Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
Over time the newcomers adopted the term "Hakka" to refer to themselves, not least due to the migratory tendencies inherent in their own culture. However, because the term also covers Hakka speakers (in the same way that Punti covered several people speaking different tongues), and because the Han Chinese registered as Guest Families who migrated may not have been Hakka speakers, and because of intermarriages among Hakka and Punti members (which showed that relations between the two were very good at times), identification as Hakka was largely a matter of self-selection. Through studies of both Cantonese and Hakka genealogies, some Hakka and Punti people with the same surnames claim the same ancestors, although their descendants strongly identify with one group to the exclusion of the other.
Taua
The haka was a central feature to the life and culture of each taua. Other customs and rites included abstinence of certain foods and practices, dedication to Tumatauenga, the god of war, and rites that would place a "tapu" around the warrior, and lift the tapu when the warrior returned home. It was customary to eat the vanquished or to take slaves which could be eaten later or used as slave labour. Heads of defeated chiefs were kept as trophies and displayed on palisades of the home "pa".