Culture
The Republic of the Fiji Islands is a multicultural island nation with cultural traditions of Oceanic, European, South Asian, and East Asian origins. Immigrants have accepted several aspects of the indigenous culture, but a national culture has not evolved. Commercial, settler, missionary, and British colonial interests imposed Western ideologies and infrastructures on the native peoples and Asian immigrants that facilitated the operation of a British crown colony.
Social Organization:
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Men associate primarily with other men, and women's activities are performed mostly with other women. Men are the primary contributors to the family economy, although women also contribute to the family economy. men clear land for gardens, hunt, fish, build houses, and mow the grass around the home and village. Among Indo-Fijians, men and women lead largely separate lives.
Women help in the cultivation of rice and sugar. A woman's traditional role is to be a homemaker, a mother, and an obedient wife. Ethnic Fijian women fish, collect shell-fish, weed gardens, and gather firewood. A woman is formally lower in rank to her husband in regard to decision making. Unless a woman is of high rank, she has little influence in her village. Although girls do better than boys in schools, fewer women than men receive a higher education. Rising poverty levels have forced many women into the lowest ranks of wage-earning jobs, and there has been an increase in the number of female-headed households and an erosion of traditional family values. Women are often victims of domestic violence and are over-represented among the unemployed and the poor.
Among ethnic Fijians, marriages were traditionally arranged, with the groom's father often selecting a bride from a subclan with which his family had a long-term relationship; ties between lineages and families were strengthened in this manner. Today, although individuals choose their spouses freely, marriage is still considered an alliance between groups rather than individuals. When parental approval is refused, a couple may elope. Marriage is no longer polygynous, but divorce and remarriage are common. Intermarriage is rare with Indo-Fijians, but Fijians often marry Europeans, Pacific islanders, and Chinese. Indo-Fijian marriages traditionally were also parentally arranged. Religiously sanctioned marriages are the norm, but civil registration has been required since 1928.( http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Fiji.html)
Women help in the cultivation of rice and sugar. A woman's traditional role is to be a homemaker, a mother, and an obedient wife. Ethnic Fijian women fish, collect shell-fish, weed gardens, and gather firewood. A woman is formally lower in rank to her husband in regard to decision making. Unless a woman is of high rank, she has little influence in her village. Although girls do better than boys in schools, fewer women than men receive a higher education. Rising poverty levels have forced many women into the lowest ranks of wage-earning jobs, and there has been an increase in the number of female-headed households and an erosion of traditional family values. Women are often victims of domestic violence and are over-represented among the unemployed and the poor.
Among ethnic Fijians, marriages were traditionally arranged, with the groom's father often selecting a bride from a subclan with which his family had a long-term relationship; ties between lineages and families were strengthened in this manner. Today, although individuals choose their spouses freely, marriage is still considered an alliance between groups rather than individuals. When parental approval is refused, a couple may elope. Marriage is no longer polygynous, but divorce and remarriage are common. Intermarriage is rare with Indo-Fijians, but Fijians often marry Europeans, Pacific islanders, and Chinese. Indo-Fijian marriages traditionally were also parentally arranged. Religiously sanctioned marriages are the norm, but civil registration has been required since 1928.( http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Fiji.html)
Customs & Traditions:
People generally eat three meals a day, but there is much variability in meal times and snacking is common. Most food is boiled, but some is broiled, roasted, or fried. Cooked food is served on a tablecloth spread on the floor mat inside the house. The evening meal, which is usually the most formal, requires the presence of all the family members and may not begin without the male head of the household. Men are served first and receive the best foods and the largest portions. Meals are meant to be shared as an expression of social harmony. Traditional food taboos relating to totemic animals and plants generally are ignored. Indo-Fijian meals also include starch and relishes, and men and women eat separately. The staple tends to be either flatbread made from imported flour or else locally grown rice. Relishes are primarily vegetarian, but some meat and fish is consumed when it is available. Many Indo-Fijians obey religious prohibitions against beef (Hindus) or pork (Muslims). As with Fijians, most cooking is done by women.
Holidays and or festivities in Fiji include:
· New Year’s Day - Thursday, 1st January · Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday - Monday, 5th January · Good Friday - Friday, 03rdApril · Easter Saturday - Saturday, 04th April · Easter Monday - Monday, 06th April · National Sports Day - Friday, 26th June · Fiji Day - Saturday, 10th October · Diwali - Wednesday,11th November · Christmas Day - Friday, 25th December · Boxing Day Holiday - Monday, 28th December |
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Arts & Literature:
The Fiji Arts Council, the Fiji Museum, and the National Trust are the chief government-backed sponsors of the arts. Most funding for the arts comes from the tourist industry and from galleries and studios, along with aid from foreign governments. The USP's Oceania Center for Arts and Culture, founded in 1997, sponsors workshops and holds exhibitions of paintings and sculpture as well as music and dance performances and poetry readings.
