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The island communities of
the South Pacific, from Hawaii and the Mariana Islands
along the Tropic of Cancer down to New Zealand below the
Tropic of Capricorn, form an area known as Oceania,
which includes the three distinct cultural regions of
Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The Marshall and
Solomon islands, New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and
Tahiti are all found within Oceania, whose diverse
island people are a pan-cultural, multi-ethnic mélange.
Oceania offers some of the
most exotic island life on Earth. The swaying palm
trees, volcanic landscapes, glistening sandy beaches,
vast coral reefs, and indigenous native cultures
represent an archetypal notion of paradise. Fantasies of
escape from over-developed civilization conjure images
of Oceania, where time is slowed down, and where the hot
sun, warm tropical winds, lush green foliage, and
sparkling blue waters of the South Pacific conspire to
relieve the mind and body of the pressures and anxieties
of modern life.
Virtually every culture
has its favored mind-altering substances. From one
culture to the next, stimulants, narcotics, soporifics
and vision-producing plants, beverages, chews, smoking
mixtures, snuffs, and other preparations play important
social roles and are part and parcel of religious
ceremony, community sharing, special occasions, and
significant events.
In Southeast Asia, betel
nut is the widely used stimulant of choice, whereas in
Andean society the chewing of coca leaf is central to
society. The Mexican Huichol have their peyote, the
African Kung and Pygmies smoke cannabis, various South
American tribal people partake of visionary plant
mixtures such as ayahuasca and epena, and so-called
"developed" nations are awash in alcohol and their
atmospheres are filled with the effusion of tobacco
smoke.
Coffee, chocolate, tea,
guarana, kola nut, and yerba mate are widely consumed
drugs which directly affect the nervous system. It would
be accurate to say that every diner that serves coffee
dispenses drugs. But it would be inaccurate to say that
drugs are categorically harmful. Obviously they are not.
In Oceania, kava is an
esteemed mind- and mood-altering agent which occupies a
central place in culture and custom. Kava is the name of
both the plant Piper methysticum and a pungent beverage
prepared from its roots. A robust and attractive
perennial shrub with smooth, heart-shaped green leaves,
kava is a member of the Piperaceae, or pepper family,
whose two thousand or more diverse species have been
widely distributed throughout Africa, India, Southeast
Asia, and Indonesia since antiquity.
A small number of Piper
species are used as spices and medicines, including
Piper nigrum, from whose red berries both black and
white peppers are prepared, and Piper betle, whose
leaves and nuts, which contain a stimulant known as
arecoline, are chewed with lime throughout much of
Southeast Asia.
My early investigations
into kava revealed a treasure trove of diverse
literature, historical accounts, scientific and medical
studies, and vast botanical research into this plant and
its use, stretching back in time to the I770s. The first
reference I found on kava was a brief mention in Plants
of the Gods, the seminal work on psychoactive plants
co-authored by Richard Evans Schultes and Albert
Hofmann. Schultes, credited as the father of ethnobotany,
and Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD, are among the many
talented individuals who have dedicated their careers to
the study of psychoactive plants and their cultural
uses.
Yadhu Singh's 1986 Kava: a
bibliography gives hundreds of kava references and yet
still isn't all-inclusive. Kava, The Pacific Drug,
coauthored by Vincent Lebot, Mark Merlin, and Lamont
Lindstrom, stands as the best researched and most
complete of all academic works on kava. The time,
energy, study, and investigation that have gone into
kava research over the past couple of centuries speak
amply for the potent effects, broad appeal, and cultural
significance and virtues of kava.
Piper methysticum, or
cultivated kava, is a descendant of wild kava, Piper
wichmannii. Botanists believe that at one time all kava
was Piper wichmannii. But as the legend at the beginning
of this book described, cultivated kava is greatly
preferred over wild kava, which is only rarely used as
an "extender" when cultivated kava is in short supply.
Thus our focus is on Piper methysticum, the cultivated
kava at the heart of Oceanian society.
The lush, leafy green kava
plant grows densely and is harvested when it is
approximately six to eight feet in height. Kava is
planted in a manner similar to that of sugarcane.
Sections of kava stalks are laid in trenches of mud,
where they sprout. Once sprouted, the stalk sections are
planted in shallow trenches, where they grow to maturity
in five to seven years. By that point, kava roots have
typically become thick, knotted masses, and are suitable
for the preparation of the kava beverage. Once planted,
kava roots continue to grow, sending up new stalks. Thus
kava gardens and plantations grow perennially, and are
typically passed on through successive generations.
