ʻAva ceremony
[1] It is a solemn ritual in which a ceremonial beverage is shared to mark important occasions in Samoan society.
The ʻava ceremony within Samoan culture retains the same ritual pattern with slight variations depending on the parties involved and the occasion.
It originally referred to Zingiber zerumbet, which was used to make a similar mildly psychoactive bitter drink in Austronesian rituals.
Cognates for *kawa include Pohnpeian sa-kau; Tongan, Niue, Rapa Nui, Tuamotuan, and Rarotongan kava; and Hawaiian ʻawa.
In some languages, most notably Māori kawa, the cognates have come to mean "bitter", "sour", or "acrid" to the taste.
The 'ava beverage is made from the dried roots of the plant Piper methysticum[7] and mixed with water before it is strained for drinking.
When fully grown, the roots vary considerably in size, and, with a section of the stem of the plant attached, resemble roughly, a club.
This is pierced by a hole through which a piece of afa (native sennit) is threaded for suspending the bowl from a house post.
The tanoa is usually made from the wood of the ifilele tree (Intsia bijuga), a hard-grained timber of a reddish-brown colour.
The material for straining the woody fibre of the dried 'ava root is obtained from the bark of the fau tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus).
The remaining inner bark is then shredded and forms a stringy and fibrous mesh, used to mix and strain the beverage in the bowl.
The term ʻaumaga is also used to refer to the assembly of all young men and untitled males (without matai titles) in a village.
[9] Today, in the Samoa 'ava ceremony, the role of the ʻaumaga is a comprehensive term, but in former times the 'ava makers were a much more select guild.
When the 'ava had been sufficiently chewed it was spat out on to the leaf of a banana or breadfruit or taro and carried and deposited in the 'ava bowl.
The man who actually carries and hands the drinking cup to the people assembled is termed the tautu'ava ('ava server, also called "soliali'i").
Once the name is called, the tautu'ava walks towards the person indicated, keeping his left hand with the palm outwards firmly lodged in the small of his back.
Presentation to lesser chiefs takes the same form except that the cup is not held above the head but is extended at arm's length at about the height of the waist.
Objections are quickly raised if a chief or orator is served out of turn as it is considered an affront by the man who should have received the cup and serious disputes have frequently arisen as a result of careless or deliberately wrong distribution.
On the 'ava cup being presented to a chief he takes it in his right hand and after a moment's pause, he spills a few drops onto the floor of the house on his right side at the same time speaking a few words in a low tone.
Today these words have some Christian significance but in olden times were no doubt a form of prayer to one of the numerous gods.
Should the person served not desire to drink the 'ava he may take a mouthful and then spew it out, or he may merely touch the cup held in the hand of the bearer or he may take hold of the cup and holding it out in front of him address a few remarks to the assembly, finally exclaiming Ia manuia.
The act of throwing by the drinker of the remainder of the contents of the cup over his shoulder may have been an unspoken desire that all misfortune should likewise disappear as it is noted that unconsumed 'ava is never returned to the bowl.
