4. • Traditional Fijian food is a wonderful amalgam of fresh, local
ingredients found in the tropics and the traditional preparations
and cooking methods passed down the generations.
Coconut, fish, rice, taro, sweet potatoes, cassava and breadfruit are
the main components in local Fijian dishes.
• Lovo is a Fijian delicacy prepared for communal events such as a
weddings and festivals. A makeshift underground oven is fashioned
by digging a hole into the ground and lining it with coconut
husks, which are then lit on fire and covered by stones. Meats, fish
and vegetables wrapped in banana leaves are then placed on top of
the heated stones and cooked for about two and a half hours. Most
large resorts in Fiji have a lovo night once a week.

5. • The Fijian Meke
• The most popular traditional Fijian dance is the
meke, which is a combination of dance and story-telling
through song. Both men and women perform in the
meke, and the dance is viewed as a group collaboration
in which men are expected to demonstrate strong, virile
movements, while women are expected to be graceful and
feminine. There are several versions of the meke, such
as the war dance, the men’s spear dance, the men’s or
women’s fan dance and the sitting dance. Mekes are
performed at special functions and at cultural nights
held by major resorts. The dancing and chanting are
accompanied by rhythmic clapping and beating of the
lali, a traditional Fijian drum. Visitors who are
viewing the dance are often invited at its culmination
to join in and perform a simple dance movement called
the taralala

6. • Folk music
• Like their Polynesian baby neighbours, modern Fijians play
guitar, ukulele and mandolin along with a variety of
indigenous instruments, most commonly lali drums, which
are now used to call the people of an area together. Lali
drums were an important part of traditional Fijian
culture, used as a form of communication to announce
births, deaths and wars. A smaller form of the lali drum
(lali ni meke) is used as a form in instrumentation. Meke is
a kind of spiritual folk dance, in which dancers bodies are
said to be possessed by spirits. Other percussion
instruments include the derua, which are tubes made of
bamboo which are stamped on mats or on the ground.
Other dances included the women's dele, which humiliated
enemy prisoners sexually, and the men's cibi, which uses
spears and clubs

7. • Greatest of all Fijian gods was Degei, the Snake god. In the
beginning he lived alone, without friends or companions, and
the only living creature he knew was Turukawa the hawk.
Although the hawk could not speak he was the constant
companion of the god.
• One day Degei could not find his friend and looked
everywhere for him. Days went by and at last one morning he
spied the hawk sitting in some long grass. Gladly, he welcomed
the bird but, to his consternation, she ignored Degei and
commenced building a nest. Disappointed, he retired to his
house and the next day went back to the nest and found two
eggs. He then realized the hawk had found a mate and that
he had lost her affection. So scooping up the eggs he took
them into his own house and kept them warm with his own
body. After several weeks of nurturing the eggs and
wondering what would happen two shells broke and there
were two tiny human bodies.

8. • To learn about Fiji, you must also learn about
their customs which are an integral part of their
way of life. One of the biggest customs is the
Yaqona Ceremony. Yaqona, which is also known
as Kava, comes from the dried root of the
pepper plant and is a tranquilizing, nonalcoholic
drink. The yaqona is ceremonially prepared
according to local traditions (by pulverizing the
root into a powder and then mixing it with your
hands with water in a tanoa or wooden bowl).
Everyone then partakes of the drink in a simple
ceremony.