Tongan Chiefs Pay Homage To King

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30943, 27 December 1965, Page 8

Tongan Chiefs Pay Homage To King

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

NUKUALOFA, December 26. In an ancient ceremony Kanokupolu nobles and chiefs paid homage to King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV in the palace grounds on Saturday. It was the first formal function honouring the King since the funeral of his mother, Queen Salote, on Thursday.

Kanokupoiu is the district in the western end of Tonga from which Tupou monarchs come. King Taufa’ahau is the 22nd ruler of Kanokupoiu and the fourth ruler of the kingdom of Tonga. In a private ritual a living kava root was prepared and drunk and a great roast pig ceremoniously cut up and divided among the King and chiefs. Other groups of villages will take part in similar ceremonies over the next 10 days until all have paid homage. Earlier relatives of Queen Salote's parents had gathered at the palace to have their hair taken off. In Tonga, as in many other countries, this is the symbol of great grief. Although high in the Tongan social scale, relatives of the ruler’s mother traditionink ally perform menial tasks ■| around the palace during the ■1 funeral period, wear distinctive taovala (mats around ■

t their waists) and let their 91 hair grow wild. s' Crown Prince Taufa’ahau e and the King’s only daughter 1 Princess Pilovevu, burned off the hair of the relatives of the Queen s mother close to g the head and then cut with i scissors the hair of the g Queen’s father’s relatives. • They had been appointed 1 by the King to do this task. In I- older times relatives would r also have gashed themselves D with stones as a symbol of - mourning. There is not yet any indicaJ tion when the King’s coronartion may take place. r i Queen Salote's coronation s took place six months after s her father’s death. If King Taufa-ahau follows suit he could be crowned in June. ’I Some nobles are forecastring July 4 as the date because s this is the King’s birthday. 8 Others say he may wait until •■ October 11, which is the date J iof his mother’s coronation. ♦