School Pays Respects to Beloved Teacher by Performing Powerful Haka at Funeral

Dawson Tamatea was a teacher at Palmerston North Boy’s High School in New Zealand. At the all-boys school, he taught both Physical Education and Math for 30 years. Unfortunately for the school, Mr. Tamatea recently passed away.

Because of this incident, the school decided to close for half a day so that the entire school could venture out to his funeral. Hundreds of boys and school staff were on hand as they awaited for the hearse to arrive.

When the car arrived, the boys and staff decided to perform a Haka for Mr. Tamatea. A Haka is a traditional ancestral war cry for the Maori people. While it is used traditionally to proclaim strength and intimidate enemies, the Haka is also used to pay respects at a funeral service.

The school wrote in the description of the video, “This was a very emotional and powerful performance. We are extremely proud of our boys’ performance and we know that Mr Tamatea would be too.”

Watch the boys’ touching tribute in the video below: