KAVA & CANE
A POLYNESIAN TRADITION
Polynesian island lore
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KAVA & SUGAR
In former times, seasoned kava connoisseurs considered raw sugar cane as an ideal accompaniment to kava. Even today in Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia (when kava is consumed in the traditional manner during festive occassions, cultural ceremonies, weddings and funerals, or taken as a remedy against certain ailments), it is not uncommon for the kava drinker to have some candy or sugarcane at their disposal in order to offset the bitterness which is characteristic of the medicinal properties of kava. The parts of the plant used to prepare the kava, consumed at such social events, are primarily from the roots, rhizomes and stems. The leaves are not used and are generally not processed into a tea, but are used to treat centipede bites.
Preparation of Tongan kava in ancient times
In Kava Kane Tea, the producers have blended the extracted resin concentrate from the most potent parts of the plant with raw sugar to enhance the unmistakable kava flavour, preserve its unique rich aroma and draw out the physio- and psychoactive properties sought by herbalists.
THE ORIGIN OF KAVA: A TONGAN MYTH
In the place of Fa`imata on the island of `Eueiki, close to Tongatapu, there lived a man and his wife. Fevanga and Fefafa were their names. They had a baby daughter called Kava`onau.
Then once upon a time it happened that an important envoy of the Tu`i Tonga (sacred king of Tonga), Lo`au, came to `Eueiki, and landed his canoe at the house of Fevanga and Fefafa. Customs required that such a high chief was to be received with an abundant meal. But a famine was over the land, and only a kape (bitter taro) plant was available with no meat at all. In despair the parents killed their little daughter and baked her as a pig in the same oven as the kape.
Lo`au was impressed by the sacrifice the poor people had made for him. He said that he could not eat from their daughter, and that instead she was to be buried as a chief. He ordered her head to be buried on one place, and her body on another place. And then he left.
After a time two new, unknown plants grew from the parts. Fevanga tended them until they were mature. Then a rat came and chewed from the plant which was growing from the head. The rat became possessed by some spirit and experienced a pleasant numbness. Next it chewed from the other plant, growing from the girl's intestines, and the animal recovered and ran away.
Fevanga harvested the plants and brought them to Lo`au's residence in Ha`amea on Tongatapu. There Lo`au announced that the first plant was to be called kava, being the daughter of Fevanga and Fefafa, and that it would be the beverage of chiefs from now on. But like the rat, they would also consume in conjunction the second plant, which was to be called sugar cane, to balance the influence of the kava.
(for several more variants see: Gifford, Tongan myths and tales, 1923)
