I bought a cool looking jersey of the New Zealand national rugby team. I checked out their web site and saw that they incorporated a native dance into their national matches. That blew my mind. Here's what I learned about it in Wikipedia:
The All Blacks, the international rugby union team of New Zealand, perform a haka (Māori traditional dance) immediately prior to international matches. The Haka is also performed by some other New Zealand national teams, such as the Kiwis (rugby league) and the Tall Blacks (men's basketball). Over the years they have most commonly performed the haka "Ka Mate". In the early decades of international rugby, they sometimes performed other haka,some of which were composed for specific tours. Since 2005 they have occasionally performed a new haka, "Kapa o Pango."
I must admit I don't know if this has caused controversy in New Zealand, Australia, or anywhere else. If it has, I'd like to hear about it. But as an intriguing cross-cultural artifact, this can't be beat.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
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