haka

Haka (; singular and plural haka, in both Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Maoli, Maohi, and Māori culture. A performance art, haka are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment. Haka have been traditionally performed by both men and women for a variety of social functions throughout Polynesia. They are performed to welcome distinguished guests, or to acknowledge great achievements, occasions, or funerals. In New Zealand, Kapa haka groups are common in schools. The main Māori performing arts competition, Te Matatini, takes place every two years.¶

New Zealand sports teams' practice of performing a haka to challenge opponents before international matches has made the dance form more widely known around the world. This tradition began with the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team tour and has been carried on by the New Zealand rugby union team (known as the All Blacks) since 1905. Although popularly associated with the traditional battle preparations of male warriors, conceptions that haka are typically war dances are considered erroneous by Māori scholars, alongside the inaccurate performance of haka by non-Māori.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Haka”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

haka is traditional Māori chanting dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 10 external registers, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