Calypso's Journal: Vakananumi Ni Vatu

Oneata has a rather unique special celebration called Vakananumi Ni Vatu (try to pronounce that one) which takes place on the 9^th July each year and we were fortunate enough to be there and receive an invitation to join in. This is a huge religious event marking the arrival of the first missionaries to Fiji back in 1830. Three apparently arrived in Oneata first and at least one is buried there (there are rumours that at least one of the others was eaten).

The start of the procession

Both villages joined in a procession to the hallowed grounds singing in unison as they walked. A special church service was performed and this, of course, meant another big feast. This time, the food included some boiled pork which, surprisingly enough, was really very nice, accompanied by the inevitable boiled cassava, boiled sweet potatoes, boiled fish and boiled spinach in coconut milk. All this was followed by a banana and custard dessert (probably boiled) but quite delicious.

H and I carried on our own tradition of providing a loaf of bread or salad or cookies for each of these events, all of which were gratefully accepted.

Mary in her 'after' outfit

This is a day of dusting off the very best of Sunday best. The school children all wear their uniforms and the adult women are primarily dressed in white. Men wear full suits and ties (suits in Fiji have sulus instead of trousers) and the little ones are dressed in all the frills and fancies. Someone neglected to tell us that we should try to wear white but no one seemed to mind. Just as well, I can’t think of anything we have aboard Calypso that is white – grubby grey maybe, but white, no. However, once the religious aspect was over, all the most colourful outfits were brought out, many new outfits specially made for the occasion.

After lunch, a few of the chaps played cricket which was then followed by a kava drinking ceremony. Kava, if you remember from our visit to Fiji last year, is a drink made from the root of a shrub akin to the pepper tree family. This is then dried and ground, mixed with water and drunk in copious quantities throughout this part of the world. All villagers seem to love it and get quite ‘high’ on the stuff. Most of us pelagis (foreigners) find it somewhat distasteful.

This particular ceremony was, we discovered, also a fund raising for the church. We were absolutely amazed at how much was raised on this occasion especially as B and H had told us about the school fund raising prior to our arrival and the amount achieved then. Heaven only knows how they manage to come up with these amounts but they are extremely community-minded people and have no qualms about giving all to these causes.

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