Prime Minister Mark Brown presented Tonga’s Prime Minister, Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, with a Toki – a ceremonial adze – on behalf of the government and people of the Cook Islands this week in Nuku’alofa.

This gift marks the handover of the Pacific Islands Forum chair responsibilities from the Cook Islands to Tonga at the 53^rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, the Toki, carved by Allan Tuara, a Mangaian historian and master carver, symbolises the leadership responsibilities the Tongan PM assumed this week on behalf of the 18 members of the Forum.

In pre-missionary times, Toki played an important role in Mangaian traditional ceremonies and were revered for their spiritual power and significance. They were only permitted to be carried onto the Marae by traditional priests.

“Papa Tuara invested patience, care, and many long hours into creating the adze gifted to Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku. Each motif was intricately carved, the sennit carefully braided, and the adze head shaped by hand,” MFAI said.

The Toki features two Mangaian traditional motifs. The first, Maro Itiki – literally translated, “itiki” means bound together, and “maro” means loincloth – originates from the legend of two Mangaian warriors, brothers who used their loincloths to bind themselves together in battle, defending and protecting each other back-to-back. The design resembles two letter Ks, one reversed, back-to-back.

“In the context of the Pacific Islands Forum, Maro Itiki signifies the ties that bind the Pacific Islands Forum as a family, united to protect and draw strength from one another in times of adversity,” MFAI said.

The second motif, Kavava (a raised cross forming a diamond shape), symbolises a cleft in the makatea rocks of Mangaia – a path from the makatea to the beach, to the sea.

“On this adze, and for the Pacific, the Kavava signifies the journey from land to sea and across oceans that generations of Pacific people have shared and will continue to share into the future.”

The wood used is mahogany, in its natural colouring, and the adze head is made of basalt rock naturally formed on Mangaia, sourced from its valleys and hills, and is of traditional Mangaian adze design.