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Watch: Joyful 18-month-old toddler learns how to do the Maori haka dance

"The world has never needed the haka more than it does now."

Photo credit: Canva

Toddler learning haka dance is taking over the internet

The haka is a traditional Maori dance that originated as a war dance. In recent years, people around the world have come to know and love the now familiar dance. The passion, rhythmic gestures, wide eyes and chanted words grace screens across multiple countries on a near daily basis, often bringing viewers to tears.

Having a window into such a rich culture can make people curious on how cultural traditions like the haka are passed down. Surely Maori babies aren't born knowing this dance instinctively, nor is there a magic switch that flips when they reach a certain age. One family gave a little glimpse into how the culture is passed down from one generation to the next and it's beyond adorable.

Hope Lawrence recently uploaded a video of her 18-month-old practicing the haka with his dad in the dining room, and the little guy is surprisingly good. In the video, the baby starts off with a stomp and grunt as his dad shows him the wero, which is the trembling hand often seen in the dance. As the dad walks back and forth starting the chant along with wero, the little one tries his best to mimic his dad.

Before too long the toddler is chanting along and copying the dad's moves almost exactly, even if you can't quite make out what the little guy is saying–his haka is still powerful. This isn't the first time the baby has been caught doing the haka. Just last month he was caught practicing his haka along with the New Zealand ruby team All Blacks on the family television. His tiny haka moves have taken social media by storm with over 53 million views, 7.1 million likes and more than 53K comments.


@hopeylawrence Teach them the way young 😍 Keep our culture going #haka #maoritok #fyp #hakawithdad #maori #aotearoa #newzealand #maoritiktok #culture #pukana #kamate #parliament #toitutetiriti #dad #standtall #tamariki ♬ original sound - Hope Lawrence

People cannot get enough of his powerful little dance, with one person writing, "The Haka is so powerful but seeing this father teaching his baby is so much powerful. I am deeply moved."

Another person thinks the dance is just the light people need to see right now, "The world has never needed the haka more than it does now."

Someone else noticed the confidence exuding from the toddler, "The way y'all were in complete cadence together with the leg slap... he came in with confidence because of you, and y'all nailed it perfectly together."


@hopeylawrence Our little haka obsessed boy practicing his Kia Rite 😍 😍 #pov #hakapractice #haka #nzhaka #fyp #pukana #viral #kiarite #maori #NZ #nztiktok #aus #nzmaori #allblacks #newzealandallblacks #haka #hakaleader ♬ original sound - Hope Lawrence

One viewer appreciates the peek into another culture, "I LOVE THIS!!! if it wasn't for tik tok I would've never been exposed to Maori culture. can't tell you how many Haka performances I've watched. they make me feel so empowered."

Appreciation of culture being passed down is a common theme among commenters with one saying, "This is truly beautiful to watch, not just because the father is keeping interaction and culture with child, but it's keeping a beautiful culture present... some other cultures didn't have this."

@hopeylawrence The haka is on repeatt😅 #haka #babyhaka #maoritok #maori #culture #hakatime #fyp #toitutetiriti #aotearoa #pukana #viral 📸 credit:@Zealan_lawrence ♬ Ngā iwi E - Live - Creative Nātives

Many people who watch the haka have a deeply emotional reaction that they can't explain even though they have no personal connection to the culture. The dance seems to speak to a part of humans that may be missing their ancestral connections, possibly awakening some dormant longing. There's no real way to know but the amount of people that report being brought to tears every time the dance is performed is significant. This baby will surely keep his culture alive as he grows into adulthood, likely teaching his own son as his father taught him.

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Culture

Have we been singing 'Kumbaya' wrong this whole time? The Gullah Geechee say, yes.

It’s not sung in unison.

Photo credit: Canva

Have we been singing 'Kumbaya' wrong this whole time?

You don't have to be a religious person to have heard the song "Kumbaya" sung. The song has become so interwoven into the fabric of America that there's even the colloquial term, "Kumbaya moment," that people use to convey a sense of togetherness and getting along. The word has been a part of the American lexicon for decades and the song has been a part of the culture for even longer.

