WATCH: New Zealand players perform traditional haka dance before playing Team USA at Basketball World Cup
By Andy Clayton, New York Daily News
September 3, 2014
click link to see article: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/watch-new-zealand-performs-haka-war-dance-front-team-usa-article-1.1925963
The Haka is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand. As New Zealand and USA are about to begin their game in the Basketball world cup, the New Zealand National team lines up in formation facing team USA to perform the Haka. Team USA expected this to happen, but still found it odd and intriguing to watch. Although the war cry may not have worked for winning these basketball games, it helps to keep the Māori tradition alive.
I find it exiting that the basketball team does this before games. It is respectable and a fun way to keep the ancestral culture alive today. They are proud of their heritage, as we all should be. The dance is fierce and shows the great strength of the Maori people.
This dance was practiced as a war cry by the Maori people for generations. It is a tactic to announce the start of war and to intimidate opponents before battle. Although this basketball team was not going into war with the United States, it was an exciting and fascinating expression of the beauty of new Zealand history and culture.
By Andy Clayton, New York Daily News
September 3, 2014
click link to see article: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/watch-new-zealand-performs-haka-war-dance-front-team-usa-article-1.1925963
The Haka is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand. As New Zealand and USA are about to begin their game in the Basketball world cup, the New Zealand National team lines up in formation facing team USA to perform the Haka. Team USA expected this to happen, but still found it odd and intriguing to watch. Although the war cry may not have worked for winning these basketball games, it helps to keep the Māori tradition alive.
I find it exiting that the basketball team does this before games. It is respectable and a fun way to keep the ancestral culture alive today. They are proud of their heritage, as we all should be. The dance is fierce and shows the great strength of the Maori people.
This dance was practiced as a war cry by the Maori people for generations. It is a tactic to announce the start of war and to intimidate opponents before battle. Although this basketball team was not going into war with the United States, it was an exciting and fascinating expression of the beauty of new Zealand history and culture.