Maori haka gains popularity among New Zealanders of all races

The haka was once viewed as a war dance, but that understanding has changed in New Zealand as it has been embraced in a range of celebratory, sombre and ceremonial settings

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

The haka, a chanting dance of challenge, is sacred to New Zealand's Maori people but it's become a beloved cultural institution among New Zealanders of all races.

Spine-tingling performances at sports events, funerals and graduations often go viral on-line, a non-partisan point of pride for the country abroad.

But one haka performed in protest in New Zealand's Parliament by three legislators last November has provoked fierce division among lawmakers about whether it was an act of peaceful dissent, or disruptive and even intimidating to their opponents.

A vote to approve unprecedented, lengthy bans from Parliament for the Maori party lawmakers who enacted the protest was unexpectedly suspended Tuesday. Debate will resume in June, when it threatens to gridlock the legislative agenda until politicians from all parties reach consensus on what the punishment should be.

Hundreds of protesters against the sanctions waited outside Parliament's front doors in New Zealand's capital, Wellington, Tuesday to greet the Maori party lawmakers with a haka when they emerged.