coconut shell cup
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In Fijian traditions and ceremonies, a Coconut shell cup, also called a bilo, is used to serve kava and yaqona.{{cite web |title=Philippine Daily Inquirer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVg1AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9 |publisher=Philippine Daily Inquirer |language=en}} The Samoan name for this cup is tauau or generally, ipu tau {{okina}}ava ('ava cup).
File:Samoan 'ava ceremony, c. 1900-1930 unknown photographer.jpg ('ava) makers (aumaga) of Samoa. A woman seated between two men with the round tanoa (or laulau) wooden bowl in front. Standing is a third man, distributor of the 'ava, holding the coconut shell cup (tauau) used for distributing the beverage.]]
File:Kava bowl and cup - Samoa 1900 - AJ Tattersall.jpg plant and strainer]]
The coconut shell cup used for distributing the 'ava in a ʻAva ceremony is made from the half shell of a ripe coconut that has been cleaned and polished.{{cite web |title=Kava cup (ipu ava) |url=https://fleming-collections.uvm.edu/objects/8211/kava-cup-ipu-ava;jsessionid=9E11F8AAF004161D49D5463826348268?ctx=8faae483-a65d-4afc-b759-60a61ee6d120&idx=72#gsc.tab=0 |website=fleming-collections.uvm.edu |language=en}} It is sometimes ornamented with different designs, and after early European contact, it was sometimes decorated with inlaid silver.
See also
- Coco chocolatero, the coconut shell cup of the Americas
- Coconut cup
- Kava culture