Tonga installed King Siaosi (George) Tupou V on Wednesday in an ancient and moving ceremony at Pangai Lahi, the hallowed field in friend of the royal palace on the Nuku'alofa seafront. Pangai Lahi has been the sight of many solemn ceremonies, full of the powerful mana intrinsic to Tongan culture.
To the Tongans, the taumafa kava was King George's true coronation, as reported by Tu'ivanuavou, the Master of the Royal Household.
The sacred kava ceremony marked the sealing by the nobles, the chiefs and the people of the sacred authority of the King derived from his ancestry. It was an act of homage and a confirmation of allegiance.
The taumafa kava, originating in the remotest ages of Tonga's past, revolved around elaborate procedures for the preparation and presentation and drinking of kava, a beverage made from the root of the piper methysticum plant. For reasons now lost, kava, which is a mild relaxant, is central to traditional and mystical ceremonies in a number of Pacific island nations.
Those present included nobles of the realm, each accompanied by their own talking chiefs. With them were lesser chiefs and "tehina", the brothers of persons of rank who are accorded special recognition. Seating was carefully arranged in a wide circle to exactly reflect the rank and relationships of all the participants. Between them they represented the entire population of Tonga through an intricate and interlocking network of cultural and customary affiliations.
When he arrived at this great convocation, King George was preceded by the spear wielding Tu'i Soso, a chief from Fiji's traditional Tovata Confederacy. It was Tu'i Soso's task to drive away any evil spirits that might have entered the ceremonial area. As a foreigner, Tu'i Soso could walk in front of the King; a Tongan could not do this.
King George made his way to an open-sided pavilion, where he sat on a layers of prized fine mats woven from the pandanus plant. These were topped by two one-hundred yard lengths of folded mulberry bark tapa cloth, made by his mother Queen Mata'aho and members of her family.
His back was in contact with a framed sliver from the trunk of a koka tree, also known as bishop wood or java cedar. This was a link to more turbulent and treacherous times. By tradition the koka acted as a form of security for the dynastic rulers of Tonga during their ceremonies of installation. They kept their backs against the broad trunk of the tree for protection against any enemy creeping up from behind intent on assassination.
The koka is still regarded as an essential element of a taumafa kava. It has such significance, that traditionalists assert there is no installation unless the King's person is touching the wood of the tree during the ceremony.
Bound around the King with coconut fibre cord were two extremely old and precious royal waist mats, or ‘aofivala. These are highly valued in Tongan society as symbols of culture and respect. Some are reportedly up to 500 years old.
Those worn by the King are heirlooms of the royal household, examples of the so-called "mats of power" said to possess the mana and mystique of those who have been adorned with them previously. The choice of mats for the King was made an hour before the ceremony by Queen Mata'aho and her maternal cousins.
Moved by the spirit of the moment they decided His Majesty would wear a mat called "Lalanga ‘a ‘Ulukilupetea" (Woven by ‘Ulukilupetea). This was owned by Tupou First's paternal grandmother. It was usually worn by Queen Salote for the opening and closing of Parliament. Their other selection was the mat named "Lauao ‘o Kanokupolu" (Foundation of Kanokupolu).
There was a ceremonial presentation of food, representing the abundance of the land to the King. The portion of roasted pig for the King was accepted on his behalf by his Japanese friend, Masanori Kawaguchi Sama, who was dressed in full Japanese ritual attire. He performed this function because protocol prohibited a Tongan from doing this.
The pinnacle of the morning's ritual came when pounded kava root was mixed with water. It was strained through hibiscus bark fibre into large carved wooden bowls or tanoa. This process followed prescribed ritual, featuring stylised, syncronised movements of the head and hands by the preparers of the kava.
When the mixing was complete, the first serving of the beige coloured liquid - contained in a coconut shell drinking vessel - was delivered to King George. Before the cup was presented to the King, to be consumed in a single motion, the words of the talking chief Motu'apuaka rang out. He declared that from that moment His Majesty became King of Tonga.
© GPD: Source: The Tonga Report; Photos by © Royalblog Photo, HJ
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