Fiji Culture and Kava
KAVA IN FIJI CULTURE
Like many plants with medicinal purposes, there are specific
generalizations that could be made of the things that the
plant could be able to do without pointing out specifically
what kind of sickness. In the case of Kava, it is marketed
usually as a general-purpose herbal medicine against stress,
insomnia, and even various anxiety disorders. There are many
other uses of the plant in the world as well as in the
constrained geographic location
of Fiji. However, we would be undertaking its discussion
concerning the synthesis of the two concepts of the
existence of the plant and Fiji.
Although medicine has indeed played a large role in the
popularity of Kava, we should not forget that there is also
a specific historical and religious significance surrounding
it. Other than Fiji and association that we shall be making
later, it is also popularly used in
Tonga which has been called
as a drink kalapu by the locals. Drunk nightly, it has
continued as a tradition over the years that is usually
associated as a replacement for more popular cultural
symbols such as beer and milk in other cultures that have
modernized with respect to consumer goods and products. In
fact, we would see in the location that only men are allowed
to drink the Kava, although according to convention it is
the women who serve it. A cultural practice is that the
woman who serves it is an unmarried young women and is also
symbolized in the culture as a process of courting.
Historians have pointed out that the culture is decreasing
over the years and there are only a few locations in the
area which still practice such a courting ritual because of
the fast development of communication technology in the
location (McDonald, 1994).
In Fiji, we could see other cultural significance is of the
plant which is deeply rooted in the history of the location.
For example, although it is usually used presently in social
gatherings as a form of recreation and convention,
traditionally, the drink was only serve to higher ranking
chiefs and elders of the tribes in order to signify the
welcoming of honored guests. And because of the difficulty
in travel of tribes from one location to the other in Fiji,
Kava was used scarcely and it has been associated to a
special degree by citizens of Fiji. Also, in other points of
history of Fiji, Kava drink was used as either a preparation
of a serpent important religious event or also the
completion of that event. According to the literature, this
has been done in order to validate such events to the eyes
of the local gods so that they may bless marriage status,
births, and deaths.
Also, another interesting point in the culture of the Fiji
and its relationship to the plant Kava is its continuing use
for divination ceremonies in the area. Although it has not
been historically pointed by researchers and how this has
come to be so -- much like tea leaves in other Western
countries, the use of Kava for divination is a widespread
practice among midwives and known diviners as well as the
dissenters of magic. However, an interesting point when
observing this practice is that the divination ceremonies
involving Kava is that it could not be able to predict the
future. The kind of divination is used for, however, usually
focused on naming whether or not the child would be a male.
Also, an interesting cultural practice associated with Kava
in Fiji is that it is use for the naming of children who are
one year old. Unlike the common practice in Western
civilization where the naming of the child is done
immediately after birth, in Fiji, -- or at least in some
locations -- it is done after one year (Brison, 2001).
Some cultures in segregated locations of the geography even
measure such one year internals from the time of conception,
much like cultures and four Asian countries such as Korea.
The religious significance of the Kava root is also
practiced as a libation that is bored into the ground
instead of being drunk. The study of libations and their
cultural significance in itself could point towards
important facts of geography. Again, we reiterate the
importance of context, because as would be observed by the
comparative historian, libations are not segregated not only
to Fiji, not even only two islands in the Pacific, but could
be seen in nations as far away as Norway, Japan, and even in
North American practice. Of course, it is yet another topic
for other research but it is at least interesting to point
it out at this time.
KAVA AS MEDICINE IN FIJI
We have already made a connection and an explanation of the
various uses of Kava and social gatherings, conventions, and
culture. However, as we have already hinted earlier,
scientists have shown that Kava has indeed medicinal
purposes which we would now be further exploring and
associating it specifically to the location of Fiji.
It has already been introduced earlier, but now we explained
that there are only specific columnists that scientists have
pointed that result from the use of Kava. These are the calm
enough nerves by the intrinsic ability of the plan to
unblock neurotic pathways in the spinal column by allowing
for the quick transfer of electronic pulses from your own
and you were on. Eventually this causes relaxation and sleep
that are associated as natural methods for removing and
avoiding stress. There are in fact many plants all over the
world which have such capabilities of clearing out numeral
pathways and Kava is not the only one that belongs to this
category. The reason that the literature has stated on why
it is that in that certain location Kava was used for such
purposes is that first it had the most cultural significance
because of the special nature of the plant and its
proliferation in the area of temperate climates of the
Pacific.
We will discuss the various theories on why Fiji and Kava
have been bound so close together, but we should at least at
this point already take in the factor and significance of
the large growth rate of the plant in the area. Further
medicinal uses of the plant is the unclogging of urinary
tracts which has also been associated with plans that have
been used for the relieving of stress because of the
correlation of the clogging of such urinary tracts with
stress. Weight loss has also been associated with the
ingestion of Kava, but it is again related to columnists and
mental clarity which is a intrinsic measure for many diet
programs in today's modern world.
However, there are still many uses of Kava in Fiji which
have intrigued scientists on why it has become effective
other than the factor of the placebo effect of medicines.
