At Beqa
p. 84 · Read in the full issue
Governor Sees Firewalkers In Action At Beqa
HTHE Governor of Fiji, Sir A Kenneth Maddocks, re cently paid an official visit to Beqa, renowned as the home of a tribe of Fijians who are custodians of the secrets of the traditional ceremony of
firewalking.
Beqa, a deeply indented island, is 20 miles south-west of Suva. Members of the Beqa tribe are able to walk, without discomfort or burning, on hot stones which have been heated in a pit.
Rob Wright, the Fiji Public Relations Office photographer, accompanied the Governor on his trip and took the excellent photographs reproduced here. 6 The top picture shows firewalkers entering the pit and walking on the hot stones.
When a circuit of the oven has been made, assistants fling bundles of green leaves into the arena, and the performers gather in the centre and break into a chant. • The middle picture shows the firewalkers chanting in the centre of the pit amid smoke and steam generated by the heat of the stones. This is the end of the performance.
The pit is then filled in and covered with earth. • The bottom picture de picts the Governor’s party em barking in small boats at Beqa to join the “Ra Marama”, the Governor’s yacht, for a visit to Yanuca Island in the Beqa lagoon.