lowering Michael K. Mahuika's casket into the ground. After returning from his father's funeral, Bryce Mahuika attended a team meeting where Bronco Mendenhall, the head coach, asked the team for personal requests that might help the team reach their goals in 2006. Bryce Mahuika went up to the front to thank everybody for their support, when he had the idea to do the Haka to fire up the crowd and prepare for football games. He explained the origins and significance of the Haka to the team, and they enthusiastically supported the idea. On September 03, 2005, the BYU Football team instituted the new tradition, and a little over a year later, on November 18, 2006, the Cougars became undefeated (in conference play) Mountain West Conference champions. The BYU Cougars went on to win the rest of their games that season, including crushing the Oregon Ducks 38-8 in the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl.

There have been two occasions where the BYU Haka caused a near-altercation with the opposition. Both incidents flared because of perceptions that the haka was directed at the opposing team, rather than serving a more benign role of exciting the team and fans. The first instance was before BYU's game against rival University of Utah in 2005, when the team did the dance while facing the opposing team instead of in front of a student body. The second incident occurred during a shared pep-rally at the Fremont Street Experience before the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl against the University of Oregon. According to media reports, several BYU players performed the dance, provoking one of Oregon's Polynesian players to jump a crowd barrier.[1] The player later explained his motivation, "They looked right at us. It would have been different if it had been on stage intended for everybody. Instead, it felt like it was intended for us."[2] Although the confrontation was heated, it didn't turn violent, and BYU quarterback John Beck later apologized for any perceived disrespect.

In an interesting departure from their normal pre-game "Ka Mate" performance, on Saturday, 25 November, 2006, the Brigham Young University Cougars performed "Ka Mate" both prior to their historic rivalry football game with the University of Utah, and upon winning a come-from-behind, extremely hard-fought game, breaking Utah's four-year winning streak in the series, BYU's football team performed an additional impromptu rendition of "Ka Mate" to the delight of their fans in attendance.

University of Hawaii Haka Controversy

During a hugely successful 2006 football season, it became tradition for the University of Hawaii Warriors football team to perform the Haka. Typically, the Warriors performed their version of the "Kapa O Pango" haka 20 minutes before the opening kickoff. After home wins, the team also performed a post-game version. However, before its final regular season game against Oregon State, the team was alerted by a university professor that the team may be infringing upon a copyright by performing the dance. The team ended up doing a 'variation' of the Haka before the Oregon State game, and plans on unveiling a 'new haka' before the team's Hawaii Bowl appearance against Arizona State on December 24. The All-Blacks rugby team does their Haka with permission from Ngati Porou tribe.

Through a spokeswoman, Hawaii's athletic director said: "Our legal department is looking into the issue. We don't believe we're violating any copyright laws at this time." Players on the team add that their version of the dance is not 'step for step' with the All-Blacks Haka.[3]

While team has adopted the "Kapa O Pango" as its game day ritual haka, it should be noted that the words speak of a black jersey, which is the official home color of the UH Warriors. However, the black jersey refers specifically to the All Black jersey, for whom the haka was written. The original version of the haka also mentions "Aotearoa", which is Maori for New Zealand, and "Ponga-Ra" meaning silver fern, both not applicable to the University of Hawaii football team. However, these words are dropped when the Warriors perform their version.

2006 Heisman Trophy Candidate Quarterback Colt Brennan was also filmed saying that he was learning the Samoan words to the haka when the haka is clearly Maori. (It should noted that Brennan meant learning Samoan would assist him in learning to pronounce the Maori words, not that this haka was in Samoan. Also the Warriors do not say "Aotearoa" or New Zealand when they perform their version).

On December 24, 2006 the University of Hawaii Warriors performed a haka prior to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl game. in contrary to what was stated prior to the game,the Warriors, did not perform an entirely new haka but used the same gestures as "Kapa O Pango" as they have done all season. However it should be noted that the chant itself could not be identified and it could not be confirmed if it remains the same or if certain words were changed to accommodate the team and the university specifically as the haka was not televised. There are submitted clips of the Warriors' haka prior to the 2006 Hawaii Bowl game submitted on the popular website "You Tube" but there remains no good footage with quality audio to decipher their chant at that time.

In 2007, linebacker Timo Paepule has now taken the leadership duties of the haka. The Warriors performed their usual version of "Kapa O Pango" for over 4,000 fans in attendance at their annual "Football Ohana Festival" which included a 90-minute practice session.