For example, biologists have agreed that there is no
probable way that Kava could be able to cure and relieve
asthma and back problems, but it is still attested by users
of Fiji for that purpose to be effective. Furthermore, it
has been claimed by the locals to be a effective cure for
syphilis and gonorrhea although there has not been any clear
medical association between the two and the efficiency of
the use of the plants. Although headaches, strength, stress,
certain pains could be associated to the relieving of stress
and the resulting of columnists which scientists and
biologists have proven that Kava could achieve, it is again
a baffling situation that it is still able to queue were and
that police prevent -- as has been proven by statistics, the
various other more complicated ailments of the area.
According to the literature, perhaps a methodology for
further study on the results of this is by comparing two
cultures -- that the Fiji and another location of the
efficiency and effectiveness of the Kava -- for curing such
ailments (Singh, 2002).
At least, from the medical perspective, there is another
common practice in Fiji which Kava could be associated with
in the other practices of other countries in the world. It
is ground to powder and fumigated with the leaves in order
to treat general illness. According to history and other
associations, this is a common practice in various tribes in
areas all over the world in plants with religious
significance and Fiji is not an exception to this.
KAVA IN FIJI MYTHOLOGY
However, we should remember that there are other various
mythological factors that must be considered in explaining
why the origins of the root has affected greatly and
significantly the various conventions in medical
applications of Fiji.
Many of the literature that has been involved in the
research were taken not from official documentation and
official readings but through various conventions that have
been found from all over the geographic locations of the
country.
There were many folklorists surrounding the Kava, but
perhaps the most popular one is a legend of how a couple
killed their leprous daughter to feed the chief during a
time of starvation. However, instead of eating it, the chief
instructs the parents to bury the body and bring back the
plant that had grown from the corpse. Weeks passed and the
plant grows on the top of the daughter said. That is where
the common theme of Kava mythology originates from a growing
from dead bodies that were usually sacrificed, eventually
connecting Kava to be a sacrificial drink and symbolically
meaning the drinker of the said Kava as a transformation
method for renewal and rebirth.
It is also interesting to work with the various mythological
symbolism of Kava and how it has evolved through the ages to
mean the various social conventions such as columnists,
welcome, and divination.
A specific instance and convention of Kava is the use for
transformational fundamentalist Christian sects which had
arrived from the West through the Pacific ocean and labeling
it as a demonic drink -- as was the usual practice of many
Christian colonialists at that time. Like other cultures
where in the various hallucinogens have been banned by the
Church as a way for the daemon to enter the mind, so was
Kava. Recently, however, such a convention has been changed
because when the time came that alcohol had become the more
prevailing drink among the residents of Fiji, Kava was
encouraged by mainstream Christian denominations because it
was a good substitute against a greater danger of consuming
alcohol.
HISTORY OF KAVA IN FIJI
The last point of view that we shall be undertaking before
retiring is the historical
context connected with the Pacific Islands in
the early 18th century where in Kava played a central role
to the religious and social life as we have already pointed
out earlier. Notable people who had served the use of Kava
in the Pacific is Captain Cook as early as 1768. It has even
been noted that it is the first instance where a western
explorer had experienced many kids consuming plants for
server Mobile purposes. Also, as historians and comparative
sociologists have pointed out, it is perhaps the last
material that connects the various islands of the Pacific
during each other.
Especially Fiji which has seen a development of its culture
in the backdrop of the plant, the sociological role of Kava
has been described as similar to that of naked American
practices and tribes of the chewing of cocoa leaves and the
use of opium in the Middle East and Asia -- other naturally
occurring objects that connect geographical cultures that at
first glance would be different from each other but have the
same denominations in various perspectives of their society
such as the use of herbs.
Because of the growing concern for ethnic consideration and
social awakening, the use of Kava is again prevailing not
only in popular culture but also in the revival of
traditional practices as well. As we have observed from the
literature which we have gathered, Kava has deep symbolical,
health, and metaphorical meanings for Fiji as well as even
the surrounding locations. There are many other studies
which may be able to derive from such research and a cross
comparison of herbs and other natural resources occurring in
various locations could give a significant insight and
correlation to how human beings interact in the present as
well as how they have lived in the past as had been
described and dictated by natural objects that they find
around them in their society. We could not ignore that there
are indeed scientifically proven health benefits that the
plant could provide and it is indeed being used in Fiji.
However, there are many more other contextual frameworks
that exist and literature on the topic is varied and
provides insights to how the culture of Fiji operates on the
foundations of Kava.
- by K. Edley (References available upon request)
We offer this list of the three main regions
of Oceania:
Melanesia
Fiji
New Caledonia
New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu
Micronesia
Federated States of Micronesia
Kiribati
Mariana Islands
Marshall Islands
Nauru
Palau
Polynesia
French Polynesia
Hawaii
Samoa
Tonga
Tuamotu Archipelago
Tubuai Islands
Tuvalu
It is here where kava is most prevalent, and where one needs
to look for the origins of this plant steeped in myth,
legend, and folklore.