UH Haka

[MixedPlateBroker]

Re: UH Haka

Looks like the Kahuku football team now has lots of free time to come up with a new dance.

On a lighter note, is it just me or do you think Grasso (49) needs to work on his form for UH's ha'a?

[Random]

Re: UH Haka

At least Kahuku does have players of Maori origin but still...

Go to their locker room and giv'em bloody lickin'.

Or do what Westerners do, take them to court. Make it a public media spectacle. Shame everyone who goes to Kahuku HS, past and present.

[kiwidiva]

Re: UH Haka

Well, I can't FORBID them from doing anything. I'm just trying to put out there that I think it is inappropriate for them to be doing THIS haka.

I would prefer that they didn't do one at all but if they must, I did say somewhere on here that I would rather someone (a local kumu hula, Hawaiian culture expert, a poet, team member, someone at UH...) write one that represents the team, their school and the beautiful place that they live.

As for Kahuku - no, they don't have permission to do the Tika Tonu haka that they do. They have asked for permission from the Maori elders here on the island but no one that lives here has the right to give it. We've tried to make them understand that, their coach got it and they didn't do a haka for the first few games of last season. They started flat, the players pushed for it and the haka was added as a pre-game ritual again.

At least Kahuku does have players of Maori origin but still...

[Random]

Re: UH Haka

My bad.

So, are you forbidding them to do a particular haka, or all types of haka (including an original haka choreagraphed just for UH)?

BTW, does Kahuku HS have permission, or do they have their own haka?

[kiwidiva]

Re: UH Haka

"Maori killing maori" ???

[scratching head]

I would be the only Maori in the locker room! None of them are Maori - that's why I don't want them doing the haka!!

I have received messages from other Maori who have told me that I should just leave it to our ancestors and if it is right for these teams to do it, then they will be fine... if not, then they will find out for themselves fairly quickly that playing with cultural practices that you know very little about can sometimes be hazardous to your health!

I had to disagree because I was raised to believe that when it comes to things like this, if you do something wrong out of ignorance, then you will not be punished by the ancestors/spirits - but if you do something wrong and you knew it was wrong and you did it anyway - then you are at their mercy.

So, I am trying to EDUCATE the community here because I feel that if they know better, they will do better. I am also trying to raise awareness in Aotearoa because no one over there even knows this is going on.

Click on the link I've posted below for a story about what happened to a Dutch tourist last year that disrespected my Maori culture. Not a good deal as far as tourism goes but everyone needs to know that these ceremonies and dances are not just empty displays for entertainment - they hold real meaning to us. When a wero (challenge) is performed for any big event between families/tribes in Aotearoa - the warriors for each side are ALWAYS ready to fight if things go awry. Yes, Maori against Maori. I've seen with my own eyes where one side was slighted and those taiaha (long, pointed weapons) are put to use.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/...ectid=10364049

That's why we are considered a WARRIOR race. We don't play! That's also why the "Warriors" and other football teams want to steal our dances. This particular performer lost his job but he stood up for what he believed in.

Oh, and before Captain Cook came to our land and there were ONLY Maori in Aotearoa - of course we had wars with each other. We were Warriors long before colonisation!!

[Random]

Re: UH Haka

yeah, i'll just go into their locker room and serve them up some old maori style justice - cut off their heads and cook 'em up in my hangi pit...

Whoa. Maori killing maori. I hate to see what you do to disrespectful outsiders.

[kiwidiva]

Re: UH Haka

hahahahahaha... you're killin' me!

yeah, i'll just go into their locker room and serve them up some old maori style justice - cut off their heads and cook 'em up in my hangi pit...

[Random]

Re: UH Haka

Well, that is the ultimate question, isn't it?

I'm just trying to raise awareness of the issue - hopefully, someone who CAN do something about it WILL!

*Shrugs* I nominate you to go down the UH's locker room and straighten them out.

And just so we're on the same page, we both know it's not Colt Brennan. He's too unlikely to have taught the team the haka.

[kiwidiva]

Re: UH Haka

So, who among the 2006-2007 Warriors team is culpable?

Well, that is the ultimate question, isn't it?

I'm just trying to raise awareness of the issue - hopefully, someone who CAN do something about it WILL!

[Random]

Re: UH Haka

The Warriors and the Tongan boys in Texas have admitted they learned the haka they perform off the internet - which may show them the actions but doesn't teach them the correct words (ummm.... sounds like???) or the meanings associated with the dances they are stealing.

So, who among the 2006-2007 Warriors team is culpable?

[kiwidiva]

Re: UH Haka

Oh sorry Random - I honestly thought you were being sarcastic... I hope I answered your question.

So, it goes back to my problem with UH - if they must do a haka or some kind of "ritual" - I wish that someone would compose a chant for them that truly represents them as a team. It could be in 'olelo Hawai'i (more appropriate) or even in English - since that's what they all speak. But why does it have to be in my language - that like the Hawaiian language was almost lost when it became illegal for my ancestors to speak it on our own land.

There has been a revival of Te Reo Maori (the Maori language) in the past thirty years or so which has barely saved it from being a dead language. We are raised to believe that our language (like the haka) is a gift from our tupuna (ancestors) and I shudder when I hear it disrespected and mispronounced by the schools and groups that perform haka here in Hawai'i and on the mainland. It is obvious that most of them were not taught by anyone who knows anything about the haka, the language or the protocol that goes along with it.

The Warriors and the Tongan boys in Texas have admitted they learned the haka they perform off the internet - which may show them the actions but doesn't teach them the correct words (ummm.... sounds like???) or the meanings associated with the dances they are stealing.

[Random]

Re: UH Haka

What? Is that a serious question??

Honestly, yes. How else am I going to acquire knowledge about the haka? Research on my own without any guidance or cultural sensitivity?

[Random]

Re: UH Haka

It's all about respect for another's culture. I brought up Nebraska using a Hawaiian warrior chant because if they did, I'm sure Hawaiians here would be totally outraged.

Yeah, and we would want our football team to scatter their enemies' remains on their own turf (figuratively). That's the only way to respond to the mainlanders mocking us.

[kiwidiva]

Re: UH Haka

Haha... there's only one star in the sky right now (the sun) but just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they're not there....

Ooh, we're getting deep now...

[Leo Lakio]

Re: UH Haka

okay let's see: one,two, three, four, ummm okay there's another, oh there's one...nope just a UFO, six, seven...Seven. Seven stars in the sky, yep seven

Lucky you live Hawai`i. I can only see four-and-a-half.