Origins

Kapa o Pango is a slightly modified version of the haka Ko Niu Tireni that was used to help the All Black "Invincibles" win all 32 games during their 1924-25 six nation tour.
	Kia whakangawari au i a hau. I au-e! Hei! Ko Niu Tireni e haruru nei. Ka tu te ihiihi. Ka tu te wanawana ... full haka Get ready for the clash. Yeah! Ha! New Zealand is rumbling here. Face up to the fear Fight the terror
And the Invincibles' 1924 haka was derived from the opening and closing stanzas of the ancient phallic haka Ruaumoko. See below.

These words, and their accompanying actions, pump up the All Blacks' testosterone and adrenalin outputs to the sky-high levels needed for international rugby.

1. Kia whakawhenua au i ahau! .
   Let me be one with the land.
Both the land and the team are vibrating with tremendous pent-up energy, just beneath the surface.

This phrase is a variation on Kia whakataa hoki au i ahau, Let me rest before commencing, a common introduction to Ruaumoko and other haka.

2. Ko kapa o pango e ngunguru nei!
   The team in black is rumbling here!
Rumbling with testosterone! These lines are modified from the opening lines of the ancient Ngati Porou battle haka, Ko Ruaumoko e ngunguru nei... (see below)

Ruaumoko is the god of earthquakes and volcanoes (story). New Zealand is on a major tectonic fault line, and life here is greatly influenced by recent, and continuing, large earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In the Ruaumoko haka, this earth-shaking volcanic imagery is used metaphorically in a description of the arousal, explosive release and consummation that is felt in the divine/human creative process. This in turn is a metaphor for the testosterone-fuelled passions felt in battle, while here it hints at the similar build-up of tension, the explosive release, exultation and post-match quiescence felt in top-level rugby.

3. Au, Au-e Ha! I ah-a-ha!
These are visceral affirmative team responses to each claim made by the leader. The explosive breathing and arm-pumping stimulates adrenalin release, energising the team-members' bodies and focusing their minds.

The same is seen and heard in other cultures in street rallies ("What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!) and in football grandstands (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!).

Teams from Wales, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga respond with similar powerful chants adapted from their rich cultural traditions. It is a mystery to me why other teams opposing the All Blacks just shuffle around in pyjama-suits, losing both their focus and their mana. (below)

4. Ka tu te ihiihi, ka tu te wanawana
   Face up to the fear, fight the terror.
An adrenalin rush! There are layers of meanings here. Variations on these lines are used in many old pre-European Maori chants, and are still often used at the end of a haka today, especially of the haka Ruaumoko.

The phrase was also used to describe Tu-mata-uenga, the god of battle, and are found in Uenuku (see below), a 19th century instruction book by Tuta Nihoniho on preparation for tribal war.

Nihoniho wrote about "te hapaitanga a Tu-te-ihiihi, a Tu-te-wanawana" the arousal of Tu the Fear, of Tu the Terror, although those words could be more prosaically translated as the arousal of the courage to stand up to feelings of apprehension and terror.

They can also be found the haka Ko Ranginui (see below) composed by Arapeta Awatere for the Royal Visit in 1953.

The words reminded the visiting Queen of the renowned fighting spirit of Maori in WW2, although the translation at that time was of an ugly one spreading fear and terror.

5. Ki runga ki te rangi
   To the sky above
Nihoniho's instruction book also notes that the warriors' legs will attain the heavens (ie. they will achieve the impossible) if they are fully unified in action. Once again, see Uenuku below.

6. Ponga ra!
   Our shadows fall!
In the translation released by the NZRU, this is translated as "Silver Fern!"

The ponga, or silver fern, Cyathea dealbata, is a tree-fern unique to New Zealand. It has water-conserving hairs on its underside, which make the underside look silver. Tree-ferns grow profusely in NZ, especially on the edge of the forests, and were very familiar to NZ's rural British colonists, who called all tree-ferns 'pungas'.

The silver ponga fronds could be laid on forest floors to guide to guide war parties at night, and are still used to guide hunters back home. Thus the "silver fern" was used as an emblem on the uniforms of NZ sportsmen, guiding them to their desired goal.

