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Watch: Joyful 18-month-old toddler learns how to do the Maori haka dance

"The world has never needed the haka more than it does now."

Photo credit: Canva

Toddler learning haka dance is taking over the internet

The haka is a traditional Maori dance that originated as a war dance. In recent years, people around the world have come to know and love the now familiar dance. The passion, rhythmic gestures, wide eyes and chanted words grace screens across multiple countries on a near daily basis, often bringing viewers to tears.

Having a window into such a rich culture can make people curious on how cultural traditions like the haka are passed down. Surely Maori babies aren't born knowing this dance instinctively, nor is there a magic switch that flips when they reach a certain age. One family gave a little glimpse into how the culture is passed down from one generation to the next and it's beyond adorable.

Hope Lawrence recently uploaded a video of her 18-month-old practicing the haka with his dad in the dining room, and the little guy is surprisingly good. In the video, the baby starts off with a stomp and grunt as his dad shows him the wero, which is the trembling hand often seen in the dance. As the dad walks back and forth starting the chant along with wero, the little one tries his best to mimic his dad.

Before too long the toddler is chanting along and copying the dad's moves almost exactly, even if you can't quite make out what the little guy is saying–his haka is still powerful. This isn't the first time the baby has been caught doing the haka. Just last month he was caught practicing his haka along with the New Zealand ruby team All Blacks on the family television. His tiny haka moves have taken social media by storm with over 53 million views, 7.1 million likes and more than 53K comments.


@hopeylawrence Teach them the way young 😍 Keep our culture going #haka #maoritok #fyp #hakawithdad #maori #aotearoa #newzealand #maoritiktok #culture #pukana #kamate #parliament #toitutetiriti #dad #standtall #tamariki ♬ original sound - Hope Lawrence

People cannot get enough of his powerful little dance, with one person writing, "The Haka is so powerful but seeing this father teaching his baby is so much powerful. I am deeply moved."

Another person thinks the dance is just the light people need to see right now, "The world has never needed the haka more than it does now."

Someone else noticed the confidence exuding from the toddler, "The way y'all were in complete cadence together with the leg slap... he came in with confidence because of you, and y'all nailed it perfectly together."


@hopeylawrence Our little haka obsessed boy practicing his Kia Rite 😍 😍 #pov #hakapractice #haka #nzhaka #fyp #pukana #viral #kiarite #maori #NZ #nztiktok #aus #nzmaori #allblacks #newzealandallblacks #haka #hakaleader ♬ original sound - Hope Lawrence

One viewer appreciates the peek into another culture, "I LOVE THIS!!! if it wasn't for tik tok I would've never been exposed to Maori culture. can't tell you how many Haka performances I've watched. they make me feel so empowered."

Appreciation of culture being passed down is a common theme among commenters with one saying, "This is truly beautiful to watch, not just because the father is keeping interaction and culture with child, but it's keeping a beautiful culture present... some other cultures didn't have this."

@hopeylawrence The haka is on repeatt😅 #haka #babyhaka #maoritok #maori #culture #hakatime #fyp #toitutetiriti #aotearoa #pukana #viral 📸 credit:@Zealan_lawrence ♬ Ngā iwi E - Live - Creative Nātives

Many people who watch the haka have a deeply emotional reaction that they can't explain even though they have no personal connection to the culture. The dance seems to speak to a part of humans that may be missing their ancestral connections, possibly awakening some dormant longing. There's no real way to know but the amount of people that report being brought to tears every time the dance is performed is significant. This baby will surely keep his culture alive as he grows into adulthood, likely teaching his own son as his father taught him.

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Why people are finding this teen's haka send-off at the airport particularly moving

It's a strong signal of cultural traditions being successfully passed from one generation to the next

TikTok/@curlyheadnikau

An airport haka is making people emotional.

If there's one thing people around the world associate with Māori culture, it's the haka. We've seen the traditional dancing and chanting before international sports matchups and in viral videos from wedding parties to tiny toddlers.