But the soothing melody isn't supposed to be sung in a slow melodic tone with everyone singing together in unison. Kumbaya is actually a Gullah Geechee phrase that literally translates to "come by here." If you're unfamiliar with the Gullah Geechee people, they're descendants of enslaved Africans that were brought to coastal plantations in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The enslaved people were from West and Central Africa encompassing multiple African cultures and ethnicities which created a unique amalgamation of language and culture.

"The Gullah Geechee language began as a simplified form of communication among people who spoke many different languages including European slave traders, slave owners and diverse, African ethnic groups. The vocabulary and grammatical roots come from African and European languages," the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor website shares.

guitar singing GIF by Cartoon HangoverGiphy

This African creole is still spoken today, having influence in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and "kumbaya" is a Gullah phrase that was turned into a hymn sung by the Gullah people during slavery. But the version most Americans grew up singing isn't the way it was originally sung, nor is it the way Gullah people sing it today. The truth is that the average person isn't aware of the roots of the song because by the time it reached summer camps and church groups, it had been stripped of it's cultural origin.

Pamela Bailey, creator of the Antebellum Diaspora Project that focuses on reuniting families separated by chattel slavery recently uploaded a video to social media explaining how "Kumbaya" is supposed to sound.


@antediaproject Kumbaya was a “call and response” song that that was sung with great passion! It was a call to action, not the more understated version most known by the masses today. #greenscreen #ancestors #history #research #genealogy #musician #SC #family #preservation #humanity #antebellumdiasporaproject ♬ original sound - ThePamela Bailey

"It has occurred to me that many of the people who know and love this song still don't know how the song would have sounded being sung in the Gullah community. First of all, the song would've never been sung in unison in the way that you hear it sung today. It was actually a call and response," Bailey shares before singing an example.

The song is not only sung as a call and response but the tempo is much faster and involves quick rhythmic clapping and stomping. One clear example of this can be seen in a recording uploaded to YouTube where a Gullah Geechee church in South Carolina is honoring one of it's members that has passed away. Instead of "kumbaya," the church sings the phrase in standard English as "come by here," but the tempo is much more upbeat and the calls more like painful cry.

People in the comments of Bailey's video are excited to learn about the way the song originally sounded, while some grew up hearing it the same traditional way with one writing, "'was never that mellow' is an understatement. i remember my grandaddy singing this in church in SC. it was a true cry for help."

Another person writes, "It’s so much more dynamic. Thanks for the education."

Someone else says, "That makes more sense. When you sang it that way it sounded closer to how I imagined it."

One teacher writes, "Thank you!! As a music teacher, I’m always trying to learn more authentic versions of musics."

While many people may not have known where the beloved "Kumbaya" originated, it's not too late to spread the word. Did you know where the song came from and how it was supposed to sound?

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Humor

Guy turns dating advice on its head with 34 heartfelt 'playa moves' for single men

Excellent advice for men that actually works.

BlanksheetPlaya/TikTok

A relatively unknown creator on TikTok has been making waves recently.

Known as "Blanksheet Playa," the creator from Vancouver has been dishing out tips for men for the past couple of months: Tips for dating, self-confidence, health, fitness, you name it.

He recently went mega viral in an untagged post on X, so I had to track him down and see his videos for myself.

I was not disappointed by what I found.

The advice is — what he calls "Playa Moves" — is not what you'd expect.

In one of Blanksheet Playa's most popular videos, he gives words of encouragement for guys who are nervous when talking to girls.

"Playa move. If you are nervous when speaking to a female, communicate that to her. By saying this out loud, it will automatically calm your nerves. And if she is a good person, she will provide comfort. This will, in turn, relax you even further and allow the best of your personality to shine through."

And then he hits his signature sign off. "Real playa shit."

@blanksheet.playa

Playa move number seventeen.

Here's another 'playa move' from the man himself. "Respect women at all times."

Respect is, according to Blanksheet, the key distinction between a player and a playa.

"Players deceive, undermine and lie to women to get into bed with them. Playas use our ability in a positive way, to have mutually respecting and honest relationships with women."


@blanksheet.playa

Playa move number six.

Here are a few other certified 'Playa Moves' to improve your dating life and self-confidence:

To date, he's offered 34 Playa Moves. Here are a few of my favorites.

  • Get serious about wearing condoms (good advice for Gen Z men who refuse to do this)
  • Go down on your women (the oral sex gap is real, and due for a shakeup)
  • Receive all hate with love (just a good way to make the world a better place)

(Not all the tips are a homerun. Like "Never read," and "Hide your emotions" — come on, playa.)

