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Kava Culture Kings Kava Ceremony, Tonga

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Frankie808

Kava Curious
Bwiggy said:
@Frankie808 - these mats, I am so intrigued. In the second picture down...like that mat? It looks like a mattress. Padded. But the man looks sad. No amount of padding is going to make up for whatever is going on with him. I'm guessing too much pork or just having to look at so many dead pigs. Are the mats usually padded? Also, sooooo many pigs - cannot be wild. Pig farms I suppose.
Do you live there or have you lived there?
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Yes. Mats like in the picture you see. They are not padded. The gentlemen seated in the second pic is our new king. Hes faced with a huge responsibilty . For the most part pigs roam freely and everyone is aware of what their pigs look like. I was born in hawaii raised in tonga and now living back in hawaii.
 
ta-va

ta-va

Earth Bound
I was watching this video today and wondered if any of the onlookers / villagers that seemed to do all the hard work (collecting root, collecting firewood, collecting fish, collecting taro, etc) actually got to enjoy the Kava. Or do they just do it outside of these ceremonies? Or not much at all?
 
Bwiggy

Bwiggy

I like plants
@Frankie808 Whoa. Fascinating and beautiful. I apologize for making light. I am really intrigued. Pigs roaming freely. I noticed it was whale watching season in Tonga. What a great time to be there. Does your family drink kava?
 
F

Frankie808

Kava Curious
ta-va said:
I was watching this video today and wondered if any of the onlookers / villagers that seemed to do all the hard work (collecting root, collecting firewood, collecting fish, collecting taro, etc) actually got to enjoy the Kava. Or do they just do it outside of these ceremonies? Or not much at all?
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting this. Great documentary.
 
Bwiggy

Bwiggy

I like plants
I live in Kansas City Missouri....our greater metro area crosses into KS - I often buy groceries in KCKS.
My back yard backs up into woods and I have deer all the time in my backyard. If ONLY deer were as delicious as pork.... we did not win the free roaming
wild animal lottery.
Do you live in a big town in Hawaii?
 
F

Frankie808

Kava Curious
Bwiggy said:
I live in Kansas City Missouri....our greater metro area crosses into KS - I often buy groceries in KCKS.
My back yard backs up into woods and I have deer all the time in my backyard. If ONLY deer were as delicious as pork.... we did not win the free roaming
wild animal lottery.
Do you live in a big town in Hawaii?
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I live in honolulu. Population 1,000,000. Not bad for an island. Pretty crammed though.
 
Bwiggy

Bwiggy

I like plants
Such a change I imagine, from Tonga, to Hawaii. I'd love to live on the islands. Is it super hard to find work there?
 
F

Frankie808

Kava Curious
Decent work is hard to find in Honolulu. Many people work two or even three jobs to make ends meet. Many locals leave the islands in search of better work on the mainland.
 
Kavafied

Kavafied

Kava Vendor
We just got back from Tonga....here are a few pics up close pre ceremony. It was surreal to experience the Taumafa Kava knowing that it has been conducted to coronate the King for hundreds of years




 
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Kavafied

Kavafied

Kava Vendor
@Bwiggy some historians credit Lo'au with influencing classic Tongan culture including the Taumafa Kava. The problem is that most of Tonga's history was never recorded and only retained orally generation to generation. Most records of Tongan history are limited to foreigners that visited the islands
 
Bwiggy

Bwiggy

I like plants
Wow, @PacIsleKava - thanks, it makes more sense now.
When the wiki said the ceremony was a couple hundred years old, what they probably really meant was is in recorded history.
what is Lo'au?
 
nabanga

nabanga

Kava Enthusiast
PacIsleKava said:
@Bwiggy Most records of Tongan history are limited to foreigners that visited the islands
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If you're interested the best book on European contact period Tongan history/culture that I have found is:
"Tonga Islands" - John Martin MD - an account of young Brit William Mariner who spent 4 years in Tonga in the very early 1800's
There have been several versions of the book edited by different people over the years
 
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