The Haka

Maybe its the weather. Maybe its because I am teaching a geography class and they are doing a unit on Asia and the Pacific. Or maybe its because its because there seems to be a lot of mention of the Pacific lately (see Survivor: Micronesia below). But whatever it is, I have been on a Pacific Islander kick lately. I really miss the mountains, sunrises, and beaches of Hawai'i. I miss the canoe house and family of Guam. And most of all, I miss the language, heat, sakau, simplicity, heritage, and culture of Pohnpei! It's so hard not to think of these things when I'm shivering cold, slipping up my ice-laden driveway.

To quell this nostalgia, I look at pictures from my trip, read my old blog posts and visit Pacific-specific (say that 10 times fast) websites.

One of my favorite thigns about the Pacifc is the Haka. The Haka is a Polynesian dance that is mostly thought of as a pre-war dance however they are not exclusively war dances. However, the Haka is very powerful, and I'm not sure there is anything that gets me more pumped up (for what, I'm not sure). The All-Blacks (New Zealand's rugby team) and University of Hawai'i football team do their own pre-game Haka to get them up and to intimidate their opponents. However, the Haka is a very important part of Polynesian culture and each dance has a culture or historical significance so some take offense to non-Ploynesians performing the Haka.

Anyway, take some time to check out the videos of the Haka above. Unfortunately, I don't have much control of which videos youtube selects, so all the examples are of the rugby teams. Watch the 3rd one though. The All-Blacks use the Haka to intimidate their opponents, but in this one Tonga responds. Just check out the intensity on their faces! WOO!