Tonga's King George Tupou V was anointed yesterday as the South Pacific's newest king in a centuries-old ritual that included receiving gifts of dozens of roasted pigs and drinking the mild narcotic, kava.
The rites performed with dozens of tribal chiefs were the opening salvo in days of festivities marking George V’s formal coronation, though he in effect has been Tonga’s head of state and leader since his father’s death in 2006.
In the Taumafakava ceremony, the king was bestowed with the traditional chiefly Tui Kanokupolu title — making George V the 23rd head of the South Pacific nation’s ruling dynasty, founded in the 17th century. The ceremonies culminate tomorrow with a Christian coronation before foreign heads of state and other dignitaries.
PHOTO: AFP
Tribal leaders went through elaborate procedures preparing, presenting and drinking kava — a gritty concoction made from the roots of a pepper plant that numbs the lips and mouth and is widely used at important occasions across the South Pacific.
The kava bowl was presented to George V, who drank it in one gulp as is customary. Thousands of spectators roared their approval in cheers and wild applause.
“From that moment his majesty became king of Tonga, the country was his,” said Motu’puaka, the king’s official orator.
George V has agreed to give up much of the near-absolute power his family has held for generations over his tiny South Pacific nation in favor of a mainly elected parliament.
The decision announced on Monday moves Tonga a step closer to giving up its absolute monarchy. It is one of just a handful of countries in the world where the monarch runs the government day-to-day.
No time frame was given for the proposed changes to take effect.
The palace has for years promised democratic reforms, but progress has been slow and public dissatisfaction has been building.
Tensions at a pro-democracy rally in the capital, Nuku’alofa, boiled over into riots in 2006 that killed eight and left the downtown razed.
George V also accepted dozens of roast pigs and hundreds of baskets of food yesterday from the crowd — gifts meant to symbolize the abundance of the king’s lands.
Tu’ivanuavou, a senior official in the royal household, said the ceremony was a key tribal event, with the more conventional coronation to follow.
“It marked the sealing by the nobles, the chiefs and the people of the sacred authority from his majesty derived from his ancestry,” said Tu’ivanuavou, who like many Tongan nobles uses just one name. “It was an act of homage and a confirmation of allegiance.”
George V sat in an open-sided pavilion filled with layers of prized fine mats and topped by 183m lengths of folded mulberry bark tapa cloth.
He sat with his back against a framed piece of tree trunk — a centuries-old practice designed to protect against potential attacks by enemy assassins.
When King George arrived he was escorted by the spear-wielding Tui’soso, a Fijian chief whose task was to drive away evil spirits.
The chiefly families of Tonga and Fiji are closely linked by blood and marriage.
As night fell, schoolchildren held up 30,000 flaming torches to announce to the world that George V was the anointed King of Tonga.
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