Nieuw-Zeeland
Toen ik op Nieuw-zeeland was (in myn dromen ...) had ik niet alleen het gevoel
dat al mijn bloed
naar mijn
hoofd
stroomde. De lokale bevolking heeft een zodanig gevoel voor openheid dat
iedereen even hun tong mag zien. Dan spreken ze af efkes een "haka" te doen, en
voila, die tong is daar. Da's nog iets anders dan hier, waar je boos aangekeken
wordt
als je eens die tong laat zien.
Met dank aan den Bert voor het foto-materiaal.
of zoals Lonely Planet in zijn muziekrubriek
het uitdrukt:
Though not strictly music, the haka is definitely a spectacle to behold, and
probably what the world knows best about New Zealand performers (with apologies
to musicians Neil and Tim Finn). The haka is the Maori war chant that precedes
a battle. Delivered with fierce shouting, flexing arm movements that resemble
fists pummelling the side of someone's head, and thunderous stamping to grind
whatever is left into the dust, it is indeed a frightening sight.
Made famous by the All Blacks national rugby team, it can scare even the
spectators in the stands, let alone the opponents on the field. Each tribe has
its own haka, but the most famous and widely used comes from Te Rauparaha
(1768-1849), chief of the Ngati Toa tribe. He was one of the last great warrior
chiefs, carving a course of mayhem from the Waikato to the South Island, where
European settlers and many southern Maori were slaughtered by his advance. Te
Rauparaha's haka is:
Ka mate, ka mate
It is death, it is death
Ka ora, ka ora
It is life, it is life
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru
This is the hairy man
Nana i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra
Who caused the sun to shine again for me
Upane, upane
Up the ladder, up the ladder
Upane kaupane
Up to the top
Whiti te ra
The sun shines
It is said to have originated when Te Rauparaha was fleeing from his enemies. A
local chief hid him in an underground kumara store, where Te Rauparaha waited
in the dark, expecting to be found. When the store was opened and the sun shone
in, it was not his enemies but the hairy local chief telling him they had gone.
Te Rauparaha climbed the ladder to perform this victorious haka.
