Fijian tales of two ancient women with supernatural powers, sometimes known as Marama Rua or Yalewa Kalou, have been steeped in local mythology and legends for countless generations. In many villages and districts, they remain popular figures in the imaginations of people and the main characters of many tukuni, the myth and legends. In the village of Tukavesi in the district of Natewa in Cakaudrove, the vanua of Nava’i has been the traditional keeper of a story long gone about two “yalewa tevoro” (female devils) who were once caught in its highland forest and married off (one of them) to a man in the village. To bring you this story, The Sunday Times team recently visited the untamed jungle above Tukavesi in Buca Bay to capture photos of where the two women were supposedly caught and gather information about them from village elders. To enable this, our sevusevu was presented to Ravouvou, the traditional title of the village chief, to seek the vanua’s permission to publish the story, visit old village sites and the yalewa tevoro’s home. A consensus theory contends that villagers who were ancestors of modern day Tukavesi villlagers may have first contacted the said beings when the village was located at a place called Nakorotu, a few kilometres from the shoreline. To put things in context, the first village belonging to the ancient people who later settled in Tukavesi, was established in a place high up in the mountain called Navaki, where they built their an unbreachable war fort. The people of Navaki later moved downhill toward the coast and settled near Matanituvu before further descending to Nakorotu and finally to Tukavesi on Buca Bay’s shoreline.
The garden thieves
“We are told that once, when our ancestors were at Nakorotu, the men were often perplexed about the mysterious disappearance of banana (jaina) and plantain (vudi) they planted,” said Tukavesi headman, Selesitino Vosayaco.. “Because they worked hard on their plantation to feed their families, the theft of vudi and jaina, not only puzzled them, it made them fly into a rage.” A man from the village one day volunteered to keep watch over the plantation in a quest to catch the elusive food thief. He concealed himself in a secluded spot where he could not be seen easily. After hiding for a while, he heard the giggling and high-pitched voices of women moving through the forest and getting closer to the garden. To his surprise, he saw two women picking and eating ripe bananas and plantains in an impish manner, at times bursting into bouts of laughter, as if pleased with their mischievous exploits. The man observed them with shock and disbelief. After stuffing their faces, the yalewa tevoro withdrew into the bush where they had emerged, giggling and eating all along the way. Their trail led deep into the forested mountains, meandering among towering trees. The man followed them stealthily from behind, making sure they could not see or hear him. “He was astonished when the pair disappeared abruptly into the ground, so he took a stick and thrust it into the earth, marking where the yalewa tevoro mysteriously vanished,”Vosayaco said. “He ran to the village and told everyone what he encountered. The turaga ni yavusa commanded all the men of the village to follow the trail.”
The two female deities are caught
They walked up into the forest and reached the mark left on the ground. Not too long after digging they found a crude burrow that was littered with banana and plaintain peels. The men’s digging measured about about 20 metres and resulted in two burrows, which probably met at one end. “As the men inched closer to where the women huddled in horror, they heard one of them say “come here, they are moving closer and might find us,” 88-year-old Miriama Vakabua said. The beings were finally caught and were in a state of fright, begging for their lives in frantic desperation. “They said ‘let us free so that we might live,” she said,”We will give you supernatural powers,” Miriama continued. The yalewa tevoro made all sorts of rash promises, including the power to tame fire, but the village men refused their offers. Tukavesi villager, Pio Manoa, said the turaga ni yavusa later gave his order. “We shall take them back to the village and have sex with them so that they can bear us children,” he said. In the ensuing struggle to apprehend them, one of the women disappeared into the earth while the other was taken to the village.
Half human half supernatural
The woman eventually got married to one of the villagers. She later had two children – a son and a daughter. Half human and half supernatural, the siblings – Sera Poleni and Te Para, grew up in the village with mystic powers and exhibited behaviours that defied natural logic. “When we were growing up, the story of Sera Poleni and her brother were perhaps the most famous tale told in the village,” said Miriama. “They were strange, being partially supernatural, and would do things that were hard to explain.” Manoa said Sera was often feared, and to some extend, viewed with suspicion.
“Stories that have been passed down mention that Sera was creepy of the two. She’d dive underwater and come up again with fish wriggling in her mouth or catch crabs on the sandbanks and eat them raw,” Manoa said. “She ate anything that she could get her hands on, like insects and things that crawl.” Her brother on the other hand (and her mother, according to some accounts) possessed the power to defy searing temperatures. While preparing coconut and sugar syrup used in vakalolo, he would dip his hands into the boiling pot without getting burnt.
The end of the yalewa tevoro’s bloodline
From stories gathered during interviews, it seems that while Sera Poleni and her brother had special powers, they may have had social and communication challenges. According to one account, many years later the strange siblings’ mother later disappeared in the family bure and this may have happened, judging from timelines in the story, after the younger of the siblings was born.
“We have also been told that the woman’s husband came back from his plantation one day and got furious when the couple’s baby had not been changed despite being soiled and smelly,” an informant said. “The woman gave her husband a disgusted look and showed him her hands saying ‘raica a liga qo, e sega ni liga ni ra’u da (look at these hands, they are not for cleaning a child’s poo). After she uttered those words, she disappeared behind the bure’s post and vanished for good.” According to The Sunday Team’s investigations, the said bure where Sera Poleni and her family lived, may have been located near the sea, close to Tukavesi’s current depot. The siblings’ story ends tragically – they were both infertile and did not have any children, which means their rare bloodline ended at their death or perhaps because Christianity had gotten stronger in the villages and the olden day indigenous religion slowly disappeared.
Note: This writer also grew up hearing stories about the famous Sera Poleni, related to him by his grandmother, Meresiana Bolavucu Fugawai Vakalalabure. The yalewa tevoro’s burrow leads to a trail that connects to the heart of the forest, craddled beyond the mountain range visible from the Loa-Napuka main road. Somewhere within this virgin forest is the fountain head of a river whose mouth is located at neighbouring Buca Village. This spring is the birthplace of Dakuwaqa, the feared shark god of Cakaudrove. The Sunday Times plans to visit this phenomenal place sometime in the future.Tukavesi Village is a three-hour local bus ride from Savusavu town. It is the government station in the Buca Bay peninsula and has a hospital, police station, schools, post office, agricultural station and other government offices.
History being the subject it is, a group’s version of events may not be the same as that held by another group. When publishing one account, it is not our intention to cause division or to disrespect other oral traditions. Those with a different version can contact us so we can publish your account of history too — Editor.
