Emotional video of son's haka at mum's graduation goes viral

The mother of a teenager whose video of a celebratory haka has gone viral, says she’s overwhelmed by the response.

Irene Moses recently graduated from Toi Ohomai-Te Pūkenga with a Bachelor of Social Work. She joined hundreds of other graduates at a ceremony at Tangatarua Marae based at the Toi Ohomai Rotorua Campus.

This video of her 13-year-old son performing a haka to celebrate his mother has gone viral online, so far garnering more than 6 million views on TikTok.

Tawhiri's big sister Shay captioned the post: 'My mum graduating her bachelor in social work and my little brother getting up to Tautoko the best way we know how.

'Very proud of you mum 4 very long and hard years finally paid off!!'

The video drew an array of gushing comments about the beauty of traditional Māori culture and the respect the boy has for his mother.

'That's a boy with immense respect for his Mum,' one commenter said.

'Love this so much. So much respect for the Māori culture,' another wrote.

'The haka is such a beautiful yet powerful gesture that makes the hairs stand up on your arm or neck. No matter what country you're from' said a third.

'Whenever I see these done I always get so emotional! They are so powerful,' said another commenter.

'I cannot watch a haka without crying,' one more said, while the vision led another to get 'goosebumps throughout my entire body'.

We've got goosebumps too. Such a beautiful moment for your mum!

The marae graduation was the first in several years, with many being cancelled due to Covid, Toi Ohomai said.

Moses said her degree was the culmination of four long, hard years of study in which her whānau missed out on her full attention.

“I’m in my 40s and I gave up my full-time job to study. I had to make everything work. Lockdown and online learning were really hard but I knew social work was a career I wanted and was hungry for.”

She said finishing her degree was overwhelming and didn’t quite feel final until her graduation ceremony.

She said the day was amazing and the impromptu haka performed by her son, Tawhiri, was the icing on the cake.