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Entertainment | Haka

VIDEO: Manu Bennett charged with indecent exposure after naked haka

New Zealand actor Manu Bennett has found himself in hot water in Romania, after performing a naked haka on a protected heritage site.

Bennett, 49, posted a video on his Instagram account on May 30, showing him stripping off and running towards Sarmizegetusa Regia - a Unesco World Heritage Site in the ancient capital of Dacia. He then performs the Ka Mate haka.

The haka prompted anger from local Romanian residents, with a complaint laid to the police.  Bennett, who was in Romania for a Comic Con appearance, has apologised and claimed he could not understand the signs surrounding the site warning people to keep out.  However, he defended his actions when contacted by the media.

"It was very traditional for Māori warriors to go into battle naked," Bennett told NZME.

"Basically, naked is more sacred and personal items are considered noa - not sacred.  All things have energy and to fight naked means to fight pure, as with haka."

Bennett has since deleted the video, and posted a lengthy explanation on Instagram.

“The current media portrayal completely missed cultural empathy & has created a slur, not only over my actions & the honorable Maori custom of haka but also the intended meaning of recognition for the indigenous Dacian people, whose society, culture & religion were erased from this planet during the Roman expansion circa 100AD. It was at Sarmizegetusa that Decebalus & the Dacian people suffered the indignity of massacres & being conquered.  Maori understand this indignity as sadly do other indigenous peoples.

"Aroha atu, aroha mai. Tatou i a tatou katoa. Hui e! Ta iki e!"  Let us respect one another.  Let us bind together.  "Hurihia te aroaro ki te ra tukuna to atarangi kia taka ki muri i a koe!" Turn your face to the sun & the shadows will fall behind you.”

He had also posted a picture of a previous naked haka, performed in front of a waterfall in Iceland.

Bennett has had a lengthy acting career, most notably appearing in the series Spartacus, in which he played Crixus – the real-life historical figure who also rebelled and fought the Roman Empire.

The Dacian Wars, which lasted from 101-106CE, are generally regarded as a punitive measure on the local population of what is now Romania by the Roman Empire.

The Dacians had defeated a Roman force along the Danube river two decades earlier and the Emperor Trajan ordered a much larger army to invade the territory and force the Dacians to submit to their rule.  The main leader of the Dacian forces was the legendary Decebalus, who was forced to commit suicide at the end of the conflict rather than risk capture.

That event, along with the story of the entire second Dacian War, is recorded on the 35 metre-high Trajan’s Column, a major landmark in the centre of Rome that still stands to this day.

Decebalus is regarded as one of Romania’s national heroes, with his deeds immortalised in films and literature.

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