The Sevu Sevu Ceremony

There are many wondrous things to experience over the course of a Fiji vacation. The islands are full of beautiful landscapes and miles of secluded, beautiful beaches. There are many ways to experience a vacation in Fiji. One of the best ways is to stay in Fiji resorts. They are there to help you experience everything that Fiji has to offer its visitors.

The best of the all inclusive Fiji reports include many native Fiji experiences that are truly delightful to enjoy. The most important of these experiences is the sevu sevu ceremony. This is the central experience of the Fiji culture. It is a ceremony of greeting that every town and village in Fiji will delight in sharing with new guests and friends.

The main component of the sevu sevu ceremony is the kava root. Guests that are visiting a new village in Fiji will always be honored with a sevu sevu ceremony. It is considered a polite requirement that visitors bring with them a half of a kilogram or a kilogram of the kava root. This can come in either the whole root, or its mashed powder equivalent.

Guests are brought to the village elder when they arrive in the village. The sevu sevu ceremony begins when the guest’s host hands the kava root to the village chief. The chief accepts the kava root, and then it is quickly prepared. The root will be ground to a pulp if it is not already in the powder form. This crushed kava root is then infused into cold water.

There are psychoactive compounds called kavalactones in the kava powder. These compounds are dissolved into the water and then consumed in the sevu sevu ceremony. The kavalactones make people who consume them feel very relaxed and that their stress is melting away. This is the effect that helps to facilitate the warm feelings and greetings in the welcoming sevu sevu ritual.

When receiving the bowl of kava during the ceremony, the guest should clap the hands together one time and say, “Bula.”

The guest then downs the bowl of kava in one gulp like a shot of alcohol. The bowl is then immediately handed back to the presenter, followed by three more claps by the guest.

The taste of kava is definitely an acquired one. It has a peppery taste and a grainy, woody texture. It usually is several ceremonies before someone can begin to appreciate the taste, and many people never get used to it.

Those who wish to witness a sevu sevu ceremony without taking the kava root extraction are perfectly welcome to do so. They are still expected to present the kava root, but politely declining to drink it is not frowned upon.