Haka originated as a way to prepare warriors for battle, but it has also been performed as a custom when groups came together in peace. Today, in addition to symbolizing a challenge to a sports opponent, haka is used to honor people and show the importance of an occasion.

In New Zealand, it's not uncommon to see haka performed at airports, as people send off or welcome home loved ones. But one airport haka has people feeling particularly moved.

In a video shared by @curlyheadnikau on TikTok, a young man who is heading off to the U.S. for school, having received a basketball scholarship to Utah, stands opposite a group of young men who honor him with the haka. "Send off for the big cuzzy," reads the caption.


What's particularly notable in this haka video is that all of the participants appear to be youth—no obvious elders among them—which sends a strong signal of a culture being successfully passed down from one generation to the next.

Watch:

@curlyheadnikau

send off for the big cuzzy good luck over in the us 💯 @tuhi2x #fyp #nz #haka #foryou #us #foryou

Upworthy posted the video on our Instagram page, and people are sharing how moved they are by it.

"I love how they transform from modern teens to timeless warriors, in spirit with their ancestors. So incredibly moving and significant," wrote one person.

"The release of emotion in Haka makes me cry!" wrote another. "So beautiful, healthy and moving."

"It's so moving to see non-toxic demonstrations of strong masculinity. This is how it's done," shared a third.

Several people shared this sentiment:

"I can never watch this incredible ritual without tearing up. This is pure magic!!!!"

Seeing these guys in their T-shirts and Nikes put their all into the haka is so powerful. Knowing how many indigenous cultures have had their traditions stripped away, with many being lost altogether, makes this video all the more moving.

The New Zealand tourism website shares a bit about the origins of the haka:

"The Māori legend describing the origin of the haka paints it as a celebration of life. The story goes that Tama-nui-te-ra, the sun god, and his wife Hine-Raumati, who embodies summer, had a son named Tane-rore. On hot summer days, Tane-rore would dance for his mother, causing the air to quiver. This light, rapid movement was the foundation of all haka."

The Māori people have inhabited the islands of New Zealand for more than 700 years, their ancestors having arrived by boat from Polynesia around 1300 A.D. The population declined following British colonization and hit a low point in the early 20th century, but thanks to the influence of key Māori leaders, the country changed. Today, the Māori people play a significant role in New Zealand society and government.

With young people like this carrying on the traditions of their ancestors, this beautiful nation's cultural diversity will be preserved for generations to come.

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Maori lawmaker kicked out of parliament for wearing a cultural pendant instead of a tie

1 News/YouTube

People love to point to "identity politics" as if it's a new, progressive phenomenon, but there is no shortage of examples of how racial and cultural identity has always played a role in politics. It's just that up until recently, the identity in identity politics was white.

This has not only been the case in the U.S., where white, male identity politics kept women and racial minorities out of power for most of our history, but in other Western nations as well. Case in point: A story from New Zealand of a Maori lawmaker who was ejected from parliament proceedings because he was not wearing a necktie—or at least not a necktie that fit Western standards of "business attire."

The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, and Maori representatives make up nearly a quarter of the country's parliament. Rawiri Waititi, a Maori MP, was kicked off the parliament floor after the Speaker Trevor Mallard twice refused to recognize him due to his attire. Instead of a necktie, which male parliament members are required to wear, Waititi wore a hei tiki—a traditional Māori greenstone pendant—tied around his neck.

"It's not about ties, it's about cultural identity, mate," Waititi said as he was leaving.

Watch the parliament exchanges here:

Māori MP ejected from New Zealand parliament in necktie rowwww.youtube.com

Waititi had argued in the parliament's recent "business attire" debates that the Western necktie was like a "colonial noose." Mallard pointed out that he himself wished to eliminate the tie requirement, but that the consensus had disagreed.

In an interview following his ejection from parliament, he said, "As you can clearly see, this is a tie, as far as I'm concerned...this is a tie to my people."

Speaking to Reuters, Waititi said, "Māori have not been treated equal in its own country and indigenous people all over the world have been subjected to discrimination due to racist systems that keep our peoples in second place. For us to stand up against subjugation, to stand up again assimilation, to stand up against those who try and make us look, feel, make us think like they want us to think ... this was standing up against that."

