726. Qaravi yaqona = Kava ceremony

Abstract

"Crushed, the root of the plant is diluted into a liquid that smells and tastes of earth even more than water. Each step of kava making obeys rules evolved along the centuries. Here the mixing bowl is shaped in the highly stylized image of a turtle. On occasions, a rope of fiber decorated with shells is stretched from the bowl towards the major guest. The master of ceremony, a sage well versed in genealogical lore, sees to it that the order in which the single coconut cup is presented around obeys a most exacting protocol." Charlot, p. 10.