To The Rescue
p. 83 · Read in the full issue
By Jane Gregor
Yaqona (or kava as it is known to most travellers) is a vital part of any Fijian ceremony. I’ve seen it served in a variety of containers, but never in one more appropriate than that used in a farewell at Nausori airport.
I had arrived at the airport early to meet a friend. As I waited I noticed that a group of people were giving a departing government offi cial a big farewell.
He was wearing a dark suit, which was making him sweat, and he appeared to be a little cowed by the heartiness of the farewell. * His staff Fijians, Indians, Euro peans were gathered about a shallow wooden yaqona bowl. Coco nut shells of yaqona were continually being circulated, I was so absorbed in these colour ful people that I failed to notice that the sky outside the waiting room had turned black.
Then the PA system crackled. A girl announced that the departure for Nadi and overseas connections had been delayed due to bad weather.
A squall raced across the airfield.
The far palms bent like bows about to launch a flight of arrows and the rain drummed on the roof of the waiting room, drowning the happy
sound of the guitar being played by one of the departing official’s younger henchmen.
Minutes went by and the bilo of yaqona kept going the rounds.
Then another announcement told us that the delay would be prolonged.
And then ... horrors. The un thinkable was about to happen . . . . the yaqona was about to run out!
Without delay the guitarist was dispatched to seek new supplies. To allay anxieties a statuesque Fijian girl flung yet another frangipani falu-salu around her boss’s neck. The group waited, dry and brooding.
Suddenly a cheer went up. The guitarist had returned. The situation was saved.
The guitarist was carrying a bright red bucket, its brim aslop with creamy yaqona. Across the side of the bucket was emblazoned the one, appropriate word ... “Fire”.
I doubt that Fiji’s national fire water has ever been served in a more fitting vessel than in the fire bucket at that airport farewell.
The Fiji yaqona (kava) ceremony can be formal, like this one, or informal like the ceremony Jane Gregor describes. Most Fijian yaqona is drunk informally. The photo is by Rob Wright.