MYTHOLOGIES OF FIJI

The people of Fiji believed in an epic journey for the souls of the deceased. That journey is even more detailed than the Soul’s Journey envisioned by the Tupari of Brazil.

I. For four days the spirit of the deceased lingers in the vicinity of its host body’s death. Then it begins the long and perilous journey to Mbulu, the land of the dead.

II. Upon reaching the headlands at Naithobokoboko the spirit encounters the goddess LEWALEVU. This deity tries to prevent the soul from proceeding unless she is propitiated by offerings of leaves.

III. If the deceased successfully passes Lewalevu it next encounters the sandalwood tree at Vuniyasikinikini. The spirit is required to pinch the bark of the Yasi/ sandalwood tree with its fingernails.

If the nails are long and sharp enough to sink into the bark it proves the person did not do much fighting or hard work in life. If its nails are short and dull it proves the deceased worked and fought hard in life and may continue their journey.

IV. Next awaits the goddess NANG-GA NANG-GA, the Devourer of Bachelors. Nang-ga Nang-ga sits on a black rock by the edge of the sea. On one side of her stone perch lap the ocean’s waves and on the other side steep jagged cliffs jut up to the skies.

Degei and the his Gift of Kava

Fiji Myths and Legends

Oral story-telling is a popular and important pastime in Fiji that helps to keep alive the myths from the old religion, as well as legends about more modern figures in Fiji’s history. So when in Fiji, pull up a stool (or a woven mat) beside the fire, grab a bowl of kava and Fijians will tell you a tale… a tale of Pacific gods, of indigenous plants and animals, of cannibals who ate their enemies during war time… One popular Fijian creation myth that explains the existence of human life on the islands is of the ancestral snake god, Degei. In the beginning, Degei lived a lonely life with only Turukawa, the hawk, as a friend. One day, Turukawa disappeared, and Degei went in search of her. He came across Turukawa’s bird’s nest, in which he found two abandoned eggs that he promptly took to his own house to nurture. After several weeks of nesting, the eggs hatched to reveal two tiny human bodies. Degei raised the humans, grew vegetation in order to feed them and told them stories that revealed the nature of all things.

Gods and Spirits of Fiji

MOST POPULAR FIJIAN GODS

The culture of Fiji is a tapestry of native Fijian, Indian, European, Chinese, and other nationalities. Culture polity traditions, language, food costume, belief system, architecture, arts, craft, music, dance, and sports will be discussed in this article to give you an indication of Fiji’s indigenous community but also the various communities which make up Fiji as a modern culture and living. The indigenous culture is an active and living part of everyday life for the majority of the population. Fijian culture has evolved with the introduction of Indian, Chinese and European culture, and various cultures from the Pacific neighbors of Fiji; in particular the Tongan and Rotuman cultures. The culture of Fiji, including language, has created a unique communal and national identity.

Fiji Flood Myth

The Serpent God plays an important role in many religions and myths from all over the World. However, most of the times its role is identified with that of Evil, even if the common denominator of the Serpent God is that he wants humans to get knowledge (such as the example of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden in Christian religions). In the mythology of Fiji Island, in one of the more popular creation stories, the Serpent God is not only an important God but the first and ever living god that created the first humans. His name is the Great Serpent Degei, the supreme God. He is believed to be the creator of the Fiji islands and all men related to the islands. He is the one that judges the souls when they die and decides where they move onto in the afterlife. According to the legend, in the beginning it was only water and twilight everywhere and only an island existed, the island of the Gods which floated somewhere at the edge of the world and could be visible during sunrise. Degei was alone and the only living creature was the female hawk named Turukawa.

In this story, the great god Ndengi gets upset with his two grandsons after they kill his messenger bird. His grandsons then buried the bird to cover up their tracks but the grandfather soon finds out that it was them who killed the bird. When he found out, his grandsons packed up and moved to the mountain side and lived with some other people. Their grandfather soon found out where they now lived and fought them. Not making any progress, their grandfather flooded the mountainside until his grandsons prayed to another god and received a canoe and escaped. Cultural overview- During this time, people thought of certain birds as a sacred gift from the gods. So for Ndengi’s grandsons to do that was a disgraced and it angered Ndengi very much. Similarities- A similarity is that a god was made upset because of something and this story had characters die and survive. The survivors escaped the flood on a boat and birds were an important part of the story. The last similarity is that a god was involved in both stories.

The Fiji Mermaid: What Was the Abominable Creature and Why Was It So Popular?

The Fiji (also spelled as ‘Feejee’) mermaid was a sideshow that gained popularity during the 19th century. The original Fiji Mermaid was displayed in 1842 by P.T. Barnum, an American showman and businessman, in the Barnum’s American Museum, New York. This curiosity attracted many visitors to the museum, and its popularity is attested in the fact that more Fiji mermaids would later be displayed in the United States. Barnum’s mermaid is commonly said to have been destroyed in a fire that broke out and burned down Barnum’s museum in 1865. Nevertheless, at that time, the mermaid would have had been displayed at Kimball’s Boston Museum, and only perished when that museum too went up in flames in the early 1880s. It has also been claimed by some that the mermaid was rescued from (either one of) the fires, and is still being displayed today.