Indulgences

1. Kava

   Kava (the drink made from the root of Piper methysticum)

   Usage

   A muddy-looking drink of pounded root strained through water. It numbs the tongue and makes the body heavy — it is not alcohol, but do not drive after it. It is served both ceremonially and casually, and offering it to a visitor is a welcome. NOTE: Tongan kava is also an entirely separate word meaning "beard, moustache"

   Grammar Note

   Tongan kava has both a noun sense "kava" and an adjective sense "bitter". In Tongan: "Ko e kava ko e fuʻu ʻakau siʻi ia. ʻOku ngāueʻaki ʻa e ngaahi aka maʻa e kava, ko e meʻa inu. ʻOku mahuʻinga ʻaupito ʻi he ʻulungāanga fakatonga" (kava is a small shrub; its roots are used for the drink; it is very important in Tongan custom). NOTE: a separate kava means beard/moustache, not the drink

2. Faikava

   Faikava (a kava-drinking session)

   Usage

   People sit in a circle, a cup is passed round in turn, and the talk runs late into the night. It is largely a male gathering, though a woman may be present in the serving role. If you are invited, accepting a single cup is entirely acceptable

   Grammar Note

   A compound of fai "to do, to hold" and kava. A Tongan literary journal is also called Faikava. The same fai appears in fono ngāue, to hold a meeting

3. Kalapu kava

   Kalapu kava (a kava club)

   Usage

   The standing kava venue in a village or town — socially what a pub is in the West, and often doubling as a fundraiser for a church or school. NOTE: they do not open on Sunday. Clause 6 of the Constitution of Tonga bars commercial activity on the Sabbath (Sāpate), and shops, eateries and clubs shut almost across the board

   Grammar Note

   kalapu is a loan from English "club", used in naiti kalapu (nightclub), kalapu fakatonga and kalapu ʻakapulu. A kava club is "kalapu kava" or "faikava". Clause 6 reads "The Sabbath Day shall be kept holy in Tonga and no person shall practise his trade or profession or conduct any commercial undertaking on the Sabbath Day except according to law"

4. Kumete

   Kumete (the large wooden kava bowl)

   Usage

   The footed wooden bowl at the centre of the circle, where the pounded root is mixed with water and strained. Small ones are sold as souvenirs; the big ceremonial bowls belong to a household or a meeting house

   Grammar Note

   Tongan Kumete is "kava bowl". A place name is "Anakumetekava. Cave of the kava bowl [ana, cave; kumete, bowl; kava, kava]". NOTE: do not use the Fijian/Samoan tānoa here

5. Fono

   Fono (the food served alongside kava)

   Usage

   The food handed round between rounds of kava — baked root crops, fish, tinned meat; there is no fixed form. It arrives in a large portion and is divided on the spot. NOTE: the identically spelled fono is a separate word meaning "assembly, meeting"

   Grammar Note

   "Fono" is the food served with kava ("food served with kava" / "the food that is eaten at cava parties; also the act of eating it"). The assembly "fono" ("deliberative assembly") is a distinct word, not one word stretched over several senses. In the kava ceremony: "the mātāpule calls out for somebody to come and divide the fono".

6. Tapaka

   Tobacco

   Usage

   The substance itself. "To smoke" is ifi tapaka, and the no-smoking sign reads ʻOua ʻe ifi tapaka. Tonga taxes tobacco heavily and bans smoking in enclosed public places

   Grammar Note

   "Tapaka" = tobacco; "namu-tapaka" = to smell (or taste) of tobacco or tobacco smoke. The verb side is ifi

7. Sikaleti

   Cigarette

   Usage

   A loan from English "cigarette". Tongan has neither r nor c in its alphabet, so they come out as l and k — the English r to Tongan l shift is exceptionless

8. Masi

   Lighter

   Usage

   Covers both a lighter and a match. NOTE: the identically spelled masi is also the name of fig trees (Ficus tinctoria and relatives)

   Grammar Note

   Tongan masi = "lighter, cigarette lighter". It also means "match 2. implement for lighting". NOTE: Tongan Masi is "general term for several tree spp. including Ficus tinctoria" — a different word

9. Hopi

   Hopi (illicit home brew)

   Usage

   Home brew made from water, sugar or mashed fruit, and yeast. Imported drink requires a permit, while hopi requires nothing — and its strength and contents are correspondingly unpredictable. NOTE: it is fine to decline if you are offered it

   Grammar Note

   The source is English "hops"

10. Konā

    Drunk

    Usage

    The state of being drunk; it also serves to decline another round ("I have had enough"). NOTE: kona without the macron means "bitter, poisonous" and is a different word, so always write the ā

    Grammar Note

    "Konā" = drunk (person who drinks too much alcohol), used in the unambiguous "drunk" sense — "naʻe mahalo ai ʻe ʻIlai kuo konā ia" (Eli thought she was drunk), "ko e ʻuakai ia mo e konā" (a glutton and a drunkard). Macron-less kona "bitter" is a separate word

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