THEY say true love lingers and that not even death can extinguish the flames of true love.
The tagimoucia or tagi-mo-uci-au is a symbol of true love between two people separated by death while the flower and its story are the only remains of the two lovers surviving the test of time.
Coloured red and white with a purple crown and yellow filaments, the flower is a true symbol of love.
The Somosomo story
According to the people of Somosomo on Taveuni, the true beauty and story of the flower is in its name meaning tagi — (cry) mo — (to) ucui — (be like) au — (me) imbued with sorrow and pain.
Forced to marry a prince she did not have a heart for, the princess named Princess Uluiqalau, who had promised her heart to another, was hunted by her people.
Directed by her father, warriors hunted the princess down who ran for refuge to the mountain seeking help from the forests around the crater as she whispered: “I want them to feel my pain.”
Excerpts from an interview with the Tui Somosomo, Viliame Mudu, revealed that according to stories passed down to them these were the words she kept repeating before the jungle engulfed her and hid her from her trackers and as her tears fell to the ground and on the branches of the trees, a flower grew from every tear.
Mr Mudu said, as her final wish was granted, her body bonded to the trees forever bearing a flower that represented her blood and tears.
Others may have their own story to tell, and these are the stories passed down from our ancestors.
The Bouma story
The chief of Navuga, Labalaba, had a daughter who was considered a rose and the fairest of the maidens of her father’s people and her name was Adi Sovatabua literally meaning basket of whale’s tooth.
Head of the mataqali Naituku and chief traditional herald to the Vunisa of Bouma Iosefo Rapuga said Adi Sova was promised in marriage to a young warrior within Navuga.
However, things were to change for the maiden after setting her eyes on the prince or ravouvou of Laucala Island off the island of Qamea.
The ravouvou ni Laucala and Adi Sova of Navuga met during a traditional visit to the island of Laucala leaving the princess lovestruck by his good looks and gentlemanly ways.
According to stories passed to the people after their meeting, Adi Sova forgot of her betrothed in Navuga and had only eyes for the ravouvou ni Laucala.
“They would meet secretly above Navuga at a lake out of sight from Adi Sova’s people,” said Mr Rapuga.
“Their meeting was sweeter as it was being done in secret keeping the young lovers’ hearts ever longing as they looked forward to their next meeting.
“However the people of Navuga came to know later of the meeting and decided to ambush the young prince and kill him.
“One day as the prince was making his way to the lake, the warriors of Navuga ambushed him and killed him along the shores beneath their fort.”
Mr Rapuga said, since the warriors were well versed with all the paths in the area the prince was at a disadvantage as the warriors closed in on him.
“Meanwhile at their secret spot, Adi Sova kept on waiting. When her lover did not turn up, she came down to Navuga to learn of what had happened and hearing the commotion and the true fate of her love, she wailed in despair running towards her lover’s corpse with all the hope she had of seeing him alive,” said Mr Rapuga.
“From a distance she saw the ravouvou’s slain body, brushing the warriors aside she picked up her lover in her arms and flew to their meeting spot with his dead corpse.
“She sat at the side of the lake and cried for her lover.
“As her tears mingled with the ravouvou’s blood spilling on the earth it formed a beautiful flower which they called the tagi mo uci au literally meaning to cry and feel my pain.”
Mr Rapuga said, the name of the flower connotated the pain that Adi Sova encountered, which is the feeling of lost true love.
Another strange happening that is a testament to this story says, Mr Rapuga is that when the tagimoucia blooms on Taveuni its fragrance can only be smelt in one place on earth and that is Laucala.
“Thus grew the tagimouciau which was shortened to tagimoucia, a reminder of true love that was lost in the land of Navuga,” he said.
“After her loss, Adi Sovanatabua then went into mourning for 21 days refusing to see the sun as she observed the tabusiga staying in the vicinity of her house.
“When the mourning period ended she then gathered her ladies in waiting and travelled down to the shoreline below Navuga to catch fish with her net.
“Casting her net to the left she caught a big saqa (giant trevally) and as soon as she dragged the net to land it turned into stone. While casting her net to the right the same thing happened.
“Labalaba, the father of Adi Sova, then ordered his men to drag the rocks up to Navuga which they did and this day the site where they dragged the two stone fish is known as Vatuyaracake or stone dragged up.”
To this day Mr Rapuga said the tagimoucia had three layers — the first is red, the second is white while the core of the flower is shaped like a queen’s crown and has a golden outing.
“When this part of the flower bursts, it gives out rainbow colours which after five minutes turns purple,” he said.
“After the death of the ravouvou of Laucala, his vu (ancetsral god) attempted to steal the tagimoucia flower from Lekutu.
“But he was not successful so he instead stole its fragrance and dropped it near the shores of Qamea Island.
“To this day, the scent of the flower can only be smelt on Laucala Island.”
The naming of the
Vatulawa sea
ONE of the rocks was set in front of Labalaba as his vatu ni bokola where prisoners of war were slain to be eaten.
“The head of the fish was buried halfway while its tail stood out serving as a sort of altar where people rested their head before receiving their death blows,” said Mr Rapuga.
“As for the other rock it was stolen by some Launs who had travelled to Bouma to steal the rock.
“They had successfully stolen the rock and were making their way to sea when the priests of Navuga prayed for bad weather to befall the thieves.
“The thieves had not passed the tip of Lavena when the bad weather started and they had no choice but to throw the rock overboard.”
Learning of this, Labalaba then named the waters where the rock was thrown out as the sea of Vatulawa literally meaning net of rock considering that the rocks origins were from a net where it was caught as a saqa fish.
