The Haka revisited
September 12, 2007
Well, I got rather fascinated by the opening ceremony of the New Zealand Rugby team called “The Haka” (by the way, it’s not only the New Zealanders performing this ceremony also the teams from Tonga and Fiji have a Haka opening before their game). Suspecting some historical background, I poked around a bit on the internet.
Here’s some information about the origins and the actual words chanted and their meaning (source: about.com):
…But with the All Blacks promoting one version of the haka which starts with the chant “Ka mate, ka mate (It is death, it is death”), it is this haka, called Te Rauparaha’s haka (so named after its perceived traditional origins) that most people, particularly rugby union football fans, know as the haka.
This version of the haka is both war chant and challenge and is customarily performed by the All Blacks before major games against non-New Zealand teams.
It is characterized by loud chanting, much aggressive flailing of arms and stomping of feet, fierce looks and, in the end, an angry sticking out tongues.
Te Rauparaha
The All Blacks version of the haka is said to have come from Te Rauparaha (1768-1849), chief of the Ngati Toa tribe and one of New Zealand’s last great warrior chiefs. Te Rauparaha cut a swathe from the Waikato to the South Island where his followers killed both European settlers and southern Maori.
His haka is said to have actually originated during a time Te Rauparaha was fleeing from his enemies, hid in a sweet potato field one night and by morning awoke to be told by a hairy chief that his enemies had gone. He then performed his victorious haka.
Ka mate, ka mate
The words of Te Rauparaha’s haka (1810) used by the All Blacks:
Ka mate, ka mate
Ka ora, ka ora
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru
Nana i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra
Upane, upane
Upane kaupane
Whiti te ra.These words are translated as:
It is death, it is death
It is life, it is life
This is the hairy man
Who caused the sun to shine again for me
Up the ladder, up the ladder
Up to the top
The sun shines.
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