The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of CustomThomson, Basil
History
The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of Custom
Thomson, Basil
Ethnology -- Fiji; Fijians
First among the Kalou-vu was Ndengei, primarily a god of Rakiraki on the
north-east coast of Vitilevu, but known throughout Fiji except in the
eastern islands of the Lau group. The evolution of this god from the
ancestor and tutelary deity of a joint-family into a symbol of Creation
and Eternity in serpent form is an exact counterpart of Jupiter, the god
of a Latin tribe, inflated with Etruscan and Greek myth until he
overshadows the ancient world as Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The variants
of the Ndengei myths are so numerous that they must be reserved for
another chapter; it is enough here to say that Ndengei and the
personage associated with him are proved by the earliest myths of his
home on the Ra coast to be deified mortals who have risen to the rank of
Kalou-vu by their importance as the first immigrants and the founders of
the race.
Next in order to Ndengei is Ndauthina (the torch-bearer), the god of the
seafaring and fishing community throughout Fiji. That he is one of the
introductions from another system of mythology and not a deified mortal
of Fiji is strongly suggested by the fact that all the fisher-tribes are
_tauvu_ or _Kalou-vata_ (worshippers of the same god, and therefore of
common origin). These tribes, by the nature of their occupation, are
prone to scatter widely, though comparatively late arrivals in the
group. They seldom own any land in the province of their adoption, but
attach themselves to the chiefs, from whom they enjoy marked privileges
in return for their services. It would take but few years for the newest
arrivals, scattering thus among far distant islands, to disseminate
their cult throughout a group of islands, and there is nothing in the
Ndauthina myths that disproves their Eastern origin. The fisher-tribes
had the best of reasons for keeping the freemasonry of their bond of
_Kalou-vata_ (_lit._, same God) alive. Their calling subjected them to
frequent shipwreck, and by the law of custom the lives of castaways were
forfeit--a survival, perhaps, of a primitive system of quarantine. But
the shipwrecked fisherman might always find sanctuary in a temple
dedicated to Ndauthina, and thus win the "freedom of the city" in a
village where he was a stranger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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