The Playa Moves are resonating with guys and girls everywhere.

"so many men don't realize that just being authentic and kind will take you further than any kind of bravado ever will," one commenter wrote.

"i was waiting for a punchline,' wrote another about the bait-and-switch set up to the videos, "and then by the end i didn’t want a punchline"

"Wow, I expected a joke but that was solid advice," added another.

I've come across enough terrible Gen Z dating advice on TikTok to know the good stuff when I see it.

Most of it has to do with trying to become someone you're not, whether it's reshaping your mouth and eyebrows with creams and daily stretches, or talking less to appear more mysterious.

Here's a dude advocating for people to be the best version of their authentic selves, and to be open and honest in their communications. If people don't like you as you are? Blanksheet says that's cool, there are plenty of fish in the sea.

Even better, he's doing it in a funny way, which helps the message spread even farther.

Keep it up, playa. This is the advice guys really need right now.

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Technology

23-year-old brilliantly explains 'foolproof' system to compare news sources

Properly processing a newspaper article isn't something younger generations have been taught.

kelscruss/TikTok

Gen Z, we're all begging you: Please don't get your news from TikTok. Unless you're following Kelsey Russell, that is. The 23-year-old Columbia grad has found a fascinating niche on social media — helping young people learn how to read and analyze actual news. The paper kind, believe it or not!

She calls herself "the girl who reads the newspaper", and the title couldn't be more apt. In most of her content, she takes a news article from a big paper like the New York Times and breaks it down for her audience in their terms. She helps them understand the news, the context behind it, and why they should think critically about the source behind the news.

It's a skill that younger generations desperately need more of. Studies show there are major gaps in Gen Z's media literacy skills, and that can have major consequences.

In one of Kelsey's most popular videos, she breaks down her "foolproof" method for contrasting and synthesizing different news sources.

It's a system she learned from various teachers throughout her life, who she gratefully shouts out in the video. And though it's designed to help young people who need to write an essay for school while using evidence from supporting texts, it doubles as an amazing lesson in how to think critically about the news.

In the lesson, Kelsey examines the same news story across three different papers: The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.

Even without getting into the text of each article, Kelsey teaches viewers how to infer meaning, bias, and context from word choices in the headline.

Watch the full video for some excellent tips on how to reflect on what you've read and identify differences in news coverage.

@kelscruss

ima make your english teacher shed a tear😢 #fyp #medialiteracy #mcarthy #writingtips

What's amazing is that she really sits with the content of each news story and thinks about how it makes her feel.

She does some mental association with the headlines. What stands out to me about each one? How do they differ in their tone? What feelings or thoughts do the different word choices conjure up?

She uses the comparisons to create a thesis statement about the news story and how it's being covered by the media.

To older generations who grew up reading news article, these seem like really basic concepts.

But to younger people who get rapidly bombarded with an endless feed of different shortform news and opinions on social media and the web, taking time to process what they've read or heard is not something that comes easy.

What's really impressive is that Kelsey's approach is working and actually connecting with people. Reading the newspaper might sound like a boring idea for a TikTok channel, but that hasn't stopped Kelsey from racking up nearly 100k followers and millions of views.

Kelsey is meeting young people where they are to teach crucial skills like reading comprehension and critical thinking.

@kelscruss

like I knew about da bombs but the cluster bomblets?!??! #fyp #syrian #newyorktimes #ukraine #russia

She's challenging young people to not just take what they read at its exact face value but to dig deeper into the tone, the intention, the word choice.

And she's an advocate for reading news that you can hold in your hand.

"I realized when I read the news on print, I actually had time to process what was going on," she told NPR. "And when I would read the same article on my phone I would find my body [was] overwhelmed."

Most kids and young people get their news from friends and family or social media, where it can be much harder to diagnose misinformation and bias. That's not likely to change any time soon, and there is major power in social media's ability to spread messages far and wide, quickly. That's what makes Kelsey's work so amazing. There are a lot of campaigns and efforts out there to try to get young people more engaged with traditional news, but there aren't many people willing to meet them where they are, speak their language, and teach them with empathy and understanding.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha will decide future elections. Even the future of the world.

It's reassuring to know there are people fighting to make sure they have all the facts.

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