|
Throughout the Pacific
Islands, which figure so prominently in our romantic
literature, there is cultivated a shrub that produces a
slightly bitter, slightly soapy, aromatic resinous brew
capable of inducing tranquility and ultimate somnolence.
Piper methysticum is the binomial by which the botanist
characterizes this plant, which is related to the black
pepper of commerce. The mouths of children are generally
more disease free than those of adults, and their teeth
are stronger. As they gnaw away a mouthful of the root,
it is spit into a large wooden bowl.
The alkaline saliva of the mouth with its salivary
enzymes promotes the extraction of the active
ingredients marindin and dihydromethylsticin. According
to the native peoples of these islands, the brew
produced in this manner is much tastier than that which
is mechanically grated.
Hygienic considerations have led the French and English
to prohibit such chewing and spitting. Normally the
saliva-root bark mixture is diluted by the addition of
water; and the mixture is strained into coconut bowls.
One half of such a bowl is enough to induce a state of
well-being and a slight torpor which may terminate in a
somnolence of several hours.
Such a contentment seems to bring no cessation of
reason, and active discussions occupy the participants.
States of anxiety and restlessness have been recorded as
reactions to large amounts of the astringent beverage.
Such observations suggest that the exudate includes a
more complex pattern of alkaloids, which might include
some analeptics. It is now possible to purchase bags of
dried and powdered root bark. A brew from this source
lacks the aromatic properties of the freshly made kava
and is not true to the flavor.
Oceanic cultures vary in the importance they attach to
the use of kava. Samoa has perhaps the greatest
historical use of the brew, and in Manua legend states
that kava was first given by the Sun God to Tagaloa Ui,
the first high chief of the Samoans. The legend begins
with the sacrifice to the sun of a young virgin, Fituita,
at the place where the sun rises.
Her fate was to be that of other virgins who were each
year devoured by the sun. However, one year a girl by
the name of Ui was offered, and so great was her beauty
that the sun took her to be his bride. When she became
pregnant by this solar deity and wished to return for a
visit with her people to give birth, consent was granted
and she was sent flying through the sky at a tremendous
speed.
Unfortunately, she miscarried and the foetus fell into
the ocean. All was not lost, for a hermit crab attended
to it, along with a plover and a shrike. The boy grew
under the guidance of this unlikely trio into Tl1galoa
Ui. It was he who taught mortals how to make kava, as
well as the reverential ceremony that surrounds its use.
Pava, the first mortal to participate in the ceremony,
had a son who laughed at the antics of his father as he
attempted to prepare this brew for Tagaloa Ui.
In god-like wrath Tagaloa Ui cut the son into two pieces
to the dismay of Pava, and then proceeded to instruct
Pava in the correct manner of preparing kava. After a
wooden bowl was filled with kava, Pava offered it to
Tagaloa Ui, who did not drink it, but poured it on half
of Pava's dead son and uttered "soifua," or life. At
this pronouncement the boy was made whole again and Pava
clapped his hands in joy.
With the admonition that kava pertains to high chiefs
and is sacred, Tagaloa Ui took his leave. Rituals since
that day involve the pronouncement and clapping of
hands.
This elaborate myth contains all of man's relationship
to sun, sky, water, earth, plants, and animals as well
as attributes of the "Divine Being," the mortal self,
birth, death, resurrection, marriage, mystical spirit
flight, and shamanic transformation. It seems to embody
the essence of many myths in diverse areas of the world
that also include a psychoactive plant. It parallels the
Osirian mysteries with no trans-cultural contact.
This ritual use of kava remains most intact today in
Samoa, but in the Oceanic area in general kava-bars are
not uncommon and are becoming the coffeehouses of this
great area.
Excerpted from "Narcotic
Plants" by William Emboden. |
