Thousands of Students Perform Haka Dance for Beloved Teacher

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Frazzled**

Dawson Tamatea must have been a badass teacher. Salute!
http://abcnews.go.com/International/thousands-perform-haka-dance-beloved-teacher/story?id=32727390

Thousands of Students Perform Haka Dance for Beloved Teacher
Jul 28, 2015, 6:40 AM ET
By LOUISE DEWAST via Good Morning America

Thousands of high school students in New Zealand performed a traditional haka dance as a send-off for a beloved teacher who died.

Video shows at least 1,700 students from Palmerston North Boys' High School on the country's North Island performing the dance at the funeral service of Dawson Tamatea, who died on July 20. He was a physical education and mathematics teacher at the school for almost 30 years, a spokeswoman told ABC News.

"We are extremely proud of our boys' performance and we know that Mr. Tamatea would be, too," the school wrote on its website.

Haka is an ancestral war dance performed by the Maori people of New Zealand. The rugby team "All Blacks" are famous for performing the dance before their games.

"This complex dance is an expression of the passion, vigour and identity of the race," according to a description on the All Blacks's website, and "a custom of high social importance in the welcoming and entertainment of visitors."

According to the school, Tamatea was also involved in my extra curricular activities and sports, including tennis, basketball, and softball teams at the school.

"He is very well known amongst our school community, and amongst the wider Palmerston North community," rector D.M. Bovey wrote in a statement, "We are very conscious that Mr. Tamatea's passing will be difficult for many young men with whom he has had a close association as either a teacher, coach, manager or camp leader, as well as for many of our teachers who have known him for a long period of time."

Messages of condolences have been pouring in online. In an online book dedicated to him, Tracey McKinnon, from Palmerston North, wrote: "He took my son under his wing and nurtured him like he was one of his own."

"I could see you really loved your job as an awesome teacher," Te Aroha Te Kura wrote on the school's Facebook page. "We're all gonna miss you."

**Swastakowey**

We Haka for everything important. Museum opening? Haka. Every school beginning and end? Haka. About to charge some Germans in the desert? Haka. Celebrity arrives at airport? Haka. Rugby game? Haka.

It is common for those of Maori decent to receive a haka as they get buried/cremated. My Maori half of the family have all had the Haka performed as they got their final goodbye.

Sounds like a cool teacher. If there was one thing I noticed at college/high school is that for a teacher to gain respect from teenagers is a hard task to achieve. I have only had 3 teachers I respected growing up, so nice to see a respected teacher getting praise after a lot of hard work.

**Frazzled**

Swastakowey wrote:
We Haka for everything important. Museum opening? Haka. Every school beginning and end? Haka. About to charge some Germans in the desert? Haka. Celebrity arrives at airport? Haka. Rugby game? Haka.

It is common for those of Maori decent to receive a haka as they get buried/cremated. My Maori half of the family have all had the Haka performed as they got their final goodbye.

Sounds like a cool teacher. If there was one thing I noticed at college/high school is that for a teacher to gain respect from teenagers is a hard task to achieve. I have only had 3 teachers I respected growing up, so nice to see a respected teacher getting praise after a lot of hard work.

It would be awesome if Genghis Connie's tennis team did a Haka before every match. Scare all the 1%ers. Even better if they did a Comanche war dance (we know how those end don't we...)

**Ensis Ferrae**

Swastakowey wrote:
We Haka for everything important. Museum opening? Haka. Every school beginning and end? Haka. About to charge some Germans in the desert? Haka. Celebrity arrives at airport? Haka. Rugby game? Haka.

It is common for those of Maori decent to receive a haka as they get buried/cremated. My Maori half of the family have all had the Haka performed as they got their final goodbye.

Sounds like a cool teacher. If there was one thing I noticed at college/high school is that for a teacher to gain respect from teenagers is a hard task to achieve. I have only had 3 teachers I respected growing up, so nice to see a respected teacher getting praise after a lot of hard work.

