Weddings are already an emotional time as two whānau become one. But one wedding haka, captured beautifully by the wedding photographer, was so passionate and powerful that it gave me goosebumps from the other side of the screen.
Filmed by Chris Turner, a wedding photographer based in Aotearoa, the video shows a group of men take the floor as the bride and the rest of the wedding party sit behind them.
Immediately you can hear the passion in their voices and see the intensity on their faces as they give it their all.
“Feel the power,” Chris wrote in his Instagram caption, and feel it you can.
He also posted a photo of one of the men partaking in the haka and holy, this picture really is worth a thousand words. Veins bulging, eyes watering, and fists clenched - this fella gets it.
“The power of a great haka,” Chris captioned the photo.
“Sheesh, I would love to see that at a wedding,” one of the comments reads.
It might not have been as intense or loud as the one at the wedding, but a haka tautoko led by a young one was equally as emotional.
Posted to TikTok by @missykarlene, the video shows the grandfather walking on stage to officially graduate from the University of Waikato. As his Koro gets onto the stage, the young fella leads his whānau in a haka with a powerful voice.
Earlier this year, another graduation haka tautoko went viral. This time it was a thirteen-year-old kid leading it as his māmā walked the stage.
Irene Moses graduated from Toi Ohomai-Te Pūkenga in Rotorua with a Bachelor of Social Work. She described her son’s haka as "beautiful", saying she turned around and saw him "in all his glory".
