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Anga Fakatonga Tongan Culture. Vaiolupe 17 September 2010. Presentation Topics:. Tongan Culture Tongan Seal Anga Fakatonga concept Arts & Craft Food & Feasting Rank Religion The Family Traditional Clothing Musical Instruments Tattooing Conclusion - Poem. Tongan Culture.
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Anga FakatongaTongan Culture Vaiolupe 17 September 2010
Presentation Topics: • Tongan Culture • Tongan Seal • Anga Fakatonga concept • Arts & Craft • Food & Feasting • Rank • Religion • The Family • Traditional Clothing • Musical Instruments • Tattooing • Conclusion - Poem
Tongan Culture Tonga is located in the beautiful waters of the South Pacific. It is set between New Zealand and Australia. Like all other cultures, the cultural identity of the Tongan is constructed and reconstructed. Tradition and culture is invented and reinvented in response to the different yet continuous encounters with other cultures. Migrants do not build their own ethnic identity from scratch; they bring in their own version of it. It then evolves to fit their new home. As is such the case in the Tongan culture. Many migrants, coming in and leaving, bring or leave their ideas of culture. So there is not really a set culture in Tonga, but a variety. There is still the influence of the old ways or Anga Fakatonga.
Tongan Seal “Ko e ‘Otua mo Tonga ko hoku tofi’a”“For God & Tonga are my inheritance”
Concept of Anga Fakatonga Anga Fakatonga is a fluid, manipulable, yet powerful concept. It is translated to mean culture or tradition. It is said to hold all that is Tongan in values and behavior. The main points of Anga Fakatonga that have stayed strong throughout the generations are; • Song (hiva), • Dance (faiva), • Gender roles (tu’unga fakafamili) • and the most central point is • Respect (Faka’apa’apa).
Arts & Crafts • Mat making, • woodcarving, • basket making, • jewellery, • tapa products are all different examples of the Tongan artistry.
Tapa Patterns • Tokelaufeletoa - a kupesi from Vava'u. The woman who designed this patter was Hulita Tu'ifua and she came from the northern part of the village of feletoa - hence the name: Tokelau (north) Feletoa (the village of Feletoa) • Fata 'o Tu'i Tonga - refering to the house of the king, in particular, the central beam. Representative of the sennit bindings which holds the support of the central beam, supporting the thatched roof. • Manulua - probably one of the oldest of Polynesian designs. It's origins are unknown but similar motifs have been found throughout Polynesian art and in early Lapita pottery. I have seen several explanations indicating that it was either a flower motif or a bird motif.
Food & Feasting • Other important roles of Tongan daily are feasting, which can consist of up to thirty different dishes: steamed pork, suckling pig, fish, crayfish, beef, octopus, and a variety of tropical fruits. All of this is spread out on a long tray called a ‘pola’
Tongan Faiva • A feast would not be complete in the Tongan culture if singing and dancing did not follow it. The lakalaka is the traditional Tongan dance, telling a new story each time.
Kava • Kava is called the official drink of the Pacific. It is the key cultural phenomenon. Kava is made from the ground roots of a native pepper plant. It is a part of the formal ceremonies. Kava has been around for over two thousand years. Tongans have formed the Kava Circle. It is the setting for conflict resolutions. Instead of drinking alcohol, which is violence-prone, Tongans enjoy Kava. Kava is not just a drink to the Tongans, but the essential ingredient of social life and culture.
Rank • Rank is fundamental to Tongan culture. No two people have equal rank, they may have to go back a few generations to determine their status. This determines how they will interact with one and other and is extremely important. • Rank also determines responsibilities for example the younger son will spend a lot of time in the plantation, where as the oldest son being of higher rank will get more opportunities in the Tongan culture. • Here is an overview of the ranking system : • Members of the royalty are the highest ranked ( They have their own language) • Nobles are the next highest ( Also have their own language) • The commoners are the lowest ranked of the three tiered class system • Men are ranked higher than woman, but within the family the sisters are ranked higher than the brothers.The fathers side of the family are ranked higher than the mothers side.And the older you are the higher you are ranked. • Tongans show respect to the higher ranks in a number of ways, by keeping there heads lower, differing there eyes, not speaking and commoners never walk in front of royalty or nobles.