I don't mean to sound rude, but are there a lot of people in NZ that have a "Maori half of the family" ?? Is it a bit like someone here in the US claiming that they're "Part Cherokee" ?

And I watched the video a couple days ago, and it was pretty impressive. I think the thing that gets me, is that the more recent Hakas that have been online (outside of the All Blacks) have been done with such emotion. Aside from this one, the other one that really stands out is the NZ military unit sending off a fellow soldier/marine/service member, even the bloke who was on crutches was going the haka with extreme passion.

**Swastakowey**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Swastakowey wrote:
We Haka for everything important. Museum opening? Haka. Every school beginning and end? Haka. About to charge some Germans in the desert? Haka. Celebrity arrives at airport? Haka. Rugby game? Haka.

It is common for those of Maori decent to receive a haka as they get buried/cremated. My Maori half of the family have all had the Haka performed as they got their final goodbye.

Sounds like a cool teacher. If there was one thing I noticed at college/high school is that for a teacher to gain respect from teenagers is a hard task to achieve. I have only had 3 teachers I respected growing up, so nice to see a respected teacher getting praise after a lot of hard work.

I don't mean to sound rude, but are there a lot of people in NZ that have a "Maori half of the family" ?? Is it a bit like someone here in the US claiming that they're "Part Cherokee" ?

No not really. Most are pretty white and fine about it. I just happen to have a Maori mother and her family is pretty Maori. Although it is worth noting there are very few (if any) pure Maori left, most have had white family at some point now.

Half my family has weird names like Koroua John (was what we used to call granddad, Koroua is Maori for granddad) etc. I will admit I am very not in touch with that side of my family so I usually see them through my mother or just walking down the street every so often.

And I watched the video a couple days ago, and it was pretty impressive. I think the thing that gets me, is that the more recent Hakas that have been online (outside of the All Blacks) have been done with such emotion. Aside from this one, the other one that really stands out is the NZ military unit sending off a fellow soldier/marine/service member, even the bloke who was on crutches was going the haka with extreme passion.

Yea it is a very aggressive dance and it cannot be done half heartedly. Personally growing up I avoided doing the dance because I lacked the passion to do so. The school haka teams usually came back from haka performances with bruised/very red chests (from the slapping parts) because you have to be very aggressive to do it correctly. Not being passionate in the haka will ruin it for all involved. So you will rarely see that happen. It is also cool seeing the combined male and female hakas (women tend to use this ball on a stick thing) and the whole dance is a very cool thing to see.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Swastakowey wrote:

Yea it is a very aggressive dance and it cannot be done half heartedly. Personally growing up I avoided doing the dance because I lacked the passion to do so. The school haka teams usually came back from haka performances with bruised/very red chests (from the slapping parts) because you have to be very aggressive to do it correctly. Not being passionate in the haka will ruin it for all involved. So you will rarely see that happen. It is also cool seeing the combined male and female hakas (women tend to use this ball on a stick thing) and the whole dance is a very cool thing to see.

Spoiler:

I dunno man... those hakas that I posted there seem pretty "half hearted" (at least when you compare them to the modern ABs

**Swastakowey**

Wow... Ok yea that's pretty bad. I don't follow rugby but all the ones I see in person are not like that at all. Our Primary Haka team was better than them haha. Even the white guys pulled their weight in Kapa Haka etc.

As I said all it takes is a few not to take it seriously and we get the 1970s all blacks version of a hakka.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Swastakowey wrote:
Wow... Ok yea that's pretty bad. I don't follow rugby but all the ones I see in person are not like that at all. Our Primary Haka team was better than them haha. Even the white guys pulled their weight in Kapa Haka etc.

As I said all it takes is a few not to take it seriously and we get the 1970s all blacks version of a hakka.

Lol, yeah, I LOVE rugby, and I think the modern teams have got it "right". It's also a special treat when y'all play Tonga, or Samoa and other island countries because of the dueling war dances they do.

