New Zealand's Haka lights up the Olympic arena
2024-08-15
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Image caption: New Zealand players celebrate by performing the Haka after winning the 2018 Rugby Sevens World Cup in the United States.
Image caption: New Zealand's Black Ferns perform the Haka after winning the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Wang Miao, our special correspondent in New Zealand
The New Zealand Olympic delegation won a record-breaking 10 gold medals, 7 silver medals and 3 bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The first gold medal of the New Zealand delegation in this Olympics was won by the women's rugby sevens team "Black Ferns". The traditional Maori dance "Haka" performed by the team after the victory quickly gained hundreds of millions of views on the Internet and became a bright spot in this Olympic Games. Why can the Haka become a "cultural business card" for New Zealand athletes in the international sports arena? All this starts with the Maori tradition.
The fighting attribute gradually fades
The origin of the Haka is a Maori mobilization ceremony on the battlefield. When conflicts occur between different tribes, warriors will dance the Haka to prepare themselves mentally and physically for battle. Therefore, the movements of the Haka include stomping feet, sticking out tongues, slapping the body, and chanting loudly, which have the power to inspire the spirit and the momentum to challenge the opponent. While dancing, the warriors will shout and chant rhythmic poems, describing the heroic deeds of the ancestors of the tribe and major events in history, reflecting the pride and cohesion of the tribe.
According to Maori legend, the haka originated as a celebration of life. In Maori tradition, Tamanetra was the sun god, his wife Sinairaumati represented summer, and they had a son named Tanerol. On hot summer days, Tanerol would dance for his mother, and this brisk movement is the basis of all haka. One misconception about the haka in the past was that it was only performed by men. However, in fact, some haka can be performed by everyone, while others can only be performed by women.
In modern times, with the modernization and diversification of New Zealand society, the combative nature of the Haka has gradually faded, and it has been performed at important and festive events, such as greetings to distinguished guests from afar, and at important moments in life such as birthdays, graduations, weddings and funerals.
Using war dance in sports
Another area where the Haka has flourished is in sports events, where it has even become a wonderful performance that sports fans from all over the world look forward to seeing from New Zealand athletes. New Zealand's use of the Haka as a warm-up and celebration for sports games dates back more than 100 years. In 1888, the New Zealand Maori Aboriginal rugby team visited the UK and participated in a competition. The New Zealand team performed the Haka for the first time in a sports event before the game started. Since then, performing the Haka in competitions has become a traditional event for all New Zealand rugby teams.
The traditional Haka repertoire "Kamete" (meaning "rush") was first created by Maori chief Te Rauparaha in the 1820s and has been sung among the people for 200 years. In 1901, "Kamete" was used by New Zealand to receive the visit of the Duke of Cornwall of the United Kingdom and was recorded by a film cameraman. Since then, "Kamete" has become famous and has been widely sung and performed in New Zealand. In 1905, the New Zealand men's rugby team visited the United Kingdom for the first time under the name of "All Blacks". When playing against Scotland and Wales, they performed "Kamete", which prompted the Welsh team to sing the Welsh national anthem in response. Since then, "Kamete" has become a classic Haka repertoire for the All Blacks when they compete around the world.
However, the Haka has also fallen into a trough in sports performances. In the 1980s, as more and more All Blacks were not Maori, they knew little about the connotation and significance of the Haka, causing the performance to fall to an "embarrassing" level. The then captain Shelford seriously discussed with the players, "Either dance the Haka correctly, or don't dance at all, everyone decides what to do." Later, the All Blacks unanimously decided to stick to this tradition. So Shelford led the team to the Maori traditional school to watch the students' Haka performances, and humbly learned the correct movements and lyrics, and finally revived the glory of the Haka. In 2015, the All Blacks used the pyramid formation to perform the Haka for the first time in the match against Argentina, pushing this morale-boosting activity to a new height. "Kamete" has become more and more popular because of the performance of the All Blacks.
“Life force from heaven”
The Black Ferns, the New Zealand national women's rugby team, performed the Haka for the first time in 1991. That year, the Black Ferns performed the "Kamet" against Canada in the first Women's World Rugby World Cup. However, this move caused quite a bit of controversy. New Zealand Maori elders and cultural scholars believe that women should not perform the Haka with their legs spread, which violates the aesthetic standards of female elegance. Since then, the Black Ferns have not found a suitable Haka song. It was not until 2006 that Maori scholar Tipiwai accepted the task of composing a Haka song exclusively for the Black Ferns. Tipiwai found the inspiration for the creation while driving through the Tararua Mountains, and finally named the work "Kouhiamai", which means "let people know". The Black Ferns team members worked together to create dance moves for this song, which has become a women's Haka that has been sung for more than ten years.
"Kouhiamai" is considered to be a perfect combination of traditional Maori art and modern sports. Its lyrics are beautiful and powerful. Some of the translated verses are very distinctive: "Let everyone know who these women (athletes) are. This is the roar of the 'Black Fern'"... "The vitality from heaven, the vitality from the earth, the gathering clouds, the mountains piercing the sky, let us continue, go to the sea"... "You hold your head high, the power of women, who will bear the future, is the 'Black Fern' of New Zealand, when challenges come, we gather and unite together."
In the intervals of other matches, whether to perform the Haka depends on the players' wishes and the regulations of the relevant match organizers. For example, in FIFA matches, the New Zealand women's football team cannot perform the Haka before the game because FIFA only gives 90 seconds of pre-match time, but allows the performance after the game is won. In football matches not hosted by FIFA, the New Zealand women's football team usually performs the Haka before the game and after the victory. ▲#Deep Good Articles Project#
