'Unique' kava ceremony helps to give women a voice and be recognised

This article is part of series we are publishing this week focusing on indigenous women in New Zealand and the Pacific.

The Kava ‘o Aotearoa ceremony partnered with the Indigenous Women in Industry conference last week to share their adaptation of the traditional Pacific process of talanoa and kava.

Co-designer and spokesperson of Kava 'o Aotearoa Christine Nurminen says their ceremony is an adaptation that is unique to Aotearoa.

“It centers te reo Māori, it amplifies women’s roles and it also is inclusive of all diverse peoples,” she says.

The Indigenous Women in Industry conference was held in Auckland and Rotorua from 5 to 9 February, with around 50 indigenous women from around Samoa, Canada, Australia and the US, joining more than 200 women in Aotearoa.

Susana Leiataua, tou’a role, Kava ‘o Aotearoa Ceremony in partnership with Indigenous Women in Industry 2024

Founder, Director and CEO at Indigenous Women in Industry (IWI), Rachel Petero said welcoming the Pasifika panelists in Waikato-Tainui on Waitangi Day with Rachel Afeaki from the Waikato Pacific Business Network was a highlight of the week.

The Kava ‘O Aotearoa Ceremony was held at the Due Drop Events Center and has been an ongoing annual event since 2019.

“We do it every year to honour quite important topics for our country,” Nurminen says.

“Pacific women are influential, Pacific women are the future leaders of Aotearoa New Zealand in partnership with our tane.”

A Kava 'o Aotearoa documentary was also made to highlight how kava ceremonies are evolving for contemporary use in Aotearoa in a way that honours tangata whenua.

Nurminen says in their adaptation, they have women in the tou’a kava role (which involves serving and overseeing the ceremony) and they perform the mixing of the kava.

"As part of our Kava 'o Aotearoa process, the remaining kava is returned to the whenua/land. Because last week's event happened before Waitangi Day, the Kava 'o Aotearoa team took the kava that was poured and spoken over by indigenous women who took part in the ceremony was taken up to Waitangi. The kava was blessed by Church Reverend Te Kitohi Pikaahu and then buried beneath a palm tree at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds".

The fresh flowers worn by tou'a Susana Leiataua were also taken to Waitangi and gifted to Mere Simon one of the Maori kuia who had been on hikoi from Reinga to Waitangi.

“For Kava ‘o Aotearoa we have increased that role where women are actually directing and pouring the kava and also serving so that one significant difference allows women to be seen, heard and our names to be pronounced and for us to speak,” Nurminen says.

For her, receiving the invitation from IWI to partner and perform the Kava 'o Aotearoa in their 2024 summit was very special.

“[It was a highlight] hearing all the voices of the other indigenous peoples from outside Aotearoa, to understand what they see as important to them but also to hear their understanding of Te Tiriti and what they can do to help tell the stories of Māori.”