**Swastakowey**

I think our Haka is more aggressive than the Polynesian dances. But have seen very few.

I might do a diorama of some Guardsmen doing a haka before battle after all this talk...

**chaos0xomega**

And I thought this was impressive (though it still makes me tear up):

How do those of primarily Maori descent feel about this sort of thing? In the US I feel like if we co-opted/"misappropriated" a native war dance or something for use before a football game or at a funeral or something, there would be an ACLU lawsuit and never ending barrage of facebook memes about racial inequality.

**Swastakowey**

chaos0xomega wrote:
And I thought this was impressive (though it still makes me tear up):

How do those of primarily Maori descent feel about this sort of thing? In the US I feel like if we co-opted/"misappropriated" a native war dance or something for use before a football game or at a funeral or something, there would be an ACLU lawsuit and never ending barrage of facebook memes about racial inequality.

If the white guys like me can do it, then we are allowed just fine. As long as we take it seriously. At my college we had a white Maori teacher who was the male Maori much like the guy in the article and no one cares, I think he is still there. They all love him. Everyone does Maori stuff (weaving, haka and language) and it's never bothered anyone in my experience. We had scottish white guy with ginger hair as one of the prominent Maori performers and so on. None of the Maori kids or parents cared, they loved him actually.

We aren't pansies over here haha. No one gets offended on another cultures behalf.

**Frazzled**

I now have images of Scottish highlanders in kilts with Claymores doing a haka. Now that would scare 'em in Liverpool!

**Swastakowey**

Frazzled wrote:
I now have images of Scottish highlanders in kilts with Claymores doing a haka. Now that would scare 'em in Liverpool!

We do it in flax skirts with Pounamu Clubs. Same thing really haha. Although I am sure the Haka combined with the Bag Pipes would be a horrific sound and site...

**Frazzled**

Swastakowey wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
I now have images of Scottish highlanders in kilts with Claymores doing a haka. Now that would scare 'em in Liverpool!

We do it in flax skirts with Pounamu Clubs. Same thing really haha. Although I am sure the Haka combined with the Bag Pipes would be a horrific sound and site...

That would be AWESOME.

So on one side we have Highlander Maoris with bagpipes.

On the other side we have Zulus and the Crimson Tide introduced by the Grambling State Band. I am liking it!

**chaos0xomega**

It almost sounds like NZ might be the only place where the aboriginal peoples and white culture successfully integrated...

**Swastakowey**

chaos0xomega wrote:
It almost sounds like NZ might be the only place where the aboriginal peoples and white culture successfully integrated...

Well we still have some issues with Maori being more likely to end up in prison or being poor etc, but unlike the Australians or even the Americans we did not make the same mistakes both at the beginning and later on. It's a pretty cool history to learn about with NZ.

The guy we have on our 50 dollar bill was a Maori man who pushed greatly for Maori integration with Europeans, this combined with the world wars where Maori soldiers proved well and Maori sporting achievements have gone a long way. Since they are Native to this land many of our streets and places are named with their culture. For example I have lived in the city of Rotorua and the town of Paraparaumu and the streets are Riwai, Kaitawa and Ratanui etc. We have a huge mix of Maori and European names for most places. I think it all goes back to simply understanding Europeans weren't here first but instead we negotiated and shared the land and I think our culture is similar to that. We still have European cities etc like Wellington and Auckland etc and it all goes back to a merging of culture really.

It is not perfect though, I think the population boom had a lot to do with it. 100 years ago there where less than 50,000 Maori. Now there are 500,000 (we only have 4-5 million people here) so since they are a large demographic it kind of makes sense to have them included etc. Compared to other places I think it's pretty good here in the culture department. I don't hear anything about racism from any group here really (although I noticed kids lately call anything racist. Went to peter jacksons Museum of Gallipoli and girls starting saying it was racist because there was a lack of black people depicted... even though it was a war between Europeans and Turkish?) other than the silly stuff.

