the word is Polynesian for sure...in New Zealand moana is Maori for lake...
Here’s a question for you.
Since you either presently live in or previously resided in New Zealand, how do the Maouri in New Zealand feel about white service members performing the Hakka greeting along with their Maori fellow soldiers? Or the white members of the Blacks soccer team who participate when it is performed before matches? I don’t see any frowns on faces of observers in videos on YouTube on the co-mingling of participants in this most Polnesian ritual.
However, I have to admit that I like it best when performed by a single Maori warrior in traditional dress and armed with the engraved wooden club. The facial gestures, tongue flicking, tattoos, weapon brandishing, aggressive postures, and loud chanted greeting all make quite an impression.
Is it cultural misappropriation to appreciate or (gasp) even like such performances?