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Cardinal Soane Patita Mafi was welcomed during an ava ceremony at Leauva’a, a village near Apia, in Samoa last Monday.
Mafi was on his way to Tokelau to attend the church’s 150th anniversary celebrations there.
The highest form of Samoan traditional welcome, the ava (kava) ceremony was presided over by the chiefs, orators, taupou (chiefly women) and untitled men of the village of Leauva’a, whose village chiefs accepted the Catholic faith at Lealatele, Savai’i in 1835.
Chiefs and taupou in traditional regalia were part of the guard of honour of mainly bare chested and tattooed men lining the outskirts of the malae (marae) and the immediate area where another taupou used her bare hands to mix the royal ava for the chief guest.
The ceremony was attended by the Head of State, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, the Masiofo, Her Highness Filifilia Tamasese, Minister of Public Enterprises, Lautafi Selafi Purcell, Minister of Police, Sala Fata Pinati and leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.
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News category: Asia Pacific.
