World, getting to know wahine toa

JEFF CHIU / AP

EDITORIAL : After their triumphs and defeats, the Sevens Sisters always have something to say

The haka after their second consecutive victory at the World Cup at seven, a feat later, the men's team was described as tingling and that's how it happened.

Do not deny that a significant number of people watching, for the first time or not, are likely to have found it troubling. A haka, whatever it may be, can be a confrontation

This is not the goal, but nowhere is it written that a haka performance involves some kind of 39; shameful requirement of all who could be it. meet him: "This is sanctified culturally, so you have to honor it or at least close it and endure it, or we all know what it means to you …"

No need for bad luck. Because when it's done well – and it's not easy – a haka is the opposite of something repellent or excluding. It draws attention to what it evokes in individuals and what they communicate then.

So, of course, some viewers see a mere belligerency, perhaps even savagery

or perhaps that they are struck by passion. Nothing more than that.

Or, we would like to think, some might appreciate that there is deep connectivity, pulling something deeper than just an intensity of emotion, going here.

Honest reactions must be accepted as such and, even if we can find them uneducated, we delude ourselves if we think that people should, and even less, be reprimanded successfully for looking deeper.

So, it matters, it really does, attracting people. And in this respect the seven women – and black ferns – deliver well.

International crowds have become more and more familiar with the haka of New Zealand men's teams. Women, not so much.

Stylistically, it is undoubtedly disturbing for many to see something that they can associate with the frenzied masculinity summoned and given by strong women – wahine toa

"Must be banished," a person tweeted " It's against the spirit of rugby. "

"The American guy next to (us) ripped to see this for the first time," said another.

And this is not just a matter of victory. Although the Sevens Sisters album is in itself, is it really more memorable than the one that followed Rio's total disappointment in 2016, played by players whose cheeks were covered with tears?

We do not need to look far to see examples haka communicate anything other than bellicose aggression. As this time last year, after the rape infamy of some Wellington College boys, students from this school and the Wellington Girls' College combined, in kapa haka competitions, a haka intended to recognize the anger felt by many young men. the resulting ugliness and cruelty, and offer ways to overcome it.

Kapa haka events are invaluable in our own society, and further afield they can travel the best. (Just as we do well to have the chance to see shows from other cultures in a close and personal way.)

For the most part, though, these are our men and women of sport whose feats are likely to introduce a growing number of people around the world haka. And they do it as well as the Sevens Sisters, so much the better.

                
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