But Ponga ra! Ponga ra! is the opening line of the 1880s version of the old haka Te Kiri Ngutu (see below).

And Sir Apirana Ngata translates these words as The shadows fall! The shadows fall! a warning of the spiritual darkness falling across communities as others snatch their land from them.

The old word for "darkness" in Western Polynesia was "Ponga," and later this was shortened in East Polynesia to "Po." (See the full darkness list)

When you go into a grove of 3-to-7 metre tall tree-ferns in the NZ forest, you find that underneath, at their centres, they are indeed very dark. Dark, formless and primordial. Hence the old Polynesian name of "ponga" for our tree-ferns.

So when the All Blacks shout Ponga ra! perhaps they are identifying themselves as primordial forest giants whose shadows are about to darken the enemy-held territory and re-take possession of it.

Structure and Development

Peformances of the commonly performed haka Ruaumoko often have had the Ka tu te ihiihi... lines added to the end.

Lardelli has taken these familiar quotations from Ruaumoko, modified them, and then at the end, he has added the opening line of Te Kiri Ngutu.

For those who can follow spoken Maori, this is just a few brief quotations, with nothing new, and without the lengthy poetic stories of older hakas. Some Maori have been disappointed by it, with one critic comparing its brevity to an English fable that goes "Once upon a time they all lived happily ever after."

But this haka is for performance by non-Maori speakers and for performance to non-New Zealanders, and it has to be brief. So it relies on repetition to build up intensity - E ngunguru nei, e ngunguru nei -- Au, Au-ë Ha! Au, Au-ë Ha! -- Ka tū te, ka tū te -- E tū iho, e tū iho -- Ponga rä, Ponga rä -- Kapa o Pango, Kapa o Pango!

And the familiar quotations remind more knowledgeable listeners of the powerful stories of those classic haka.

How to respond to the All Black haka

Intimidate the All Blacks by getting 60,000 supporters to sing along to your national song.
Show the All Blacks that you are even bigger, tougher and scarier than they are.
Try to hide behind each other.

The throat-cutting gesture

At the end of the haka, each All Black glares at his opponents, cries "Ha!" and then draws a clenched fist with an extended thumb across his throat, while his eyes bulge and his tongue protrudes.

The symbolism to most people is obvious: someone is getting his throat cut. The message seems to be that the opposition are going to get slaughtered.

This gesture has upset many Australians: Wallabies coach John Connolly has called for this haka to be banned.

Vital energy on a knife edge

Derek Lardelli explained his reason for including this gesture.

"Kapa O Pango ends with the word 'Ha,' or the breath of life. The words and motions represent drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs."

"The right arm searches for the 'Ha' on the left side of the body, while the head turns to the right also symbolically seeking vital energy.

"Then the right hand hauls that energy into the heart, lungs and air passages, and the eyes and tongue signal that the energy has been harnessed before it is expelled with the final 'Ha.'

In traditional Maori use, the cupped hand is drawn across the throat to show energy being dragged into the body. But by doing this with a raised thumb, Mr Lardelli has modified it into a knife-wielding gesture, to show that each team member is at the cutting edge of personal performance. He gave this explanation.

"Playing rugby at this level, with this intensity, is the cutting edge of sport. The players are on the knife edge. If they win they are heroes, if they lose they are taken apart."

Derek Lardelli

Ngati Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngati Kanohi and Ngai Te Aweawe.

Lardelli is a principal tutor at Tairawhiti Polytechnic's School of Maori Art and Design, as well as a tohunga moko, visual artist, carver, kapa haka performer and tutor, composer, graphic designer and researcher of whakapapa, tribal history and kaikorero. He has facilitated and participated in numerous exhibitions and workshop programmes both in New Zealand and overseas.


He is regarded as one of New Zealand's finest moko artists. He has been prominent in reviving the art and explaining its spiritual significance to audiences throughout the Pacific. Each moko he creates is carefully researched to reflect the whakapapa, history and particular interests of the person receiving it.

Derek lives in Gisborne with his wife and children.