The first time I ever saw a haka performed it was during a change
of command ceremony for UNPROFOR in Bosnia in the 1990s. The fierce Māori
ritual always gets me, partly because of that association and partly because it
intrinsically projects warrior power.
New Zealand sports teams—especially the All Blacks—have made it
famous, and I’ve even seen videos of wedding parties performing it. It seems
appropriate that Kiwis have deployed it in multiple instances to honor those who
were murdered at two mosques in Christchurch last Friday.
Here’s one of the many performed by schoolchildren around the
city:
And here’s one by a biker gang, in front of the Al Noor mosque:
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