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==News About Kava== | ==News About Kava== | ||
'''Drinking kava becoming popular with Tongan women''' | |||
*Source:http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/330400/drinking-kava-becoming-popular-with-tongan-women | |||
:By Sara Vui-Talitu (Senior Journalist) | |||
For Ikanamoe Ma'u, that is exactly what she has been doing for almost two decades. | |||
She proudly calls herself a heavy kava drinker. | |||
"I can drink kava all night and drink more cups than men," she says proudly. | |||
Now living in Aotearoa, it was a pleasant surprise to notice a shift in female kava consumption on a recent trip back to Tonga, she said. | |||
"I went home and was surprised to see a lot of young females as kava consumers and they do drink the kava." | |||
She said when she started drinking kava heavily in the late 1990s, she hadn't heard of any other Tongan women who also did it. | |||
By tradition, the Tongan fai kava or practise of drinking kava is usually done with men sitting around the kava bowl circle and a woman serving kava to the men is known as a tou'a. | |||
"So I was often labelled a rebel for breaking with strict cultural traditions, but I'd much rather drink kava than alcohol," she said. | |||
Tongan academic Nalei Taufa said cultural protocols were hard to break. | |||
She talks about the role of the tou'a: "Traditionally and historically it was a very privileged and prestigious demonstration of a woman's virtue and titled key ceremonies." | |||
She believed Ikanamoe's behaviour wasn't common so further research into women in general as kava consumers was overdue. | |||
"Certainly given its commercialisation, it also just kind of creates more awareness around kava as a trend where women will start to be consumers more frequently." | |||
But Nalei Taufa warned in her research about male kava drinkers, that there were risks to consuming too much. | |||
"If you are at a long kava session there is sleep deprivation and there is tiredness and are already sleep deprived, and then drive home with a strong sedative, depending on how strong the kava mix is as well," she said. | |||
Mele Lino said she used to just serve the kava as a tou'a until she joined up with a female Tongan kava group when visiting America. | |||
"With the tou'a I think I played a different role where I just sit there and serve but in the circle with the girls, I got to drink and participate in the conversation." | |||
And kava drinker Mele Havli said change was a good thing. | |||
She said she would often drink kava with her late father as a way to communicate. | |||
"I used to be able to do it often with my late dad and I loved it as it enabled us to chat and catch up," she said. | |||
"I think that because we have come here to New Zealand and other places, and we see that for Fijiians it is a social thing that some women do. So some Tongan women have taken it on and done it as a sort of social gathering, even though it is not common." | |||
Kava researcher Apa Aparosa said that the response to a presentation from Ikanamoe Ma'u at a recent kava workshop was really positive and inspiring. | |||
"I think for her to talk about kava from a Tongan woman's perspective is pretty controversial," he said. | |||
"There is this general rhetoric out there that Tongan women don't drink kava and Ikanamoe definitely challenges that." | |||
Ikanamoe Ma'u encouraged women to drink the kava on their own terms. | |||
"Be yourself and just do it," she said with a wide smile. | |||
"It's your personal choice as a Tongan woman to do what you want to. So if you feel like drinking a lot of kava with other women, go for it." | |||
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'''Introduction of the kava manual will boost its industry ''' | '''Introduction of the kava manual will boost its industry ''' | ||
*Source:http://www.fbc.com.fj/fiji/48902/introduction-of-the-kava-manual-will-boost-its-industry- | *Source:http://www.fbc.com.fj/fiji/48902/introduction-of-the-kava-manual-will-boost-its-industry- | ||