So what does the All Black Haka REALLY mean?

A Maori chief was on the run from his enemies, he hid at an old womans house (his grandmother?) the enemies came looking for him, so she hid him in an old kumera pit (sweet potato storage hole).

While the enemies looked everywhere for him, she squatted over the hole to hide it from them.

The song comes from that episode, when the chief looks up at the old lady's private parts above him and contemplates that he came from there, and that it was protecting him from death as well. ....

...I heard the same explanation to Te Rauparaha's 'Ka Mate Ka Mate' as well...the thing is that like most Haka there are variations on the story of its origin.

Like most things Maori, well, we like to make the story a bit more exciting or add a lil bit here and there...the art of story-telling is revered...lol.

The line 'Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru' - 'This is the man of hairy disposition'...that is an interesting one. Most people claim it to be in reference to the chief Te Wharerangi *who was said to be quite a hairy dude* who aided in hiding the rebel Te Rauparaha.

Some say its in reference to the genitalia of the old woman sitting above him on the kumara pit...saying that the true line is actually 'Tenei te WHARE tangata puhuruhuru'...totally different meaning there...for Whare Tangata means 'House of Man', which is the reference Maori use for female genitalia.