I get that people are interested in my opinion and feelings of the Spain Haka video because I live in Aotearoa and am Māori. There’s a lot of thoughts and feeling and I am happy to discuss Māori culture but I don’t really want to comment much further on the video after this so I’ll try be as articulate as possible.
That video was one of the first things I saw this morning when I woke up and I’m not going to lie I was very upset and angry when I saw it. However, as I have had time to digest this morning the more common feeling is disappointment.
Disappointment in that FIFA has done quite a bit to include both Māori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture in the marketing and branding of the tournament but this still happens.
Disappointment that people whether is the players themselves or the Spanish FA have not done their due diligence and researched our culture before coming over. Not sure how good or accurate Spanish language resources would be on Māori culture though, which is maybe why this disconnect has occurred.
Perhaps even disappointment in New Zealand Football and New Zealand ourselves that they have not helped to provide the resources to these teams coming and visiting Aotearoa.
I am acutely aware that most foreigners only view of Haka is Ka Mate which is one of the Haka the All Blacks perform before a test match which people often reference as a war dance. Haka can be a war dance but it is actually a dance for celebrating life. People perform them at weddings, funerals, welcoming ceremonies, and other occasions. I was actually surprised that all the teams arriving in Aotearoa weren’t welcomed with a Haka.
There are also many different Haka and the roles of men and women in them are different. For example, you will never see a wahine stick her tongue out or crouching. She will always be standing and will pukana without sticking her tongue out.
If there is anything positive from the video is that I hope this is a learning experience for people. As I have had time to reflect I am not offended because I cannot be offended by people who are not educated or informed. I will only be offended if they do not learn from this and it happens again.
Please do not be offended on my behalf. It is no one’s place to tell us how we should react or feel about this.
Also please don’t hate on the players or the team for this. If you are commenting on this all I ask is you do so from an education perspective or solution based approach. Yelling into the void that this is wrong doesn’t help prevent this from happening in the future.
Thanks for taking the time to read this if you have made it this far.
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