Tongan Kava Ceremony-Taumafa Kava

They play a role in strengthening cultural values and principles, solidifying traditional ideals of duty and reciprocity, reaffirming societal structures, and entrenching the practice of pukepuke fonua (lit.

Names for the kava plant include Hawaiian: ʻawa,[5] Samoan: ʻava, Fijian: yaqona or yagona,[6] Pohnpeian: sakau,[7] Kosraean: seka,[8] and malok or malogu (parts of Vanuatu).

The Tongan belief on the origins of kava are dominated by the tala tupuʻa, traditional oral account, as told by the late Queen Sālote Tupou III and as found in the historical records of venerated Tongan historian, Masiu Moala,[3][2] as well as the student informational book compiled by the Siasi Uesiliana Tau’atāina ‘o Tonga.

During his stay in langi, the abode of Tangaloa, where many researchers claim is the sky or even Manuʻa, Samoa,[16] ʻAhoʻeitu had met and bested his five older brothers in an array of sports.

After they had done so, Tangaloa ʻEitumātupuʻa had covered the kava bowl with leaves of the nonu (noni) tree and ʻAhoʻeitu miraculously was brought back to life.

The other four brothers became the heads of the kau Falefā, the four houses, tasked with specific duties in protecting and providing for ʻAhoʻeitu and the Tuʻi Tonga line.

Viliami Tolutaʻu, a professor in sculpture at Brigham Young University–Hawaii and artist of the ʻAhoʻeitu statue that fronts the new St. George government building in Tonga, is rightfully adamant in an interview done on the Radio-Tonga-Hawai’i Vākē-Tali-Folau program that in order to truly understand Tongan tala tupu’a, there needs to be an understanding of Tongan heliaki, metaphorical language, similar to Hawaiian kaona.

In short, an elderly couple lived on the island of ‘Eueiki during a time of great famine, with their daughter Kava’onau.

One day a great chief, many scholars cite it was the 10th Tuʻi Tonga, Momo, and his entourage after spending time at sea fishing and competing with each other decided to rest on ‘Eueiki.

Sorrowful that there was no other worthy meal on the island, the old couple, out of duty and love to their king, decided to sacrifice their daughter as tribute.

As the plants grew, the couple noticed a mouse chewing at the kava and became inebriated, whereas when it ate of the tō it became energized and scurried away.

One day the great tufunga fonua, carpenter of the land, the chief Lō’au had visited the island and the couple told him of the plants.

"[21] Faivaola, Dr. Eric B. Shumway, a noted scholar on Tongan culture and history and traditional matāpule or talking chief of the chief Nuku, produced a film called Kava Kuo Heka in which the importance, history, and usage of the Royal Kava Ceremony is detailed.

[22] It is thought that the spread of kava followed early migrational trade routes as far west as Papua New Guinea, to Hawaii in the east, and New Zealand in the south where it failed to grow (Crowley, 1994).

[23] As Lebot and Levesque (1989)[24] explain: "for kava, dispersal of vegetative propagules by wind or bird is impossible, [and] the plant therefore owes its survival entirely to human distribution of stem cuttings" (234).

Together with kava's use in indi-genous medicine (Lebot and Cabalion, 1988),[25] the plant in both its raw and drinkable form play significant roles in traditional practice, being widely used to mark life events from birth to death (Aporosa, 2019b).

[26] In a number of the Island nations such as Pohnpei (Micronesia), Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, much of that traditional use remains, whereas in other areas such as Te Au Maohi (the greater Rarotongan island group), French Polynesia and Hawaii, colonial contact and missionization saw kava use reduced and in some cases eliminated altogether (Aporosa, 2014).

[2] At the pongipongi hingoa, the traditional food gifts found in the Taumafa Kava are often provided by that soon-to-be noble and his kāīnga and ha’a, distant relatives and clan.

[17] The kava protocol and arrangement of chiefs, food, and the execution of ceremony is accomplished by the king's clan, the Ha’a Ngata.

[4][2][29] Members of the Ngata clan surround the king's ‘alofi, kava ring, carrying clubs and spears to protect the sacredness of the ceremony and to "remind" the chiefs of their need to follow protocol.

[29] The Kava ceremony is said to also be arranged according to the layout of the great kalia, or double-hulled sailing vessel of Tonga's past.

[2][4] The arrangement of the kava circle is the physical manifestation of the fonua, the land and people, in communion with their king, where all members of society are represented by one or more of the chiefs.

Motu’apuaka will order two helpers to pour water in the bowls and the mixer will begin the ritualized mixing process known as the milolua.

[33][34] [29] The Royal Tongan kava ceremony is still politically significant as it is the ritualized installation of the monarch of Tonga along with the chiefly nobility.

The king and nobles are the traditional landholders and may hold government positions within Tongan constitutional monarchy as afforded them according to chiefly right.

[35] Since the days of Tonga's great unifier, George Tupou I, the monarchs of Tonga have used the kava ceremony to continue to establish their political power and influence in the kingdom, arranging and rearranging traditional seating as well as holding grand kava ceremonies in which chiefs will pledge their loyalty.