The Sakau Ceremony

Pohnpei's social sacrament pounds out nightly: sakau - the island's kava, pepper-plant roots hammered on ringing basalt stones, the pulp squeezed through hibiscus bast into a muddy, numbing draught - orders ceremony at the nahs (feast houses) where rank sets the cups' rotation, and relaxes into the island's sakau bars where the same drink serves social evenings at market scale. Visitors meet it properly by invitation at feasts or easily at the bars: first cups numb lips and lower voltage, etiquette asks quiet respect, and the stones' ring - the island's evening bell - carries across the dark. The plant is the same species as kava elsewhere in the Pacific, but the Pohnpeian preparation and the etiquette around it are distinct.

What to look for

• The pounding stones - basalt ringing the preparation.
• The hibiscus squeeze - bast straining the draught.
• The nahs protocol - rank and rotation at feasts.
• The bars' evenings - the social version by the cup.

When to go

Year round, evenings; feast invitations arrange through hosts and guides - the bars welcome walk-ins nightly.

Things to know

Sakau numbs and slows - schedule nothing after; hygiene varies by venue, and ceremony settings ask phone-away respect.

Nearby

Kolonia's evenings and the island's nahs districts.