Cibi, Siva tau, Sipi tau, other dances of the Pacific

It is interesting to note that there was a certain amount of contagion in response to this decision made by the All Blacks. From 1987, the other nations of the Pacific decided to also perform their own ceremonial dances before each international match. Here, the extract clearly shows that each haka has its own specific features, both in terms of the lyrics and the choreography. In actual fact, they cannot really be called haka... because they have their own names: the "Sipi tau" for Tonga, the «Cibi" for Fiji and the «Siva tau» for Samoa. Do not tell a Samoan that he is a good haka dancer, he might well be offended! With Rugby, all these peoples have found a tremendous arena for expressing their ancestral rivalry...