The Sacred Turtles

Of Kadavu

By David Blakelock

ON the island of Kadavu, one of the larger islands of the Fiji Group and some fifty miles by water from the capital, Suva, is the village of Namuana.

Namuana nestles at the foot of a beautiful bay adjacent to the Government Station in Vunisea Harbour.

Here the island narrows down to a very narrow isthmus and by climbing the hill behind the village one can stand on the saddle and look out to the sea to the south and to the north. Legend says that in the past, during tribal wars, warriors slid the canoes on rollers up over the narrow neck of the land to save them the long journey round the east and west ends of the island.

The legend associated with the women of Namuana village is one of the most interesting ones, beside the legend of the Firewalkers of Beqa. This is the legend of the Sacred Turtles of Kadavu.

Many, many years ago in the beautiful Namuana village lived a very beautiful princess called Tinaicaboga, wife of the chief of Namuana, She had a charming daughter called Raudalice.

The two women often went fishing together on the reefs close to their shores. On one particular occasion, the two women went further afield than usual and out into the submerged reef which juts out from the rocky headland to the east of the bay.

They became so engrossed with their fishing that they did not notice the stealthy approach of a great canoe filled with fishermen from Nabukelevu, a village at the west end of Kadavu. Nabukelevu is in the shadow of Mt Washington, the highest peak on Kadavu.

The fishermen suddenly leapt from their canoe and seized the two women, bound their hands and feet with vines and tossed them into their canoe and set off in great haste for Nabukelevu. Although these women pleaded for their lives, the warriors took no notice of them. Their entreaties fell on the deaf ears of these cruel men.

The gods of the sea, however, were kind and soon a great storm arose and the canoe was tossed about by huge waves which almost swamped it.

AS the canoe was foundering in the sea, the fishermen were astonished to learn that the two women lying in the water in the hold of the canoe had suddenly changed into the form of a turtle, and to save their lives, the men got hold of them and threw them into the rough seas. As soon as the turtles hit the water, the storm began to subside. But the frightened fishermen continued on their homeward journey.

Although the women were saved from those cruel fishermen, they were not to regain their human form.

So, as turtles, they lived on in the lagoons of the bay.

When the people of Namuana learned of the incident, they mourned and then a very strange ritual began. The women of Namuana, assembled at the top of a rocky headland about 120 to 150 feet above sea level and chanted. As they chanted, beautiful turtles would rise to the calm surface of the lagoon below and float about listening to the chants.

The translation of this strange song is: “The women of Namuana are all dressed in mourning Each carries a sacred club, each is tattooed in strange patterns.

Do rise to the surface, Raudalice, so we may look at you Do rise, Tinaicaboga, so we may also look at you.”

Like other rituals, this has taboos. One of these is that no fishing is permitted in the waters of that lagoon, let alone turtle fishing. The other taboo is that no one from the village of Nabukelevu should be present during the ceremony of the calling of the turtles. This is very important for if one is present, no turtle will rise. These are still observed today.

As is usually the case with such strange ceremonies and customs in Fiji, the turtle-calling is based on an ancient legend still passed on from father to son among the people of Kadavu.

You may doubt the truth of the legend, but you can not doubt the fact that the chanting of this strange song does in fact lure giant turtles to the surface of the blue water of the bay. The ritual is still preserved by the women of Namuana village on the island of Kadavu.