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Polynesian Island Monarchy
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15242 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
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8 / 1989 |
5,675 Words |
| Author
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Lowell and Ellen Holmes
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Edwin N. Ferndon, the author of Early Tonga, writes that "other than the kingdom of Tonga there is no Polynesian island or island group that has not been controlled and variously managed by one or another nation of the western world," but "that is not to say that Tonga has been totally free from forced culture change."
My (Lowell's) attention was first drawn to the Kingdom of Tonga in 1954 when I had the good fortune to be included in a malaga (ceremonial visit) to the Samoan islands of Manu'a with Crown Prince Taufa'ahau, son of the revered Tongan sovereign Queen Salote. During the four days of that visitation to locations significant to Tongan-Samoan mythology, I shared meals, sleeping quarters, ceremonial events, and even a surfboat accident with the crown prince. This six-foot, four-hundred-pound Polynesian nobleman proved an excellent traveling companion, for we shared many anthropological interests. For several years he had been active in a project to develop a Tongan grammar. He was also a student of Tongan traditional music, and he had personally investigated the numerous archaeological phenomena in his country, such as the ancient pyramidal tombs of early kings and the Tongan equivalent of Stonehenge, known as the "Triliithon."
Over the years I remained in contact with the crown prince--congratulating him when he became King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV in 1965 and sending him copies of my anthropological publications on Samoa from time to time. In 1977 I visited the king during a sabbatical leave and had a very pleasant audience with His Majesty reminiscing about the pleasures and tribulations of our 1954 malaga to Manu'a. My wife--Ellen--and I returned to Samoa again in the summer of 1988 and scheduled a side trip to Tonga to once again renew an old acquaintanceship and observe the direction and extent of cultural change that had occurred since 1977. But before we describe that visit, some background information on the Kingdom of Tonga would seem appropriate.
The islands, their early history, and prehistoric monuments
The Tongan archipelago extends over several hundred kilometers of the South Pacific Ocean, between 15 and 23 degrees south latitude and 173 and 177 degrees west longitude. Some 150 islands, many of them uninhabited, make up the three groups of islands that are Tonga--the Vava'u group in the north, the centrally located Ha'apai group, and the Tongatapu group to the south--each cluster of islands taking its name from its largest island. The island group has a population of about 100,000 with the heaviest concentration in and around the capital, Nuku'alofa, on the island of Tongatapu.
Most of the Tongan isles are relatively low coral formations called makatea, rather than the mountainous type of islands characteristic of Samoa, Hawaii, and Tahiti. While the climate in Tonga is generally tropical--warm and humid--the southern part of the archipelago is somewhat cooler and drier. The winter months (June, July, and August) may bring temperatures of 70 degrees Fahrenheit, causing modern Tongans to don sweaters and quilted jackets. A visitor arriving from Samoa, for example, would find this change a pleasant respite from the typical oppressive tropical heat.
The Kingdom of Tonga is normally described as culturally belonging to Western Polynesia, a distinction shared with the peoples of Samoa and
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