Paepule was quoted in saying that they plan to adjust the haka before the start of the 2007 fall season. Paepule also noted that the team actually prefers to perform the haka just for themselves and not as an attraction for the team.

Trinity High School at Euless, Texas

Euless, Texas, a Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex suburb of 52,900 whose boundaries include about 2,800 acres (11 km²) of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is home to an estimated 4,000 people of Tongan descent. Community leaders say that most of the Tongans were drawn to the area over the past 20 years by jobs as baggage handlers at the airport. Company flight privileges make it easy for Tongans to fly home regularly.

Tongan players in the local high school have helped transform Trinity High School into a Texas football powerhouse. In 2005 Trinity won the Class 5A Division 1 state football championship in 2006 went undefeated in the year's regular season. In 2006 there were 24 players of Tongan descent on the Trinity football team. Most weigh between 250 and 308 pounds and stand at least 6 feet (1.8 m) tall. Besides that, they are quick, so the combination makes Trinity an intimidating force.

Trinity first performed the haka for fans at the beginning of the 2005 season after one of the Tongan players saw a video on the Internet of New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team doing the war dance before one of its games.

On cue, team members drop into a crouching stance and begin to chant in unison. "Ka Mate! Ka Mate! Ka Ora!" (We're going to die! We're going to die! We're going to live!) as they being to act out an ancient battle in which a big hairy man saves the life of a Maori chieftain. Players slap their thighs, arms or chests and stomp back and forth, symbolically thrusting and jabbing at the enemy.

"We do the haka to ignite the breath of competition. It means that I've got your back and you've got mine," said Mr. Kautai, a player who stands 6-foot (1.8 m) and weighs 280 pounds (127 kg). The haka has become a source of pride for the Tongan community. "I had two older men with tears in their eyes tell me afterward, 'After seeing that, we know that our future generations will be accepted here,' " says Ilaiasi Ofa, executive director of the Voice of Tonga, the organization that serves as a local advocate for Tongan immigrants. [4]

Military

• New Zealand Army: The New Zealand Army has a haka composed specifically for them, Tu Taua a Tumatauenga.

Schools

• Schools: Several New Zealand schools perform their own haka.
• Trinity Grammar School, in New South Wales, is the only Australian school known to have their own haka.

Film

• British actor Jamie Foreman performs the Haka briefly in order to intimidate a rival in the 2000 film Gangster No. 1.
• Pai performs a haka at a school performance in Whale Rider.
• Boogie performs the Haka while at a detainment center in Once Were Warriors.
• At the end of filming pick-ups for The Return of the King, Viggo Mortensen (who had just finished his final shot) and Bernard Hill (two "Kings of Men"—Aragorn and Théoden, respectively) were given a haka performed by the LOTR stunt team.

Other uses

• Haka in the Guinness Book of Records: On page 88 of the Guinness Book of Records it states 2,200 people performed the biggest haka in Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia, on 3 September 2005. It was run by Gene Elder and the New Zealand Victoria Business Group (NZVBG). The previous record was 800.
• In 1998, a British TV advert for National Lottery Instant scratchcards showed a team of bowlers perform the Haka against another team.
• From 2002 until 2005, a BBC One "Rhythym and Movement" ident showed a Maori rugby player and fourteen Welsh rugby players performing a haka.
• A recent commercial for William Lawson's Scotch whiskey featured a rugby team (presumably the All Blacks) performing a haka to intimidate a kilted Scottish team. The Scots "answered" the haka by flashing the opposing team.
• Due to a resemblance of a certain hand movement performed in haka to bent elbow, popular Turkish TV presenter Metin Uca used footage from a haka performance for his social and political criticism targeted at some people and establishments, with a catch phrase: "Here, we're sending a haka dance to....."
• In the comic strip Get Fuzzy, Bucky Katt on one occasion does the traditional Ka Mate haka, to which his roommates Rob and Satchel react by agreeing to stay out of his way. Comic creator Darby Conley is a rugby fan and has referenced the All Blacks in other strips. However, Bucky's version is the traditional Kia Ora and not the one the All Blacks use.

See also

• Cibi
• Haka
• Haka of the All Blacks
• Kapa haka
• Kailao
• Māori music
• Siva tau

External links

• http://photo.byu.edu:16080/markImages/Multimedia/BYUvsUNM/ - Multimedia slideshow of the 2006 #23 BYU vs. UNM football game, including a performance of the "Ka Mate" haka prior to the game
• Story about haka at Texas high school, from The World radio program