There are various forms of haka that are used in different circumstances: battle, welcome, celebration, etc. The battle haka (called a peruperu) was intended to garner the favor of the war god and to dishearten the enemy, but that's not the one that you generally see people do. You can't do it without weapons and it's supposed to be done naked. That pretty much leaves out televised rugby games. The one the All-blacks do (the Ka Mate) is really a ceremonial haka, though it does celebrate a victory in battle a very long time ago of a famous war leader.
The Warriors started out by copying the Maori one, but then they later changed it to Hawaiian moves and words. That's good since they should make their own tradition and not copy someone else's. I've seen the Warriors' Ha'a (Hawaiian for Haka) on Youtube. I've seen the All-Blacks' in person and there's no comparison. The All-Blacks are just totally intimidating. Here's link to the All-Blacks, for anyone who has never seen it. The moves the topless guys does is more like a battle haka except without the weapons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd0kDxP04eI My favorite, though, is the NZ vs Tonga test where the Tongans respond with their own version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGCsEQ15L4&feature=related I wish they'd shown the Warriors' one on TV. Rob ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 2:42 PM Subject: [gatortalk] Re: FW: [gatornews] [SUN]: Aschoff Recruiting Blog: Weekend notes and more I don't think it is a victory dance. I think it is The Haka, a Polynesian pre-battle dance/ritual, designed to send them into battle in a frenzy, and the scare the you-know-what out of their opponents. The New Zealand rugby team, The All-Blacks do it before every match. The difference is, they usually win. Go Gators!!!! Ken B. (NYC Gator) Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Steve McKibben <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 11:32:57 -0700 (PDT) To: <[email protected]> Subject: [gatortalk] Re: FW: [gatornews] [SUN]: Aschoff Recruiting Blog: Weekend notes and more Is that what that was? I thought it was a choreographed team impression of Najeh Davenport... --- On Tue, 9/2/08, Oliver Barry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Ok, no one has said anything about the Maori Victory dance the Hawai’i players did before the game. Was it impressive? Were you afraid? Leon? Helen? Anyone? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
