16/08/2026
🇹🇴 Ko te Wiki o te reo Lea Faka-Tonga 🇹🇴
This year’s theme, “Ko ʻetau hiva, ko e feʻunu mahuʻinga ia ki he moʻui ʻa e Tonga” — “Our music is a vital strand of our Tongan culture”
Do not be afraid to speak what you know. Learn from your elders. Sing the song. You do not have to choose between being a New Zealander and being a proud Tongan — you can be both.
Sometimes it is through singing that we find our language again. We find the words of our grandparents and reconnect with those who came before us. Hiva is more than a performance — it keeps our language, identity, faith and the aspirations of our ancestors alive for the generations still to come.
As Psalm 100 reminds us, “come before His presence with singing.” 🎶
May our Tongan tauira continue to speak what they know, learn what they do not yet know, listen to their elders and sing the songs that connect them to those who came before and those who will come after.
Long may Lea Faka-Tonga be spoken, sung, celebrated and passed from generation to generation.
Mālō ‘aupito. 🇹🇴
