Drinking Kava in Fiji

The guide books tell you to have several bundles of yongoda root when you go cruising.  This is the root of a pepper plant which is ground to make kava.  When you drink it, it makes your mouth all numb and tingly and you feel very relaxed.  When you arrive at a village the bundle is to be presented to the chief.  According to the guide books you will then be invited to participate in a kava ceremony which makes you a part of that village.  However, I know very few cruisers who have actually had that experience.  If you are here as a tourist, the tour boats set up a ceremony for your group with all the bells and whistles, including a pitch for money.  But if you are here as a cruiser anchoring at small villages, you present your gift, they say thank you and that is it.  Unless you stick around for a while, then you are invited to join in everyday kava drinking .

Our first kava ceremony was in Tonga.  We were invited to a Sunday church service and meal and promised “Tongan beer”  We were picked up on the dock and walked up the hill to a home in a small village where Alan was given a skirt to wear to church.  Once we were dressed, we were taken to the Methodist church, just up the road and into a lovely meeting room carpeted in beautiful mats.  About 12 older men were seated cross legged in a circle on the floor.  I was the only woman and was concerned that I should not be there, but apparently since we were foreign guests it was OK.  We were introduced and asked about our trip and then cups of kava were passed around.  It was all very formal, with the oldest being served first.  You clap before taking the cup.  Drink it down in one swig.  Clap three time when you are finished and say thank you as you pass it back.  Between rounds of kava, there was a lot of quiet discussion, all in Fijian of course.  The village chief was there, the minister, the high school math teacher and minister.  Apparently they meet every Sunday to discuss village business.  After the meeting adjourned and we all headed to the church, we were told that kava is tongan beer.

Our next invite was a birthday party for one of the staff in Fiji.  The party was held in the village next to the marina and the guest list was a mix of relatives, friends, co-workers and cruisers.  It is a lovely warm night and there is a lavish buffet with local dishes.  Wine and beer flow freely, along with mixed drinks.  People sat around in small groups and ate and drank.  Typical party, just a few things are different.  There is no silverware, everything is eaten with the hands.  There are very few chairs, mats are spread under a roof supported by poles decorated with palm fiber.  Formal dress for men is a sulu, often just a length of cloth tied around the waist and shoes are left at the door. 

After a while the kava bowl is brought out.  Little by little the locals gather on the mats, the men in a circle and the women to the back with the kids. Most of the cruisers stay with the buffet and alcohol but Alan and I join the kava circle.   Kava is  prepared by putting the powdered root into a cloth bag and immersing it into the bowl of water where it is swished around and squeezed by hand, over and over until it is the proper strength.  Once the bowl is ready, the kava is scooped up with a coconut shell cup and offered in turn to everyone who wishes to partake.  You can request high tide, medium or low tide to designate how full you would like your cup to be.  Drink it down in one swig, clap three times when done and return the cup so the next person can be served.  The kava is room temperature and sort of muddy tasting and leaves a numb feeling in your mouth.  This goes on for hours, until the wee hours of the morning.  People come and go.  There is quiet conversation.  Songs are sung.  Kids run around until they finally fall asleep.   It is a striking contrast to the parties we are used to, where as the alcohol flows the party gets  louder and louder and inhibitions fall away.  Kava just makes you feel relaxed.

Our next kava party was a fundraiser for the local church.  The taxi took us up the road from the marina for a couple of miles dropped us off at the top of a dirt road and left.  In the dark, we made our way down a rutted road to where we could see a cluster of lights, having no idea where we were going.  As it turned out, the whole of the small village was involved, about 15 families.  We asked the way at the first house and were escorted on down the road to  the meeting place.  It was a one room wooden house with a tin roof, painted yellow inside and carpeted with the lovely mats that they make here.  The room was full of people, the men in a loose circle at the front of the room and the women and kids clustered in the back. We had been told to bring a bundle of kava, which we did.  After it was presented and blessed it was added to the pile in the back of the room. Later on during the evening Alan noticed that it was being ground up and used.  This is actually the first time that our kava has been used while we were present.  For whatever reason, I guess because we were guests, I was taken to the front of the room and invited to sit next to the head man.  Alan somehow ended up farther back in the room.  An enormous bowl was already full of kava and the cups were being passed.  even some of the children got some.  It was constantly refilled during the evening, each time with the ritual of swishing and squeezing. 

We had been told that the evening was a women’s evening,  the men cooked the meal and served the women.  I gather this does not happen very often in Fiji.  Since it is a church fundraiser the hat is passed.  Each person that comes puts something in, the amounts are carefully logged and by the time we leave they have collected $550 for the church mission.  The women are delighted with the success of “their” evening.  I take it that the men will have their evening next month.  While there was much  discussion of the fact that the men had cooked, there was no food in evidence.  Eventually we were asked if we were hungry and when we said that we were, we were given takeout boxes of curry and cassava to eat with our fingers.  Several of the women also had boxes of food, but none of the men were eating. I guess the main meal had happened earlier although they say that most people don’t eat much when they are drinking kava, but they do smoke.  Smoking seems to be part of the kava ritual.

The highlight of the evening for me was the singing.  The women in the back of the room began singing quietly and when they say my big smile, they got louder and more enthusiastically.  They sang for almost an hour.  Of course the entire evening, all of the conversations and all of the songs, are in Fijian but it really does not seem to matter.  I asked what one of the songs was about and found out that the women were challenging the men. to raise more money next month.  There was such a lovely spirit of family and community.   Kids were in and out.  From time to time one of the younger women would take several of the children away, presumably to bed.  When we finally decided that it was time for us to go, they sang the traditional good-bye song focus, all the kids came for hugs and they rounded up a car to give us a ride back so we would not have to try to track down a taxi in the dark

Our next kava experience was very different.  We are tied up next to a boat that is used for dive trips and a couple of young Fijian men are staying on it as crew.  After a hard day’s work, as the sun sets they often get out the kava bowl.  Several evenings we have been invited to have a cup with them.  Just a bunch of friends sitting around having a drink.  At home it would be beer.  Here it is kava.  The guitars come out and they take turns singing and playing.  When I ask the meaning of the songs, they tell me they are love songs, almost all love songs.  But I guess that is true in most languages.  The protocol is much more relaxed but there is still a “bula” when the cup is handed to you and three claps when done.  I can’t say that I really like the taste of kava, but I love the peacefulness and camaraderie that are present when the cup os passed.