TravelingWebGuy

Don't take my eyes away!!

That was the most important element of the night I had to remember during my Cultural Experience with some local Maori’s in Maketu. It’s an important tradition and ceremonial welcoming when a new tribe comes to a different village to visit. What needs to first happen is the oldest person in the group, tribe, usually the chief walks into the hut followed by his tribe. The chief is met by a fierce warrior who challenges him, but not a challenge to a fight. It’s more of a respect thing. The chief must remain still, in place, and keep constant eye contact with the warrior during the initial greeting. If the chief is to take his eyes away it is considered a big insult and at that time, the warrior can chose to either wound or kill the chief for this insolence. I was told that sometimes the performers thwack the new commer on the head for not respecting their ways… And by the looks of the spear he was holding, there was no way I was breaking eye contact!

So after we walk in, this warrior charges at me, weapon in hand and swinging! He gets about two feet away from me, stops and swings the spear within inches from my skull. (picture one of those Kung-Fu movies where the masters swing is so hard and fast it blows out candles) I felt the wind from the motion go across my head and what little hair I normally have. After he did the initial rush, he then does some ritual dances and moves to try and scare me and make me lose my eye contact. I stood steady as his weapon would continuously blow in front of my face, around the sides of my skull and towards my chest! There were definitely a few times where I thought that if I moved a few inches forward, I would be in some serious pain! Then came the time where the warrior accepts your courage and bravery and lays down a gift for you to pick up.

The presentation of the gift is not only the warriors acceptance, but also the tribes acceptance into their hut and village. In return, I can chose to receive the gift and bring my tribe in, or refuse it and either leave or fight. Since these guys are obviously skilled warriors, I chose to let them continue and I accepted their gift. But what that means is that after he has laid down the gift (a branch from their local region) I must then also pick up that branch all without breaking eye contact still. As I bent over to grab the branch the warrior lunged forward with a jump and swung the spear at me with the force of an ape slamming the ground in intimidation. I held steady and continued to pick up the branch. Once I did and returned to my original position, the warrior was satisfied and returned to his post with this villagers. We’re allowed into their homes. *phew*

After that was done, we all gathered around as they performed some ritual dances.. A few with just the girls, a few with just the men, including the Haka, and then a few with all of them together. It really was quite impressive to see how they tell their stories through song and dance and how it means so much to them. The music was very good and very different from what I was used to. It was a nice change to say the least.

After they finished their performances, we were told that we also were going to learn some of their dances and that we needed to break out into groups. The men would go into one room and we would learn the Haka and the woman would stay in the current room and learn a song and dance. At first I thought that was pretty cool and was looking forward to it. But once we got into our training room that kind of took a turn downhill.

Because I was the ‘chief’ of the group, the oldest, I would be leading them in the Haka. And not only would I be leading them, but we all had to strip down to our chonies and wear these bead skirts. Ok.. that definitely was not in the brochure! Well, I guess, “when in Rome”… So there I was stripping down to my boxers and putting on this black and white beaded skirt. Then we were shown the moves we needed to do, I was told how to pronounce the words properly, and we were given about 10 minutes to take it all in. After about what seemed only a few minutes, we were told we had 2 minutes left. So we feverishly went over it again, practiced the moves, practiced the pronunciation, and then we were off.

Man, what did I get myself into?

I must say, when we were walking out the room to meet up with the girls in our group, I was looking forward to it. I mean, they made us strip down to our boxers, surely the girls were made to wear something nice and sexy/appealing as well right? WRONG! When we got in there I saw that all the girls had all their original clothing on, sweaters, jackets, pants, beanies, scarfs, etc… all while we were walking out in a beaded skirt and just our boxers! Boooooo!! Man did we get the short end of the stick! Oh well… To late now.

So we walked out and were up first. We got in our lines and prepared ourselves for this embarrassment that was sure to come next. I got the ready sign from the local and that was my que to start the first call for the Haka. I then have to yell our first 3 ready lines!

Ringa pakia! (Slap your hands against your thighs and get ready)
Waewae takahia kia kino! (Stamp the feet as hard as you can!)
Ka mate, ka mate

Not my best dance moves!

After Ka mate, ka mate the group chants along and we start, actually it’s probably better to say we attempted, to recreate the Haka along with some of the locals. During the whole dance I was feeling lost! I almost completely forgot all the moves and had to keep looking at one of the other performers so I could attempt to at least ‘try’ and look like I knew that what I was doing. Try being the key word! I still failed!

And what I also felt really terrible about, was that I knew I had totally, and I mean utterly destroyed their words during the Haka. And it was confirmed because every time I had to say something for the Haka, a few of them would laugh, as I would have it it was someone else butchering my words. So not only did I fail at the Haka, but I failed in the word pronunciation.  But I had a good time and it was definitely an experience I was not going to forget anytime soon!