As is true with countless
plants used for human consumption, including tomatoes,
bananas, apples, coffee, and rice, there are numerous
varieties of kava under cultivation. The various
cultivars of kava are distinguished by both their
physical characteristics and by their effects upon body
and mind. Kava can be likened to cannabis, whose many
cultivars differ according to plant size, color, shape,
odor, and stickiness of leaves and flowering buds, and
whose varieties vary widely in their psychoactive
effects. Some cannabis varieties are stimulating when
consumed, whereas others are more likely to induce
sleepiness and lethargy.
What accounts for the
differences in effects is certainly the occurrence of
numerous natural compounds in differing proportions,
though the primary psychoactive agent of cannabis is
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. So too with kava, the
occurrence of the kavalactones, the pharmacologically
active compounds in the kava plant and beverage, ensures
that kava will act upon body and mind, while the
relative proportions and potencies of the kavalactones
from one variety to another determine the nature and
intensity of psychosomatic effects.
Physical characteristics
of kava plants may vary widely. Various kava cultivars
or varieties are distinguished by the colors of their
leaves and stalks, the thickness of stalk joints, stalk
length between joints, the presence of spots, and other
visible factors.
Certain plant cultivars
are more highly prized than others, and almost every
kava grower has favorite cultivars which are preferred
for their effects. In 1902 western botanists identified
nine varieties of kava in Samoa. In 1935 twenty-one
varieties found in the Marquesas were listed in
botanical literature. In 1940 fourteen Hawaiian
varieties were known, and in 1984 over seventy-two
varieties were reportedly cultivated on the islands of
Vanuatu.
To understand kava and its
place in society is an endeavor in ethnobotany. Unlike
botany, which is the study of plants and their
characteristics, ethnobotany refers to the uses of
plants in primitive or indigenous native societies. A
study of Peruvian Indians and their use of coca leaf,
for example, is an ethnobotanical study.
The study of kava and its
use by the natives who cultivate, harvest, prepare, and
drink the beverage made from it is an ethnobotanical
study. Because the preparation and use of kava is far
more interesting than the physical characteristics of
the plant, more ethnobotanists than strict botanists
have engaged in serious kava research. As a result,
there is a wealth of fascinating material on the people
of Oceania and their use of kava.
As I dug into
ethnobotanical research on kava, it became apparent that
in those societies in which kava is used regularly, it
is a key component of native culture, and is vital to
custom, the maintenance of tradition and ritual,
spirituality and social order.
Varieties of kava are
noted not only for their effects upon body and mind, but
are also prized for their ornamental and spiritual
worth. Kava is central to the rituals and various life
passages of the people of Oceania. Thus kava plants are
exchanged and used at virtually all significant
occasions and ceremonies.
Kava plants are often cultivated to grow in specific
shapes, and kava plants presented as gifts at weddings
and other special occasions are typically decorated. On
the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, kava grown for customary
exchanges is cultivated in the trunks of tree ferns,
yielding attractively shaped kava plants known as nikava
tapuga.
Historically the
consumption of kava made from nikava tapuga was a
privilege reserved for chiefs and men of high rank. It
is believed that the powerful vitality-imbuing plant
spirit Mwatiktiki dwells in nikava tapuga, which surely
accounts for the privilege associated with drinking kava
thus cultivated.
Chiefs and other people of
high rank would, according to custom, naturally be
favored with closer relation to such a spirit than
individuals of lower social standing. Though this kind
of strict social delineation has diminished somewhat
over time, social standing still plays an important role
in the consumption of kava. Whoever ranks highest at a
kava ceremony is usually served first. Others are served
in the order of their social standing within that
particular group.
In addition to high
ranking native people, other individuals may also be
served first or early in kava ceremonies. According to
custom, high ranking individuals of other societies and
backgrounds typically enjoy preferential status in kava
ceremony. With the exception of Presbyterian Church
officials, who have vigorously opposed indigenous native
kava use as an act against their own one true god,
virtually everyone of social significance is served kava
when they visit most of the islands in Oceania.
President and Mrs. Lyndon
Johnson were served kava when they visited Samoa in
1965. Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth and other members
of the royal family have drunk kava when they have
visited Fiji, as did Pope John Paul II on his Fijian
visit in 1986. Ambassadors, dignitaries, and officials
from other nations are regularly served kava when they
visit or hold important meetings on South Pacific
islands. Kava consumption is thoroughly integral to life
in that region, and is the first act at important
community functions and gatherings.
