Alia
'Awa Grower/Collector
Here is my short essay on traditional kava drinking written for all of the wonderful people who inhabit these forums and devoted to those who revere the kava beverage-
In 1919 a fascinating book was written by Frederick O‘Brien entitled– White Shadows in the South Seas. A Chronicle of O'Brien’s time living on the Island of Hiva-oa in the Marquesas. Chapter 14 is mostly devoted to “Kivi the Kava Drinker” a self-described holdover of traditional times before western contact. He graced the writer with a kava experience in the waning days before those scattered Islands lost all their holistic indigenous knowledge. Kivi is described as smooth skinned and healthy with none of the signs of scaly skin. He advocates fresh kava beverage made from the root and stump of a newly harvested plant. The drinking of the kava is best “on an empty stomach” just before the food or any evening meal. He lectures not to give in to alcohol like most all his neighbors, he preferred “the drink of his youth”. A quote from O‘Brien-
Often I had heard of the kava-drinking days before the missionaries had insisted on outlawing that drink beloved of the natives. The traders had added their power to the virtuous protests of the priests, for kava cost the islanders nothing, while rum, absinthe, and opium could be sold them for profit. So kava-drinking had been suppressed, and after decades of knowing more powerful stimulants and narcotics, the natives had lost their taste for the gentler beverage of their forefathers.
The Chapter tells of their trip into the jungle kava patch, selecting a plant to harvest, wash, and grind up. A forgivable flaw is the claim that the young girls who process the kava root to a fine pulp actually impact the chemical composition of the root in such a way as to cause some of the psychoactive properties. Early research by German scientist, L. Lewin concludes- “this theory is incorrect in every respect”. Lucky that now we have 1,500 W. Ninja blenders to process our fresh root/stump! O‘Brien’s description of his kava experience is stellar and worth a quote-
A peace passing the understanding of the kava-ignorant was upon me. Life was a slumberous calm; not dull inertia, but a separated activity, as if the spirit roamed in a garden of beauty, and the body, all suffering, all feeling past, resigned itself to quietude. I heard faintly the chants of the men as they began improvising the after-feasting entertainment. I was perfectly aware of being lifted by several women to within the house, and of being laid upon mats that were as soft to my body as the waters of a quiet sea.
Before falling asleep the author describes listening to story-telling after the feast. Most vivid is his description of his dream later in the night. The entire Chapter is worth all who have an interest in early kava protocol to read. That’s easy because White Shadows in the South Seas is available as a Kindle Book (you miss the grandeur of the photos). Also can be purchased in used books, with some of the original pictures, all if 1st Edition.
The unique ‘awa cultivars we have here in Hawai‘i, most likely, are chimeras from a single source brought long ago from the Marquesas. It is a poignant reminder of a lost tradition that, today in Hawai‘i as in the Marquesas, kava is not more widely grown and consumed.
In 1919 a fascinating book was written by Frederick O‘Brien entitled– White Shadows in the South Seas. A Chronicle of O'Brien’s time living on the Island of Hiva-oa in the Marquesas. Chapter 14 is mostly devoted to “Kivi the Kava Drinker” a self-described holdover of traditional times before western contact. He graced the writer with a kava experience in the waning days before those scattered Islands lost all their holistic indigenous knowledge. Kivi is described as smooth skinned and healthy with none of the signs of scaly skin. He advocates fresh kava beverage made from the root and stump of a newly harvested plant. The drinking of the kava is best “on an empty stomach” just before the food or any evening meal. He lectures not to give in to alcohol like most all his neighbors, he preferred “the drink of his youth”. A quote from O‘Brien-
Often I had heard of the kava-drinking days before the missionaries had insisted on outlawing that drink beloved of the natives. The traders had added their power to the virtuous protests of the priests, for kava cost the islanders nothing, while rum, absinthe, and opium could be sold them for profit. So kava-drinking had been suppressed, and after decades of knowing more powerful stimulants and narcotics, the natives had lost their taste for the gentler beverage of their forefathers.
The Chapter tells of their trip into the jungle kava patch, selecting a plant to harvest, wash, and grind up. A forgivable flaw is the claim that the young girls who process the kava root to a fine pulp actually impact the chemical composition of the root in such a way as to cause some of the psychoactive properties. Early research by German scientist, L. Lewin concludes- “this theory is incorrect in every respect”. Lucky that now we have 1,500 W. Ninja blenders to process our fresh root/stump! O‘Brien’s description of his kava experience is stellar and worth a quote-
A peace passing the understanding of the kava-ignorant was upon me. Life was a slumberous calm; not dull inertia, but a separated activity, as if the spirit roamed in a garden of beauty, and the body, all suffering, all feeling past, resigned itself to quietude. I heard faintly the chants of the men as they began improvising the after-feasting entertainment. I was perfectly aware of being lifted by several women to within the house, and of being laid upon mats that were as soft to my body as the waters of a quiet sea.
Before falling asleep the author describes listening to story-telling after the feast. Most vivid is his description of his dream later in the night. The entire Chapter is worth all who have an interest in early kava protocol to read. That’s easy because White Shadows in the South Seas is available as a Kindle Book (you miss the grandeur of the photos). Also can be purchased in used books, with some of the original pictures, all if 1st Edition.
The unique ‘awa cultivars we have here in Hawai‘i, most likely, are chimeras from a single source brought long ago from the Marquesas. It is a poignant reminder of a lost tradition that, today in Hawai‘i as in the Marquesas, kava is not more widely grown and consumed.
