Tonga Essay

Words: 2024
Pages: 9

Tonga
Tonga as a country has always been very religious and very deep into their culture. In Tonga family is everything, along with religion. Tongan religion is mostly Methodist, Christian or Morman. The king and the majority of the royal family are members of the Free Wesleyan Church (Methodist) which claims some 40,000 adherents in the country. Church is a big commitment as it is a way to show respect to their country and how it was founded. The Tongans have devoted their whole day on Sundays to go to church. The harmonised singing and beat of the wooden drums are all familiar sounds to a Tongan on a Sunday. After a session of church has been held, all the members will be asked to go to a hall and celebrate their religion through song
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Divorce theoretically became formal, and difficult, though this may have only slightly discouraged informal separations and subsequent common-law unions
Tongan men wear a tupenu, a cloth that is similar to a sarong, which is wrapped around the waist. It should be long enough to cover the knees or the shins of the legs. In daily life, any shirt (T-shirt, jersey, woven shirt) will do to top the tupenu. Usually shirts are used clothing imported from overseas. Some men will go shirtless working on their plantations, but it is matter of law that shirts be worn in town. Women too wear a tupenu, but a long one which should reach to the ankles. They sometimes wear shorter tupenu for working in the house or picking shellfish on the reef. The tupenu is usually topped with a dress. This may be sewn to order, or it may be an imported used dress.
Once a Tongan has obtained a hereditary title, he will be named with that title and no longer with his baptised name. Such titles are usually for life, but the holder can be stripped of it when convicted of a serious crime, and he will then return to his original name. Some titles are equal to the family name, others are not. For example when somewhere in history they were given away to another family if the original holder died without sons. In former times a woman could hold such a title, but nowadays only men. To distinguish successive holders of the same title, it is permissible to add the original name between parentheses.
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