Courtney Tiatia

Project #1
COMM 2150

Tongan Cultural Event

Overview
Tongan culture is easier understood when you can compare it to the Cultural Environment value
theory by Hofstede. When you look at the five areas of common problems in the value theory
you are able to come to the knowledge that Tongans base their lives on family, respect, and
Christianity. Weddings are a big social event for the culture where both families come together
in respect to honor the new couple. I was able to attend a Tongan wedding which is similar but
different than my husband’s culture that I married into. It was a great event to understand the
Tongan culture and be able to research more of their traditions so that I can have the knowledge
for future interactions with the wonderful people of Tonga.
Tongan Culture
Tongans are from Tonga which is located in the south pacific close to Fiji and Samoa north east
of New Zealand. The people on Tonga speak Tongan and English. Tongan rulers created a
hierarchal system of monarchy very similar to that of European dynasties. Christianity has been a
vital and influential aspect of every Tongan’s life, second only to the respect for family.
Everything is shut down on Sunday in order to enjoy and respect the Sabbath. Food, tapa making
(cloth making), Kava drinking (herbal drink that relaxes you) and Tongan dance are all very
important and hold a big cultural significance. The biggest events in Tongan life are births,
weddings, and funerals. “Tongan society is guided by four core values, all of which combine to
ensure a generous and genuine welcome to visitors to the Kingdom; Fefaka’apa’apa’aki (mutual
respect), Feveitokai’aki (sharing, cooperating and fulfilment of mutual obligations), Lototoo
(humility and generosity), and Tauhi vaha’a (loyalty and commitment). Family is the central unit
of Tongan life.” (The Kingdom of Tonga Today).
Tongan Wedding
Weddings are a huge cultural event for Tongans and is taken very seriously. There are steps in
Tongan culture for getting married which are: friendship, dating, man ask for permission to get
married, celebration before the wedding, the wedding day, and the first Sunday (Weddings
Guide, 2016). Weddings are typically held during the week instead on weekends because
Saturdays are seen as unlucky. The event lasts 3 or more days as far as different celebrations and
end with first Sunday which is the first Sunday after the marriage where the bride and groom
where their best traditional Tongan dress to church and their families hold a feast afterwards. The
night before the wedding there is a pre-celebration that consists of the giving of tapas, mats, and
blankets. There is dancing at all the celebrations and lots and lots of traditional food which
includes roasting pigs. The Tongan wedding, I was able to go to be a bit different than the ones
that are typically performed on the Islands. This couple had other cultures that influenced their
wedding day because their religion is not prominent in Tonga. Their ceremony was held at an
LDS temple and the reception at a barn. The ceremony was a typical LDS ceremony and didn’t
hold much Tongan culture to it. The reception however was jam packed with all the Tongan
traditions except Kava (which isn’t drank by LDS Polynesians because it is considered a type of
alcohol). The older people of each family gave speeches (grandma and grandpas) and blankets
and tapas were put on display from each family. The families put on traditional dances for the
wedding couple and then the bride did her solo dance where people threw money at her as a sign
of respect (I did this at my own wedding because it is the same in Samoan culture for the bride to
dance this dance). The wedding was based on family and showing respect from each family to
the other family. There is a massive feast of food ranging from pork, rice, salad, to more
traditional Tongan foods such as fish baked in coconut milk. Once the “show” of exchanging
gifts, speeches, and traditional dancing was finished they ended the night with everyone on the
dance floor for a dance party of typical American music.

The Cultural Environment

List and explain the Value Theory that can be applied to your religious or cultural
experience. You should explain the basic concepts and assumptions of the theory. You should
use quotes and citations in this section from the text, Reading Packet, or online lecture. My value
theory is The Cultural Environment by Hofstede. Hofstede examined value differences among
national societies. Hofstede identified five areas of common problems:
Power distance: social inequality, including the relationship with authority.
Femininity versus masculinity: the social implications of having been born male or
female.
Ways of dealing with uncertainty, controlling aggression, and expressing emotions.
Long-term versus short-term orientation to life.
“Power distance refers to the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and
organizations within a country expect and accept the unequal distribution of power. The
masculinity–femininity value is two-dimensional (Hofstede, 1984). It refers to (1) the degree to
which gender-specific roles are valued and (2) the degree to which cultural groups value so-
called masculine values (achievement, ambition, acquisition of material goods) or so-called
feminine values (quality of life, service to others, nurturance, support for the unfortunate).
Uncertainty avoidance concerns the degree to which people who feel threatened by ambiguous
situations respond by avoiding them or trying to establish more structure to compensate for the
uncertainty. A fifth dimension that emerged from the Asian study and that seems to apply to both
Eastern and Western societies is the long-term versus short-term orientation, which reflects a
society’s search for virtue or truth.” (Intercultural Communication in Contexts (Page 109).
Analysis
In Tongan culture they are happy with their royal monarchy that is established on the islands and
also their chiefs within villages that represent the village. They have a lot of respect for the
process and for their families who are in power. They have high respect for the elderly members
of their family which is why the elders speak at their weddings therefore tolerate their power
distance. In the culture as far as masculinity-femininity, women are just as important as men and
achievement and material goods are thought high of but also quality of life and support for their
village or family. At the wedding the tapa cloth and blankets are put on display as achievements
and material goods as respect to the couple but also the women steps on her husband’s back
during her solo dance and that is a visual that the women and men are equal. Uncertainty
avoidance in my observing of talk at the wedding is if someone in the family wanted the bride or
groom to do something different or the other family to do something specific, they wouldn’t
speak up but instead would talk about it to everyone else instead of talking to the bride or groom
or their family. As far as long-term versus short-term orientation typically Tongans are Christian
and would be go with short-term orientation and in this case the couple that I was observing was
Christian and would reflect short-term orientation.
Reflection

I wasn’t nervous to attend a different cultural function because I find it so fascinating to watch
and be a part of. I feel so humbled to be allowed to attend and even take part in such sacred
cultural events of other cultures. My husband is Samoan and there are a lot of difference and a
lot of similarities in the different cultures which I was surprised by a few of them. I think I’m a
pretty open person when it comes to culture and learning about other ways of life, so I don’t
necessarily feel like my attitude changed throughout this project. Yes, the application really
helped me to look at the culture in a different way and was where I found similarities between
Tongans and Samoans. I can incorporate what I learned in my project in the future because I
know a lot of Tongans but never really researched their culture to know the difference between
theirs and my husband’s Samoan culture that I’m a part of. I think it will help me understand
them as friends and for their future weddings and even just future Tongans that I meet and
interact with. It will also help me at work (the hospital) when I have Tongan patients because I
am more informed on their culture.

References
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts, Sixth
Edition, New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
“Pacific Island Wedding Traditions.” Weddings Guide., 27 Nov. 2016,
weddingsguide.co.nz/traditions-pacific/.
The Kingdom of Tonga Today. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2018, from
http://www.thekingdomoftonga.com/the-kingdom-today/