Yes, that is a cool story!
QUOTE="-33-, post: 63000, member: 1905"]
I found this to be quite interesting... as I was unable to find a "kava origin story" anywhere else.
It is said to have happened in the place of Faa`imata on the island of `Eueiki near the main island of Tongatapu, approximately an hour away from the capital, Nuku`alofa. At the time, the only people residing on the island were a family of three, the father Fevanga, the mother Fefafa, and their daughter Kava, who had to spend most of her time indoors because she had leprosy.
This was in the days when Tu`I Tonga was ruler/king of Tonga. He had gone out to fish, but was unsuccessful. In search of food, he sailed to `Eueiki to rest, and could see no sign that it was inhabited. Exhausted, he lay down to rest against a large taro plant, which was coincidentally the only means of nutrition on the island. When Fevanga and Fefafa found out that the king was on their island, they hurried to prepare a feast for him, as was demanded by the custom of respect. Searching for taro for the feast, Fevanga discovered that the Tu`I Tonga was lying asleep on the only taro plant left on the island. Fevanga did not dare wake up the king to obtain the taro.
This posed a great dilemma for the Fevanga. There was nothing to present to the king as an offering, since he was asleep on top of the only source of food on the island. The only solution was to take the life of their only daughter and offer her to the Tu`I Tonga as food. And so they did. The crewmen of the king’s boats found out what had been done and reported it to the king. The king was deeply moved by the sacrificial act of the couple, and he ordered that her body be buried before he returned to Tongatapu. So the childless couple laid their daughter Kava to rest in a grave on `Eueiki.
After some time, two plants grew from the grave of their unfortunate daughter Kava, one at the head and one at the foot. These two plants were unfamiliar to Fevanga and Fefafa. As they were visiting the grave one day, a sickly rat came by and gnawed on the plant at the foot of the grave, suddenly returning to normal health. Subsequently, Fevanga and Fefafa decided to name the bitter tasting plant at the foot of the grave Kava, in honor of their daughter. The sweet tasting plant that grew at the head of the grave, they named To (sugarcane), because of its sweetness. The couple harvested these two plants and took them to Tongatapu to present to the Tu’I Tonga.
Sacrifice is one of the essential values of Tongan culture. Love is shown through sacrifice, and true love is bonded with sacrifice. The spirit of sacrifice is kept alive in the minds of Tongans through frequent repetition of the kava ceremony. At a Tongan wedding, the kava ceremony symbolizes the love of the couple, as well as reminding those present that sacrifice is the truest form of Tongan love. The kava ceremony is done during funerals as a remembrance of the loved one that is gone. It is also a symbol of respect to the the grieving family. In other contexts, the ceremony symbolizes different meanings, but all are bounded by the essence of love as sacrifice.
Source:
http://crownkavallc.com/the-legend.html[/QUOTE]
