Story: Kapa Haka

Welcoming important guests has always been an occasion for kapa haka performances. This clip from a government newsreel shows the haka pōwhiri on Wellington’s Aotea Quay in January 1946 for 780 members of 28 (Māori) Battalion. The performance features women using traditional weapons such as taiaha. When this practice was reintroduced by kapa haka in the 1990s, it was often condemned as contrary to Māori custom.