The exact origin of kava
remains uncertain, but many botanists believe that kava
originated from northern Vanuatu. Others suggest that
kava was native to either New Guinea or the Solomon
Islands, and that after its effects became known to
natives there, it was dispersed throughout Oceania by
seafaring islanders. One thing is certain: kava was
consumed prior to written history, and its use was very
well established in the South Pacific when Captain Cook
made his first voyage to that area aboard the Endeavour
between 1768 and 177l.
Though kava is not
cultivated on all South Pacific islands, it is found on
many. Kava is grown on Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya,
Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, Western and American Samoa, the
Society and Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, Micronesia, and
Hawaii, where cultivated kava is making a minor
resurgence after being relegated to a cultural relic for
decades. Kava's widespread distribution gives testimony
to the cultural value and social significance of this
plant and its beverage.
Kava and the islands upon
which it grows and is consumed have withstood
"discovery" by westerners, as well as invasion,
colonization, the encroachment of developed
civilization, the pulpit-pounding of zealous
missionaries, political change, reform, and upheaval.
Through it all, kava has
remained for the most part a fixture of life in Oceania.
If kava's effects were not as profound and valuable as
they are, this plant and its use would have been
supplanted by alcohol, a cheap sedative/hypnotic. But
kava maintains a strong hold in Oceanian society, owing
to its effects upon, and benefits to, body and mind.
Kava cultivation keeps
growers, their friends, and communities well supplied
with kava, and is part of a sprawling, increasingly
lucrative agricultural enterprise ranging over thousands
of miles of South Pacific territory. In the archipelago
of Vanuatu, for example, the islands of Pentecost, Tanna,
Epi, Ambae, Tongoa, and Maewo are the primary kava
-growing areas. From there kava is distributed widely
throughout the other islands, including the capital
Vanuatu island of Efate, where it is consumed, traded
and shipped to other regions of the world.
Trade is assisted by the
Vanuatu Ministry of Agriculture, and a national
purchasing system is promoted by the Vanuatu Commodities
Marketing Board. In Vanuatu, kava production is less
than that of copra (coconut) and cocoa, but the cash
value to small subsistence Vanuatu kava farmers is
significant.
Kava cultivation requires
relatively little labor or capital expenditure, and no
chemical agricultural inputs. In Fiji, kava is a highly
important cash crop, second in revenues only to sugar
cane, according to the Fiji Ministry of Primary
Industries. There kava is grown on numerous islands, and
trade is coordinated by the Fiji Cooperative Association
in Suva on the capital island of Viti Levu.
Most cultivated kava is
used by native people, but an increasing amount of kava
is exported for use abroad. French pharmaceutical
companies have purchased kava from Vanuatu on a
consistent basis for many years. German botanical
medicine companies have stepped up their importation of
kava, due to a sharp increase in European interest in
kava's beneficial effects. U.S. botanical companies
purchase kava from Vanuatu and Fiji in increasingly
large quantities due to growing popularity and consumer
demand for kava products, and market prices of raw kava
for export have risen significantly.
The literature on kava is
voluminous. In my own research, I found accounts of kava
dating back to Captain Cook's second voyage to the South
Pacific between 1772 and 1775.
Historical, social, and
scientific literature on kava, garnered from diverse
sources including Harvard's Countway Medical Library,
the Harvard Botanical Libraries, Hawaii's Bishop Museum,
the University of the South Pacific, numerous texts on
pharmacognosy, medical, botanical, and anthropological
journals, and that fabled information superhighway, the
Internet, reveal a vast, multi-century,
multi-disciplinary interest in kava. The plant and its
beverage are extraordinarily well studied. Scientific
research and economic development opportunities for kava
continue unabated, while kava products are increasing in
popularity.
Meandering my way through
the research and literature on kava, it became clear
that while kava is found throughout Oceania, its
undisputed home is the archipelago of Vanuatu. There
kava is used more extensively than in any other place.
More kava is cultivated and harvested in Vanuatu than
anywhere else, and all kava scholars readily agree that
of all kava, the Vanuatu kava is consistently the most
potent and the most highly prized. In time, the fact
that Vanuatu is the center of the kava universe would be
strong enough gravitational pull to land me there.
Excerpted from "Kava:
Medicine Hunting in Paradise" by Chris Kilham. |
