A locally designed cultural practice that blends several Pacific islands cultural traditions to honour the Māori people can be watched in a new documentary film.
Kava ‘O Aotearoa was designed as a new version of the Tongan ouau kava to be performed at non-Tongan functions, ceremonies, celebration and services.
The architectures of the practice added to it the Samoan practice of chief orators who stand with their staff or to’oto’o (talking sticks), as well as the Cook Islands and Tahiti turou, a welcoming gesture by the hosts to guests at kava ceremonies. There were also other parts of cultural kava practices from Fiji and other Pacific island cultures which were added to the new ouau kava version.
The idea was initiated by three prominent Pasifika leaders in the community – Pakilau Manase Lua, who is of Tongan heritage and holding the heraldic name Pakilau ‘O Aotearoa, Christine Nurminen, the international portfolio manager for the Pacific region at Oxfam New Zealand and Therese Mangos, the director of Pacific Vision Aotearoa.
The first documentary to feature the Kava ‘O Aotearoa was released on Wednesday in Auckland.
It showed the formal Tongan kava ritual which included the cultural seatings, instructions and responses, preparations, distributions and receiving of the kava.
The film showed a man sitting at the tou’a or kava server’s place facing the taumu’a or forepart and pounding the kava on the black kava rock. It also showed two women wearing ta’ovala performing the roles of the angaikava.
The newly documented ritual was crafted as a gift by the moana Pasifika emigrants in New Zealand to the Māori people.
The producer of the documentary, Maria Tanner and the director, Joshua Baker, said the film was a milestone in their efforts to preserve and utilise the new practice.
Speaking to PMN Morning Show, Tanner said the film was like “an amazing kind of feeling.”
“It has been great because it is just started with something that is just a grain of sand. And then you just showered love and attention onto it and you watched it grow and you watch it gain momentum and watch all the achievements from these people that want to be a part of championing a story with you,” Tanner said.
She attributed the success of the film to many people who took part in its production.
Baker said it was not just about drinking kava, but was “so much mana for Pasifika people.”
“I want people to be inspired to learn about their culture, especially when it comes to kava,” he said.
“It was important to acknowledge the Māori as the Indigenous people of New Zealand, the tangata whenua, in the kava ceremony”.
The Kava ‘o Aotearoa ceremony is only held once a year.
In 2019, the first ceremony was held to support the Muslim community after the terror attack in Christchurch.
In 2020, it was held at Auckland Museum for the launch of the new Te Ao Mārama space, which houses the largest kava bowl in the world.
In 2021, the ceremony took place in the sea, as a climate-awareness exercise after the America’s Cup.
Tongan kava ceremonies
The Tongan kava ceremonies can be divided into two main categories. The informal kava drinking session and the formal kava session. The informal kava drinking session is mostly just for pleasure and there is lack of formality in it.
The formal kava session is the opposite and it must include the rituals of cultural seating, instructions and responses, preparations, distributions and receiving of the kava in the cups.
The king’s formal and informal kava sessions are called Taumafa Kava. The chief’s or nobility’s kava sessions are called ‘ilo kava.
The commoners’ informal kava drinking session is called faikava while their formal kava session is called ouau kava or kava. The common phrases which are normally heard and they carry the names for the commoners formal kava are – ‘Oku fai hono kava or ‘Oku fai hono ouau kava – a kava ceremony is performed as part of his or her celebration.