**chaos0xomega**

Huh, interesting. Although here in the States a huge proportion of our names are of Native American origin (Manhattan, for example, which is the island that forms the nucleus of New York City for those unfamiliar. I myself live near a community called Lake Mohawk. Nearby is Lenape Valley. Then you have places like Ho-Ho-Kus, Hopatcong, Mahwah, Manalapan, Navesink, Paramus, Parsippany, Secaucus, etc. etc. etc. which are all native in origin and all within spitting distance of my house.... yet I have never met a single Native American in my life. I've met a lot of people who *claimed* they were descended from natives, but they were all white as snow.

**Swastakowey**

chaos0xomega wrote:
Huh, interesting. Although here in the States a huge proportion of our names are of Native American origin (Manhattan, for example, which is the island that forms the nucleus of New York City for those unfamiliar. I myself live near a community called Lake Mohawk. Nearby is Lenape Valley. Then you have places like Ho-Ho-Kus, Hopatcong, Mahwah, Manalapan, Navesink, Paramus, Parsippany, Secaucus, etc. etc. etc. which are all native in origin and all within spitting distance of my house.... yet I have never met a single Native American in my life. I've met a lot of people who *claimed* they were descended from natives, but they were all white as snow.

I think that's why I mentioned the population. When settlers purchased land from the Maori there where apparently around 100,000 of them. Now there are 500,000. Thats a HUGE growth even after the epidemics and small wars that happened. (lowest population was 50,000 I think)

I see Maori every single day. In the capital, in my home town etc. Everywhere. So maybe that's why the difference is there. It makes sense too. The more people of a group there are, the more their needs are catered for. Outside of obvious respect for the nations past (in the form of place names etc) the amount of people in question must hold a lot of weight in how they viewed or treated.

**Frazzled**

chaos0xomega wrote:
Huh, interesting. Although here in the States a huge proportion of our names are of Native American origin (Manhattan, for example, which is the island that forms the nucleus of New York City for those unfamiliar. I myself live near a community called Lake Mohawk. Nearby is Lenape Valley. Then you have places like Ho-Ho-Kus, Hopatcong, Mahwah, Manalapan, Navesink, Paramus, Parsippany, Secaucus, etc. etc. etc. which are all native in origin and all within spitting distance of my house.... yet I have never met a single Native American in my life. I've met a lot of people who *claimed* they were descended from natives, but they were all white as snow.

Here's some other native American names. Just a few off the top of my head.
Texas (Tejicas or Te'as)
Illinois
Kentucky
Dakota
Wichita

**chaos0xomega**

Texas/Tejas is Spanish I thought? Also Oklahoma, Montana, Idaho, and Iowa are all native iirc

**Frazzled**

chaos0xomega wrote:
Texas/Tejas is Spanish I thought? Also Oklahoma, Montana, Idaho, and Iowa are all native iirc

Its a Spanish derivation of an underlying native American word.

I thought Oklahoma might be, but its platelike flatness stopped me cold.

**agnosto**

Frazzled wrote:
chaos0xomega wrote:
Texas/Tejas is Spanish I thought? Also Oklahoma, Montana, Idaho, and Iowa are all native iirc

Its a Spanish derivation of an underlying native American word.

I thought Oklahoma might be, but its platelike flatness stopped me cold.

Yeah, Oklahoma means "red people" in Choctaw.

**Frazzled**

Wait it doesn't mean "we've got to get of this place, if its the last thing we ever do" ?

People think Houston is named after Sam Houston. its really a Tonkawa phrase meaning "place that smells like wet old man"

**agnosto**

Frazzled wrote:
Wait it doesn't mean "we've got to get of this place, if its the last thing we ever do" ?

People think Houston is named after Sam Houston. its really a Tonkawa phrase meaning "place that smells like wet old man"

People used to think that it meant "red earth" which would be ironic considering the entire state is red dirt, dust and asinine right-wing nut jobs. (sorry, the last part is unrelated)