Let the Coronation Celebrations Begin

Preparations are complete.

Every village and major organization is expected to give gifts to the royal family.  Every presentation we saw involved a very large live pig, a load of ufi (large tuber), tapa cloth, mats and a kava (the national drink comes from this) plant.

The LDS church was among the gift givers.  We were actually able to be part of the "Hala" where the gifts are presented to the king.

So, the king sits inside the palace door (on the floor) during the entire proceedings. We actually were invited to greet the king while there.  You have to take off your shoes while out of his sight and then kneel and crawl into his view, he extends his hand and says "hello" while shaking your hand.  Then, you back off on your hands and knees until out of sight, stand and put on your shoes and never wash you hand again. 

There was a big "International Block Party" down town one night.  They blocked off some streets and a lot of the island showed up for just hanging out, mostly.

One of our favrites was Education Day.  These guys and girls are from the trade schools and they built, wired, furnished and hosted a newly wed couple in 20 minutes.  It was amazing and they pulled it off without a hitch.

Who needs a forklift!

The walls, floors and cabinets were pre-built and carried in.

Better get the bed in there before you add the balcony on.

Note the roof, solar panels and windmill.  They actually lit up the place!  Note the students from the tourism and hospitality school bringing in all the fixin's for the couple's wedding night.

There they are, dressed in traditional Tongan attire, upstairs having a celebratory drink.  Very impressive to pull all that off in 20 minutes.  

The king and queen were there for the entire program.  He inspected all the school display booths that were set up around the track.  

What's a coronation without a parade?  This one was sponsored by Liahona Alumni.  Different countries or cities from around the world built floats for the parade.  No, those are not all roses, all is prepared from locally grown flora.  Oh, and lots of balloons.  They love their balloons.

Liahona Alumni invited the king and Prince Ata to a luncheon .  That's a whole pig there on the table wrapped in cellophane.

Lots of people there.  Maybe 25 tents filled with people and food.  The Alumni put on a very fine show with dancing and music from tradtional to modern.

The king never speaks to us commoners.  He has a talking chief do it for him.

Here's how you get home after the feast.  This is a typical mode of transportation in Tonga.

There was a "Military Tatoo" presented one evening.  His Majesty's Royal Band hosted the USA Marine Corps Band, the New Zeland Military Band and the Austrailian Military Band.  They did some drills while playing music.  Each had a part and then they all performed together.

These "overheads" are all over the island.  Not sure how long they will be up.

The one in the back has pictures of all the new currency that has been minted with you know who's picture on every one of the notes and coins.

We were not invited to the coronation so we had to get this shot off the TV.