the king's funeral

Very early on the morning of Monday 11 September, I lay awake listening to the sound of bells chiming. At first I didn't think much of it. Bells chime early every morning in Tonga. But the bells kept ringing and I started to turn my mind to why they hadn't stopped after more than thirty minutes. The answer was obvious. The King was dead.

Over breakfast, the Radio Australia news failed to confirm my suspicions and I assumed that all the forewarnings about the King's poor health had made me jump to conclusions and went to work dressed as per normal. When I passed another AYAD wearing all black, my suspicions were raised again. At work, the news finally made it to me. The King had died the previous evening, the country was in mourning. Now to work out what that meant.

As AYADs, we have been receiving advice about what to expect following the King's passing since well before we arrived in Tonga. The scenarios have ranged from a tapu (taboo) period of a few months of mourning to a year, when we would be expected to wear black, act more conservatively than usual. Shops, bars, cinemas, hotels and airlines would close. Government shuttnig down for a significant part of the tapu had me excited, I could take another trip to Samoa.

As it turned out, and as the foreign press largely failed to report, the tapu will only be one month. I will be wearing black only until 17 October. The shops haven't closed, apart from the day of the funeral. The bars and hotels are still open, though not playing music. Life is going on as normal. This is the most remarkable part of the King's passing, the extent to which the new King has dispensed with tradition. There has been some sadness and I have been fortunate enough to attend parts of the elaborate funeral proceedings, but the part that most makes this an historical time to be in Tonga is the departure from tradition.

That aside, the ceremony of the King's funeral has been impressive. It is hard to describe, so I won't. Instead check out my photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerogetsamgow

Better still read what the Tongan's have to say. The Government site http://www.tonga-now.to has more about the funeral than I can describe and the online paper http://www.matangitonga.to is equally informative.