Fijian Ceremony

A New Angle On An Old

Villagers of Wiveliscombe, a small town in Somerset, England, were all agog recently when a party of Fijian soldiers, now serving with the British Army Royal Engineers at Aldershot, took part in a ceremony which is common enough in the Pacific but rarely seen elsewhere.

pHE ceremony—the presentation of L kava (or yaqona, in Fiji)—took [ace in the orchard of Captain G. S. itchie, RN, who twice visited Fiji i the oceanographic research ship, MS Challenger, during a world ■uise from 1950 to 1952.

Captain Ritchie also frequently visited Suva when he commanded HMNZS Lachlan on his way to and from survey work in Western Samoa from 1954 to 1957, and on several occasions members of the Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve sailed with him.

The yaqona ceremony was one of the highlights of a church fete in Captain Ritchie’s grounds, and as it had seldom, if ever, been seen in the English countryside, it attracted a large crowd. Pressmen and tele vision cameramen were there in force.

The leader of the Fijians who per formed the yaqona ceremony was Sapper Rosa, a former member of the FRNVR. Others in the party were I. Vatanitawake, J. Tuisovuna, K. Yabaki, A. Laqeretabua, I.

Korodrau, T. Wilson and I.

Nacamavuto.

Miss Betty Foster, of Rotuma, and Miss Doreen Petersen, of Fiji, ac companied the party.

Other highlights of the occasion were hula and meke demonstations.

The proceedings ended with the un covering of a traditional Fijian hot stone oven in which two 100 lb pigs had been cooked to perfection under Sapper Rosa’s direction.

[?]e above pictures show (left) Captain Ritchie taking the first bowl of yaqona, and ight) Sapper Rosa serving the drink under the scrutiny of four of his Army colleagues.

Miss Betty Foster, of Rotuma, gives a demonstration of hula dancing.