Tonga?...What?...
Ok. In all honesty, how many people do you know who are from the Kingdom of Tonga? …or shall I say, how many people think I’m a loony who dreamed up a magical place and christened it?
Well, today I went to the United Methodist Church of Tonga. I kid u not.
Ever since I knew I was going to move to Hillsdale County in San Mateo, I looked for churches that sounded familiar. Every search I did brought up only one church – The Hillsdale United Methodist Church. I was excited since it was the kind of church that sang the traditional hymns, it was also the denomination I had been attending for most of my life and was only a couple of blocks from my apartment.
This morning I set out to find the place taking nothing but my roommate’s direction which was “go to the Payless and just look around till you see it”. My first mistake was to do just that. After walking around the neighbourhood for a good half hour and asking the staff of Payless, I decided that like fresh vegetables I had tried to find in San Francisco, the church was phantom… visible only to those who already knew where it was. Half an hour later, completely convinced that not a single peron in the neighbourhood went to church (cause of their cluelessness when I asked for directions) I finally found the place, amusingly, the opposite direction of Payless! I looked at the announcement board that had the service times. It included a service in Tonga. Being forewarned of crazy churches, cults and that sort, I contemplated what “Tonga” meant. Was it Latin for “Tougue” where people spoke in tongues? (practiced mostly in Pentecostal churches) , was it a sub-denomination name? Was it a Spanish dialect?
On entering I was welcomed by really friendly people most of which had grass mats tied over their skirts and their features were very Hawaiian. The service was the regular Methodist service in English that I had grown up with except that some responses to the pastor were asked to be made in Tongan.
When I came home I researched and found out:
According to Wikipedia “The Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan for "south") is an independent archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. It lies south of Samoa and east of Fiji and is about a third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii.
The islands are also known as the Friendly Islands because of the friendly reception Captain Cook received. He happened to arrive at the time of ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga and was invited to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but had been unable to agree on a plan.”
It was just a regular Methodist church made to serve the small population of Tongans here in the Bay Area. Can’t wait to see how they celebrate Christmas.
Well, today I went to the United Methodist Church of Tonga. I kid u not.
Ever since I knew I was going to move to Hillsdale County in San Mateo, I looked for churches that sounded familiar. Every search I did brought up only one church – The Hillsdale United Methodist Church. I was excited since it was the kind of church that sang the traditional hymns, it was also the denomination I had been attending for most of my life and was only a couple of blocks from my apartment.
This morning I set out to find the place taking nothing but my roommate’s direction which was “go to the Payless and just look around till you see it”. My first mistake was to do just that. After walking around the neighbourhood for a good half hour and asking the staff of Payless, I decided that like fresh vegetables I had tried to find in San Francisco, the church was phantom… visible only to those who already knew where it was. Half an hour later, completely convinced that not a single peron in the neighbourhood went to church (cause of their cluelessness when I asked for directions) I finally found the place, amusingly, the opposite direction of Payless! I looked at the announcement board that had the service times. It included a service in Tonga. Being forewarned of crazy churches, cults and that sort, I contemplated what “Tonga” meant. Was it Latin for “Tougue” where people spoke in tongues? (practiced mostly in Pentecostal churches) , was it a sub-denomination name? Was it a Spanish dialect?
On entering I was welcomed by really friendly people most of which had grass mats tied over their skirts and their features were very Hawaiian. The service was the regular Methodist service in English that I had grown up with except that some responses to the pastor were asked to be made in Tongan.
When I came home I researched and found out:
According to Wikipedia “The Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan for "south") is an independent archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. It lies south of Samoa and east of Fiji and is about a third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii.
The islands are also known as the Friendly Islands because of the friendly reception Captain Cook received. He happened to arrive at the time of ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga and was invited to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but had been unable to agree on a plan.”
It was just a regular Methodist church made to serve the small population of Tongans here in the Bay Area. Can’t wait to see how they celebrate Christmas.
Labels: Tonga
posted by Priya at
5:04 PM
3 Comments