Māori Party co-leader kicked out of Parliament for not wearing a tiewww.youtube.com

Waititi showed up to parliament with the same attire the next day, but this time he was allowed to remain. According to Radio New Zealand, the male necktie rule has now been dropped after the Standing Orders committee met and decided it should be optional.

"The noose has been taken off our necks, and we are now able to sing our songs," Waititi told Reuters.

If kicking a lawmaker out because their cultural dress attire doesn't line up with an arbitrary perception of what makes up business attire seems silly to you, you're not alone. Dress codes are meant to keep a sense of professionalism in a proceeding, to say, "This is serious work we are doing, so showing up in your workout gear or loungewear isn't appropriate." They should not be used as an excuse for upholding white Western standards of dress and keep people from diverse cultures from wearing something appropriately formal.

Not to mention, how much of a waste of time and energy is this when there are important issues to discuss and problems to solve? Maybe this is what happens when your country manages to control a pandemic and isn't dealing with an insurrection and impeachment trial. You find ridiculous things to argue about.

In all seriousness, though, good for Waititi for illustrating how racism and white supremacy can be reinforced through something as simple as a dress code. And good for the members of parliament who stood up for his right to wear traditional attire from his culture.

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Meet the student fighting for his country's native language. He's great.

A very specific request reveals a pretty great life lesson.

This kid has a point. About life. About relating to other human beings.

He's talking about being earnest and doing your best. In this case, it's in order to pronounce the language of your neighbors. But when you think about it ... this is true of life, right? What a great way to be.

Enjoy seven minutes of well-researched wisdom. (I can't believe this kid, whose name is Finnian Galbraith, is only in high school!And he did this for a school project?!)

"I wrote this speech initially for a speech competition in 2014 because I see this as a big issue and I believe it is very important that we take action," Finnian wrote.

I highly recommend watching the whole video. But if you can't, here are the biggest lessons.

It's OK to not be perfect.

But people deserve respect. All that matters is that you make an effort.

And who knows? You might get invited to a fun party by a Māori celeb just for the effort.


All that matters is that you are trying.

Finnian came up with this magical state of trying when he noticed the way people in his native New Zealand were (mis)pronouncing Māori words.

Māori is an official language of New Zealand, which means there's basically one way to pronounce this extremely rare language. So when folks from the country where it originated mispronounce it, it's not like, "Oh, but I'm saying it with an accent!" — it's more like, "Oh, I don't care!"

Which is a shame because Māori words are all over the place in New Zealand.

Such as the longest place name in New Zealand. Image via Archives New Zealand/Flickr.

Image via Map of the Urban Linguist/Flickr.


Image via luvjnx/Flickr.

There's even a Māori Wikipedia! And it's a good thing because Māori is a rare language!

While I shouldn't have to convince you that Māori is an awesome culture — because, hello, they're people and they deserve respect — here's a quick dip into the culture.

From films with Māori characters like "Whale Rider" or the less intense "Eagle vs. Shark" (starring Jemaine Clement of "Flight of the Conchords fame," who's of Māori descent)...


GIFs via "Whale Rider" and "Eagle vs. Shark."

...to dances like the Haka...

Māori is the language of the indigenous people of New Zealand, and it shares cultural origins with the Haka that the national rugby team All Blacks performs. Have you seen 'em? GIFs via New Zealand All Blacks.

...to the hardcore tattoos, beautiful landscapes, cool art, and the Māori battalion from World War II.


Image via Imperial War Museum/Wikimedia Commons.

Also, the main writer on the new Disney princess movie "Moana," Taika Waititi, is Māori!

It's EASY to see a culture worth respecting.

Respect!

That's what it's all about.

I agree with this kid. It's not about being perfect. But what matters is that when given the chance to preserve a culture and show respect for your neighbors ... you take it!

You try.

That's true of pronouncing Māori, but it's also true of life. Wisdom is all around us!

Kia ora!

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