Welcome to our KAVA PAGE!

  If you’ve never heard of this mysterious member of the pepper family (the roots of which contain a mild drug) you’ll certainly hear about it in Fiji. The kava ceremony itself however, is more of a social ritual than anything else, and good mates love to get together for a bowl.
It’s use is widespread in the South Pacific in general, and is in no way confined to Fiji. The Fijians though have made kava famous, and a Fijian loves his kava even more than an Aussie loves his beer. Interestingly, Fijian slang for kava is “grog”!

This is not to say that the kava ceremony is an irreverent piss-up, far from it. The entire experience is sacred, from the kava bowl (tanoa) to the hand clapping procedure (one clap before, three after drinking one’s round).
Tourists are welcome to participate in the ceremonies, and watch with great anticipation as the kava root is ground up, soaked through a fine masilin cloth in water, and finally served in coconut cups as a grayish brown liquid. The strange murky look puts a few people off, but if it’s good quality, fresh stuff you can get quite a buzz. Serious Kava drinkers know their Kava by the area of which the kava have been grown, and the type of kava, for example the waka or the roots of the Kava plant is the best for drinking. The taste has to be acquired, naturally.
In any case it’s a fascinating experience both socially and anthropologically, and will bond you permanently with your new Fijian friends. Charge it!

If you intend to visit a village or any home of a Fijian take along a bundle of kava to present to the host and that is a custom, it is a way of creating a bonding with your host.

Bilo levu  Or big bowl- if you would like a high tide or low tide. Yaqona drinking can be used as a social drink meditional drink or for a ceremony.

it is customary for a visitor to a village or to another settlement to take some kava and offer it as "sevusevu" it is a sign that you have come in peace, and doing the sevusevu , the village that you are visiting will now know where you come from and the tribe and clan that you belong to.

Yaqona plays a vital role in this ceremonies.