On Tuesday before the second Kava Ceremony, we all teamed up in pairs and had a drum competition on the drums they use to announce when meals are. Maggie [ed: our primary host at Matava] told us that the judges are a mermaid, a jungle warrior and someone in between, and that the winner would get a prize. Not much planning had been put into everyone’s performance but we all still went up none the less. After everyone performed for about 10 seconds each, Maggie asked one member from each group to stand up and get in a straight line. After we did he told us to spin around in a circle and start waving then said, “we are out of meat for the barbeque, say goodbye to your friends”. After we all sat down again he unrolled a blank place of tweed looking material for dramatic effect and announced that Alex and Tess were the competition winners, and they each got what we called a “tsunami tide” (extra large) cup of Kava as a prize, then we started the actual ceremony.

Alex and Tess receiving their “tsunami tide” cup of Kava.

– Erin