Here in Aotearoa, thanking a driver with a wave when they give way, or let you in on a busy road, is a vital part of our culture. Luckily, a Kiwi tractor driver on TikTok has given a tutorial on how to successfully execute the ‘mana wave’.
Lāz Gobang shared the tutorial on his TikTok, and it really is crack-up AND informative.
This mana wave can be completed without a functioning horn, but he also provides another tutorial for horn-havers. Lāz says to whip the wave out as you drive past someone who has just let you overtake them.
“You got that split second when you’re passing by,” he says. “What you’re gonna do is have your down, you’re gonna pass the person, lean over, BOOM. Eye contact, strong eye contact.”
As he says BOOM, he sticks his hand out the window. He then shares the vocal aspect of the mana wave.
“You’re gonna yell out ‘halalalaaay!’. You don’t have to say an actual word 'cause they’re not gonna hear it and it’s gonna take too much effort,” he explains. “You just wanna go ‘halalalaaay!’.”
“It sounds happy. You don’t wanna use sharp words. You don’t wanna go ‘HEY!’ cause that sounds like ‘f**k!’, so you wanna go ‘halalalaaay!’, cause that sounds like ‘chur buddy!’.
He’s not done yet though, the second half of the routine is slightly more complicated.
“You wanna go hazards, wiri wave out the window. That’s hazards, wiri wave out the window,” he clarifies.
As mentioned before, Lāz also shared how to do the mana wave with a working horn. It’s quite similar to the one listed above, just with an additional two beeps of the horn as you wiri wave.
I look forward to driving home today and testing this out myself, while also looking out for other drivers getting their mana wave on.