Religion The Christian missionaries in the 1800s introduced Christianity to the Tongan islands and here it has stayed as the dominant religion. That is not to say that it took anything away from the Tongan culture, as it was just tacked on to the culture . Tongans did of course get rid of there beliefs in the old Tongan gods in favour of the Christian one God, but still the old superstitions remain intact. For example if a Tongan is to take land that was not his then bad things would happen to him spiritually, he may be visited by spirits that could do him harm, just as a reference any ghost , sprit or dead being that walks the earth is referred to as the tevolo said divolo. Now this doesn't mean it’s the devil just that it’s a ghost or sprit. If you get sick or a volcano erupts and destroys your island it is still because God is angry and is punishing them for evil deeds. Christianity freed the Tongan people from human sacrifice made to appease there old gods and gave commoners the right to go to heaven, where this right was only able to be had by Kings and high ranking chiefs before it's introduction.
Sunday Law Sunday law in Tonga is a result of Christianity and has it's own twist. It is against the law to play, work, swim, garden and do your washing on a Sunday unless you are a tourist or in a tourist establishment. This is quite a nice idea as it enforces people to take some time off and relax. Of course when I say relax I mean go to church, eat, and sleep as this is about the only three things you are allowed to do in Tonga on a Sunday.
The Family In Tongan language the word for sibling is the same as cousin and rightly so as immediate family includes up to your third cousin at least. Your mother is also your mothers sisters and father include your uncles. So if you were a Tongan your father would not just be the father that gave birth to you but also his brothers as well. Your mother is not just your birth mother, but her sisters as well and your mothers brothers are your uncles and your fathers sisters are your uncles. In Tonga all mothers and fathers are often called by their first name, and modern times have introduced the use of mum or dad being used in some families. As for who will raise the child usually it is the biological mother and father although it is not unusual for the child to be raise by the fathers brothers family or the mothers sisters family either.
Sisters and Brothers • Sisters are higher ranked than brothers in Tonga. • There is a Tapu or taboo relationship that exsists between sisters and brothers where they are not allowed to be together if anything to do with sex is to be discussed, watched or read. This includes movies with kissing. • Most boys will have there own bedroom outside the house, if they have sisters. • Brothers and sisters are not allowed in each others bedrooms • The highest ranked female of the family is the father’s eldest sister or the grandfather’s sister if she is still alive. Most families go back three generations to determine the highest ranking female of the families.
Tongan Ta’ovalaTongan Mats • A ta’ovala is a Tongan dress, a mat wrapped around the waist, worn by men and women, at all formal occasions, much like the tie for men in the European and North American culture. The ta'ovala is also commonly seen among the Fijian Lau islands, a region once heavily influenced by Tongan hegemony and cultural diffusion. • According to a Tongan story, a group of Tongans once arrived by boat at the Tu’i Tonga, but they had had a rough ride and their clothing, if any remained, was not respectable. They cut the sail of their boat (Polynesian sails are also mats) in pieces and wrapped them around. The king was so pleased by the sacrifice they had made to him of their expensive sail, that he ordered this dress to be court dress from then on. The Tongan waist-mat probably shares a common origin or inspiration as the Samoan "valatau" or "vala" waistband often donned by orators and chiefly sons ("manaia") and daughters ("taupou") on festive occasions and rituals. • Different ta’ovala are used for different occasions, i.e. funerals, birthdays, Sunday services, weddings. • In the case of funerals, one can tell in terms of rank who are the higher or lower ranked in relation to the deceased from the mat that they are wearing. ‘Eiki or Tu’a.
Tongan Tattooing • Tattooing - Tatatau • Pre-contact Tongan males were often heavily tattooed. In Captain Cook's time only the Tu’i Tonga (king) was not: because he was too high ranked for anybody to touch him. Later it became the habit that a young Tu’i Tonga went to Sāmoa to be tattooed there. • The practice of disappeared under heavy missionary disapproval, but was never completely suppressed. It is still very common for men (less so, but still some for women), to be decorated with some small tattoos. Nevertheless tattoos shows ones strength. Tattoos also tell a story.
Musical Instruments • Tongan Musical Instruments • Although Tongan Music is predominantly vocal, several types of musical instruments do exist. • 1. Idiophones • Nafa • The nafa is a wooden slit drum, approximately cylindrical in cross-section, beaten singly or in groups of two or three to accompany certain dances. • LALI • Like the nafa, the lali is a wooden slit drum, beaten with two drumsticks. There is a tendency in Tonga today to call all wooden idiophones lali. The term is occasionally used to describe the Samaon pate and logo slit drums as well as the Tongan nafa.
Poem • I am not an individual because, • I am an integral part of the cosmos • I share divinity with my ancestors, the land, the seas and the skies • I am not an individual because • I share a tofi with my family, my village, and my nation • I belong to my family and my family belongs to me • I belong to a village and my village belongs to me • I belong to my nation and my nation belongs to me • This is the essence of my sense of belonging • His Highness Tupua Tamasese
