There's Hakas everywhere here...love it. At funerals, weddings, schools etc etc...love it.
What touched me the most was when I went to my son's graduation...in a big hall. Every time a Maori went up stage to receive the certificate the family members would get up and do a Haka to the person. There was a few where only one person attended, and did the Haka alone...to the one up stage.
That drove the significance of the Haka home to me. It carries a whole lot of meaning for sure.
I've always had a great love for the many beautiful Indigenous peoples, First Peoples, of our World and their many cultures. Learning about them has always been a source of great joy for me.
@Pigs sharing his knowledge of the Indigenous Aboriginal people and the lovely recordings he did of the Djinama Yilaga choir led to my learning more about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
@AngeNZ in a roundabout way led me to learning about the Māori and their culture.
And today
@Daniel Forsyth with his mention of the Haka got me into reading about the various Māori Haka dances and their origins.
"It all began rather innocently. Long ago, according to Maori legend, the sun god, Te Ra, had two wives. One wife was the spirit of summer; the other, the spirit of winter. Te Ra and his summery wife gave birth to a son named Tanerore. As a small boy, Tanerore would dance to amuse his mother. When he danced, he created the shimmering light we often see on hot summer days. Thus was haka born."
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā (Who brought the sun and caused it to shine).
Haka not only a Warrior Dance
Certainly this is not a post about vaping or the shiny material. More importantly it is a post about the wonderful connections we make here at ECF.