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The Fijian tradition of storytelling around the kava bowl has been maintained, as have recitations of the Ramayana in Hindu homes and temples. There is a small community of writers, many of them associated with the USP. Traditional legends and modern social analysis are common themes in Fijian literature, whereas Indo-Fijian literary works tend to concentrate on injustices during the period of indentured servitude.
A Fijian meke is the name for the traditional dance of the indigenous people of Fiji Islands, and is pronounced ' meh-kay '. Men, women and children all participate in the meke, which is a combination of dance and repetitive rhythmic chanting telling the stories of everyday life, or of ancient gods or of battles won. Some mekes are performed seated and some standing. Well-known meke types are fan dances performed by women, and spear or club dances performed by men. Accompanying music is often in the form of the steady beating of sticks.
In both Indian and Fijian cultures, fire walking appears to be a predominantly male practice. The Fijian practice of fire walking or vilavilarevo originated from and was exclusive to the Island of Beqa. According to Fijian mythology, the ability to walk barefooted on white-hot stones was granted by the leader of a group of little Gods called Veli to Tui Qalita, a Beqan chief whose descendants now act as instructors of fire walking.
Religion:
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The population is 53 percent Christian, 38 percent Hindu, and 8 percent Muslim, with small groups of Sikhs and people who profess no religion. There was belief in a life after death. Souls of the departed were thought both to travel to a land of the dead and at the same time to remain close to their graves. Modern Christian Fijians still fear their spirit ancestors.
In the pre-Christian Fijian religion, every village had a temple where people made gifts to the gods through a priestly oracle. In the nineteenth century, those temples were torn down and replaced with Christian churches, which became showpieces of village architecture. Indo-Fijian Hinduism relies on stories, songs, and rituals to teach its precepts. Ritualized readings of the Ramayana and worship before divine images at home or in a temple are important aspects of religious life. Annual ceremonies are sponsored by many temples.
Indo-Fijian Hindus follow a variety of religious customs brought by their forebears from India and are divided between the reformed and the orthodox. The religious practices of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs inherited from India are characterized by fasts, feasts, and festivals as well as prescribed rituals that cover major life events. Today, Protestant ministers, Catholic priests, and lay preachers are the dominant religious leaders of the Fijians. In the Indo-Fijian community, religious scholars, holy men, and temple priests are the most important religious practitioners.
In the pre-Christian Fijian religion, every village had a temple where people made gifts to the gods through a priestly oracle. In the nineteenth century, those temples were torn down and replaced with Christian churches, which became showpieces of village architecture. Indo-Fijian Hinduism relies on stories, songs, and rituals to teach its precepts. Ritualized readings of the Ramayana and worship before divine images at home or in a temple are important aspects of religious life. Annual ceremonies are sponsored by many temples.
Indo-Fijian Hindus follow a variety of religious customs brought by their forebears from India and are divided between the reformed and the orthodox. The religious practices of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs inherited from India are characterized by fasts, feasts, and festivals as well as prescribed rituals that cover major life events. Today, Protestant ministers, Catholic priests, and lay preachers are the dominant religious leaders of the Fijians. In the Indo-Fijian community, religious scholars, holy men, and temple priests are the most important religious practitioners.
Government:
Fiji has a Republic form of government. Military coup leader Major General Sitiveni Rabuka formally declared fiji republic on October 6th, 1987. The Fiji constitution states that the president , whom is the head of state, is appointed a 5-year term. He is elected by the Great Council of Chiefs, a traditional ethnic Fijian leadership body. The president appoints the prime minister, whom is the head of government, and the Cabinet from among the members of the Parliament. The House of Representatives is elected, but the Senate is appointed.
Economy:
Fiji is a central south Pacific island country, that has a number of natural resources. Using these materials Fiji has already reached to a position that can be said that economically stable. Fiji is one of the most economically developed countries in the Pacific Island realm due to an abundance of forest, mineral and marine resources. Sugar, clothing, gold, silver, timber, fish, molasses, copra, coconut oil, and farmed pearls are exported. Imports consist largely of manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, petroleum products, foodstuffs, and chemicals. Australia, Singapore, the United States, and New Zealand are the main trading partners.Imports include mutton and goat meat from New Zealand and a wide-range of consumer goods, principally of East Asian origin.
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Most ethnic Fijians who live in villages grow food in gardens where they may use swidden agricultural techniques. Swidden agriculture technique is also referred to as the slash-and-burn, and is mostly used by tribal communities. Sugar production, begun in 1862, dominates and now engages over half the workforce. The only commercially valuable mineral is gold, which has declined in importance since 1940, when it generated 40 percent of export earnings. The livestock and fishing industries have grown in importance.
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Works Cited:
- http://worldfacts.us/Fiji.htm
- http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/world/fiji-economy.html
- http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Fiji.html
- http://www.fijifiredancing.com/
- http://worldfacts.us/Fiji.htm
- http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/world/fiji-economy.html
- http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Fiji.html
- http://www.fijifiredancing.com/