5 - Kava on Tanna: traditional ritual and contemporary modifications

Summary

An indication of the importance of kava on Tanna can be seen in the number of articles it has occasioned (Brunton 1979; Gregory, Gregory and Peck 1981; Lindstrom 1980, 1981b, 1982, 1987). There are many other indices that can also be cited: the inevitable presence of roots of kava in every form of prestation, the amount of time men spend on cultivating the plant and preparing, consuming and enjoying the effects of the drink, its focus as a topic of conversation, and its role in magic and communication with the supernatural world.

Guiart has suggested that the importance of kava drinking may have been inflated by Presbyterian attempts to eradicate the custom (1956a: 246). But, while it is true that at certain times kava became a symbol of pagan resistance to the mission, all the available evidence indicates that its key role in Tannese culture was established long before the establishment of Christianity.

Although J. R. Forster noted that Piper methysticum grew on Tanna, none of the members of Cook's voyage seem to have observed kava drinking there (1982: 620). This is not particularly surprising, as they all appear to have returned to the ship, or at least not to have ventured beyond the beach, by sunset, the only time at which kava was traditionally drunk. Nevertheless, Forster indicates that the Tannese all left in the early evening ‘to go to sleep’ (ibid.: 591).