New Zealand Soldiers Perform Haka For Fallen Comrades
It’s a week for amazing videos from New Zealand. Yesterday I wrote about the hilarious charity song from Flight of the Conchords- but today brings a moving and powerful show of solidarity from that nation’s soldiers.
The 2nd and 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment- totaling hundreds of men and women- performed a haka for three fallen soldiers who were laid to rest on Saturday.
Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, and Private Richard Harris, 21, were all killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
In the caption of the video uploaded to YouTube, NZ Defence Forces explains that a haka is a “posture dance” or “chant with actions” from the tradition of the indigenous Maori people; and that this is the haka of this particular army unit.
“Many soldiers don’t tend to show their emotions,” said Army spokesperson Major John Gordon to the NZ Herald. “But today, you saw their collective grief. Their personal grieving will come later.”
[via NZ Herald]
