My last village to visit is Lawaima which is at the cliff’s edge with about 20 households and about 71 people. The start of this rotation the days dragged on but this week has flown by and soon I’ll be sleeping in my hut again.
Because this village is a lot bigger than the others I meet with 2 families a day. And each day I’ve drank a glass of kava with the families – I want to be respectful and not refuse. But kava does not taste good and when you put the glass up to your mouth and your nose takes a wiff your stomach lurches in anticipation and you find yourself having to give a pep talk to your body to just “drink quickly – get it over with – one, two, three, embong (good night)” but the benefits of a good night’s rest is nice. The taste makes you want to spit and most do (I use water to really wash it out) and then eat nuts or fruit to take away the taste. After your mouth and lips tingle a bit and your mind is a lil fuzzy and your eyes hurt if there if there is too much light. If you eat right after it makes the kava work quickly and most are ready for sleep soon after. Of course with anything - different people have different tolerances or reactions. Myself I can only drink 1 glass which is fine because I feel drunk on kava easily and my reaction is that my mind starts to work in overdrive buzzing and I want to storion with everyone. This is too bad because everyone around me wants to sleep. Some shake when they have had too much. Some can’t walk about. For some who drink a lot and for a long time will have severely dry skin like a snake. Woman and kava is always debatable because before it was just for men only and before that just for chiefs on special occasions. In some places today (example in Tanna) if the men are preparing kava at the nakamal a woman can’t even look in their direction or walk past them. So with each village on Tongariki the tolerance or acceptance is very different, like with Lawaima, Lakilia, Tafea & Mu-ur it is a lil more liberal and in Erata the woman can drink but should be out of sight (maybe at home instead of the nakamal).
Because this village is a lot bigger than the others I meet with 2 families a day. And each day I’ve drank a glass of kava with the families – I want to be respectful and not refuse. But kava does not taste good and when you put the glass up to your mouth and your nose takes a wiff your stomach lurches in anticipation and you find yourself having to give a pep talk to your body to just “drink quickly – get it over with – one, two, three, embong (good night)” but the benefits of a good night’s rest is nice. The taste makes you want to spit and most do (I use water to really wash it out) and then eat nuts or fruit to take away the taste. After your mouth and lips tingle a bit and your mind is a lil fuzzy and your eyes hurt if there if there is too much light. If you eat right after it makes the kava work quickly and most are ready for sleep soon after. Of course with anything - different people have different tolerances or reactions. Myself I can only drink 1 glass which is fine because I feel drunk on kava easily and my reaction is that my mind starts to work in overdrive buzzing and I want to storion with everyone. This is too bad because everyone around me wants to sleep. Some shake when they have had too much. Some can’t walk about. For some who drink a lot and for a long time will have severely dry skin like a snake. Woman and kava is always debatable because before it was just for men only and before that just for chiefs on special occasions. In some places today (example in Tanna) if the men are preparing kava at the nakamal a woman can’t even look in their direction or walk past them. So with each village on Tongariki the tolerance or acceptance is very different, like with Lawaima, Lakilia, Tafea & Mu-ur it is a lil more liberal and in Erata the woman can drink but should be out of sight (maybe at home instead of the nakamal).
This is my papa Edward (in Lawaima) and Uncle Tom chewing kava for us to drink
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