Pongipongi Tapu, a spiritual ceremony for the passage of the King [1]
Saturday, March 31, 2012 - 20:56. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Photos by Pesi Fonua, Linny Folau and Peter Poulsen.
Ceremonial presentation of food baskets at the Pongipongi Tapu
The Pongipongi Tapu, or Sacred Morning of Tupou V, a spiritual ceremony for the passage of the late King, was held at Pangai Lahi this morning, 31 March.
The occasion is part of the Royal Family's funeral ceremony, and marks a point on King George Tupou V's spiritual journey from this world to the Tongan under-world Pulotu, - a Polynesian paradise where the spirits of royalty and chiefs alight after death.
In Pulotu, supposedly located in the deep between Tonga and Fiji, there is no space for commoners.
The Pongipongi Tapu ceremony is distinguished with the presentation of kava, pigs and hundreds of food baskets, provided by different clans from throughout Tonga. It concludes with a Taumafa Kava, one of those rare occasions when the king will share a bowl of kava with his chiefs and matapules. On this occasion the kava is made out of raw, green kava, and this morning was prepared by the King's daughter, Princess Angelika Latufuipeka Mata'aho.
Ceremonial pounding of kava by Princess Angelika Latufuipeka at the Taumafa Kava.
The green kava root was ceremonially broken by the attendants, and ritualistically prepared by the princess, with the first kava served to the king, then the chiefs and the matapules, with their names called out in order of their rank.
Today marked the end of the public mourning period, but the Royal Family will continue mourning for 100 days.