Conclusions

The evolution of kava usage over millennia has been marked by a waxing and waning of its popularity, as well as by changes in the plant and its mode of processing. During this time it has been eliminated from some islands by cyclones, salt water inundations, and even warfare when the plants were pulled out by the retreating forces (Gill 1876).

Yet vegetative reproductive properties have enabled varieties to be selected that could be processed into an ever more pleasant beverage, and the range of cultivars has increased markedly in island societies, such as those of Vanuatu where it is of great cultural importance.

The geographical range of kava, however, is more narrow today than it was a hundred years ago. Missionaries sought to eliminate it because it reduced productive work efforts, and other Westerners have included it under the negative rubric of a drug, although there is no medical evidence for long-term harmful effects.

The employment of kava in recent times has been marked by a considerable increase in its secular, as opposed to its ritual, use. In Fiji, Futuna, Pohnpei, Tonga, and Samoa, the Catholic, Methodist, and Congregational churches have taken a less rigid stance against kava drinking, so the rituals have continued and broadened in scope to include welcoming ceremonies for Western visitors and such church activities as first communion. The kava parties now are open to men of all ages and status in the community, although women do not often participate.

Yet the overall development of kava throughout the Pacific during some 3,000 years has been one of ritual usage. Those societies that have maintained kava drinking to present times have done so because it is an important medium in their cultural system. It is steeped in a strong body of local ideology that places the root as central to a communication process, linking the ancestral spirits to the incumbent chiefs and priests, and, thus, the whole living community to those associated with its past.

Nancy J. Pollock