My Fiji—Stop Playing With Fire

By Manoa Rasigatale

As a young Fijian looking in from the outside—l have )een away for many months—l ask: “Where is my ovely Fiji that I used to know and adore for her ritual jaditional customs?”

This question came to me as I saw more and more ;xamples in the Fiji newspapers of the way in which Fijian culture is being cheapened. One that really hurts ne is the way the firewalkers from Beqa now perform icarly every day of the week. I strongly believe that if lome measure is not taken it will become like cheap iollywood glitter—which will soon lose its lustre.

Sometimes I cry to myself when I think of those )eautiful islands in the South Pacific which have lost heir culture—or had it vulgarly stripped from them— md I ask: “Isa, is Fiji going to be the same one day?”

It’s not clear if Fiji is doing enough to preserve her Fijian culture. I just don’t know. But to get back to he firewalking, it really hurts me to see how it is )eing performed all over the place like an ordinary :oncert when it should be a sacred and respected cere nony.

It would be so much better if they performed perhaps >nly a couple of times a month and retained the dignity he ceremony once had. Not so long ago this ceremony vas rare—usually by special arrangement on a big iccasion and not for the general public. But today it is professional entertainment. You must make a booking ike you would at any theatre.

Is this the way to maintain sacred traditions? I don’t hink so.

It also worries me to see outsiders performing with he Beqa people. It is becoming just like a game. Soon

any Tom, Dick and Harry will be taking part in the ceremony. The Beqa people should keep it to them selves. The appetite people have for mysterious rituals— like firewalking—will fade if it is shown too often.

Behind the scenes show business is already having a bad effect on the Beqa tribes. There have been dif ferences between the Dakuibeqans and the Naceva people. It was difficult to find out the real cause of their discontent but village politics and jealousies ob viously were involved as well as the question of who was getting the most money from firewalking. Is this quarrelling to be one of the results of performing too often for the public?

The money involved is considerable compared to what the average Bcqan has been used to in the past.

One Suva hotel pays the firewalkers a $360 flat fee for one show; a Nadi hotel pays $5OO a show; another pays $6OO, $250 for which is regarded as transport and accommodation costs.

Money obviously is having a disturbing effect. But some people feel that even worse is happening. There is a story going around Fiji today about the deaths of the two leaders of the firewalking groups. The Dakuibeqan Bete (high priest), Semi Raikadra, died in India on December 15 while on a visit to perform at the Third Asian International Trade Fair. The other leader, of the Rukua tribe, died in Suva a few months earlier.

Many people believe they died because the ritual and tradition of the firewalking ceremony had been meddled with.