There are arguments that before the arrival of Christianity in the 19th century, the natives were already aware of what was right and wrong. Their customs, beliefs and teaching had similarities to that of Christianity, the major difference Christians believed in God and natives had gods.
It was to the surprise of many that Christianity was easily accepted by the majority and spread like wildfire in all parts of Fiji.
Kaliopate Tavola, writing on his website www.kaidravuni.com, stated the speed of conversion to Christianity can be gauged by looking at the Dravuni situation.
“The first catechist to be posted to Dravuni was Ilai Tuilawa in 1875, a year after the Deed of Cession when Fiji was ceded to Great Britain. That in itself is reflective of the surge in the spread of Christianity. In the province of Kadavu, for example, it is recorded that Christianity spread to the whole of Kadavu after 1853 when missionaries came to Yale and Naikorokoro, and that was even before the end of the battle of Kaba in 1855, and whose victory is known as a victory for Christianity. What was happening on Kadavu was echoing the events in the major centers in Fiji. Ratu Cakobau was converted in 1854, but that was only four years when he declared war on all Christians. Tui Nayau had been converted five years earlier in 1849.
“Christianity continued to grow in Dravuni. In 1888, Rev Eliesa Bula stopped over on Dravuni on his way to Kadavu mainland and carried out mass baptism in the village. Eleven years after that in 1899, Dravuni saw her first ever home-grown talatala, Rev Pauliasi Nene. He was transferred out and held his posting until 1917.
“One has to wonder also at the ease with which these early Christians were being converted. I do acknowledge God’s power in transforming people’s personality and beliefs once people commit themselves and the power of His words in the Holy Bible. I feel, however, that these early Fijians needed a crutch, given that they were fresh from tribal warfares and related intemperance.
“There are the people’s culture and tradition and all its values of respect, morality of what is right and wrong, honour and dignity. These are Christian values essentially and when the early missionaries were preaching to the early Fijians about these same values, their sermons were falling on to fertile grounds and conversion sprouted as a result. Charles Montgomery had reached the same conclusion in his book The Shark God — Encounters with the Myth & Magic in the South Pacific, 2006, Fourth Estate. He was paraphrasing a R. H. Codrington who “ventured that had already equipped Melanesians with a sense of right and wrong, a belief in life after death, and a concept of something like a human soul. In other words, there was already some light in Melanesia before missionaries arrived. Kastom had in fact provided the heathens with a good foundation for Christian teaching”. Codrington was the first among Anglicans to write down the Melanesians’ stories and was the most sympathetic to kastom (custom).
There is obviously a transition here from the old belief to the new. There is a time element involved. It can be imagined that there would be phases along the transition where elements of the two beliefs would be intertwined. I have read, for instance, accounts where tribal gods were officiating in situations that could only be interpreted as the biblical Garden of Eden or at the building of the Tower of Babel.
The battle of Kaba marked the point where western Fiji turned away from the old dark ways to adopt the customs of more enlightened peoples.
Ro Qaraniqio, the Roko Tui Dreketi’s return, saw Cakobau continually losing ground despite numerous attacks, he failed. Earlier on Qaraniqio had been protected in Kalabu after his younger brother Ro Cokanauto sided with Cakobau, which saw the elder sibling seeking refuge at Kalabu, until his triumphant return a few years later.
Efforts to try and reconcile the two chiefs proved futile and after taking heed of the advice of the missionaries, Cakobau renounced his old ways and accepted the new religion. So on April 30, 1854, Cakobau was converted to Christianity.
In an abstract paper title Cakobau’s Fall and Restoration 1850 to Kaba 1855, after Cakobau’s conversion the Rewa people wanted peace, which was welcomed by Cakobau.
The customary offering was presented at Bau, and the war was formally ended on February 9, 1855. But the Bau rebels on Kaba still held out: ‘Peace? There is one man to be killed then there will be peace’. Indeed, the peace brought little relief to Cakobau. Help from Tonga was rumoured and expected. Angered by Cakobau’s conversion to Christianity and his abandonment of the gods of Fiji, the war took on an entirely new character. It ceased to be a struggle between Bau and Rewa — all that was forgotten. It was now a conflict of the rebels of Bau against a few loyalists, of the old ways of life against the new, of heathenism against Christianity, of savagery against civilisation. The battle was a major victory for Cakobau all thanks to his Tongan allies.
Kadavu was one of Rewa’s closest allies, yet before 1855 Christianity had already reached Fiji’s fourth largest island.
In the book Exodus of the I Taukei: The Wesleyan Church in Fiji, 1848-74, Andrew Thornley wrote impact of Rewa’s lengthy war with Bau in the battle of Kaba was felt strongly on the island.
Thornley states the Christian work was made difficult because of Rewa’s influence.
“Following the defeat of Rewa at the battle of Kaba, the seven chiefdoms of Kadavu converted rapidly, a movement attributed to a number of factors including war-weariness, Tongan influences, the conversion of leading Rewa chiefs and not the least the independent spirit of the Kadavu chiefs. The Wesleyan missionaries were unprepared by the rush to Christianity on Kadavu.
“Unable to find sufficient teachers for Kadavu, a Rewa chief went there in 1856 to a village that was still pagan. ‘Come, you must lotu’, the people replied vinaka (thank you) and fetched their clubs and spears and demolished the temple; they then returned to the chief and told him that he must pray with them. Then as it is customary, there was a terrible noise and commotion among the people.
“In 1857, at the age of 41 the experience and eloquent Tongan teacher, Paula Vea, was sent to Yale to minister to the thousands of converts in the east of Kadavu. He reported ‘a great love for the scriptures’ but noted that the 20 teachers on Kadavu were still too few.”
Vea, who was in Samoa from 1835 to 1839, was the first Tongan missionary in Rotuma .
He seemed to specialise in assignments to risky places and was sent to earlier to Rewa before being posted to Kadavu.
“I went to the house of Ratu Qara (Qaraniqio). I had a long conversation with him and urged him to become a Christian. He replied, ‘I shall not become a Christian, but shall continue to fight the Tui Viti’.” (Vea’s account of his ministry in Waterhouse Coor, 1851-64.)
Thornley continued “in April 1859 most of the chiefs on Kadavu attended a missionary meeting at Yale. ‘Kingdoms and enemies were brought face to face who would not venture upon any other occasion’. Events such as these helped remove much of the hatred and jealousy which still rankle in the breasts of many of the chiefs”. This dramatic religious movement climaxed appropriately in December 1859 with the termination of war between Naceva and Galoa, the conversion of Cagilevu of Galoa and the Christian marriage of perhaps Kadavu’s greatest chief, Qaranivalu.
In the same year in a ceremony of submission, the representation of the traditional god — fine tabua name Takei — was handed over to Royce at Tavuki where the Wesleyan missionaries had established a centre on land purchased from the chiefs.
By 1860, Bau had 15,461 converts, Rewa 11,771 and Kadavu 10,894.
While the missionaries continued with their work, Ma’afu on the other side had his own mission.
When missionaries travelled through the circuit, their first task was to perform marriages and then conduct baptisms. In order to prepare people for these Christian ceremonies, they permitted them to enter trial classes in which they learned about the duties involved in church ceremonies as well as a very basic understanding of Christian scriptures, doctrine and Wesleyan rules.
The missionaries would not marry or baptise until they had questioned their converts about their understanding of these matters. Once Fijians were baptised they became full members of the church.
Thornley adds “at this stage in his political career, Ma’afu did not lie in the quality of church growth. He was quite satisfied to see the Fijian simply acknowledge the Lotu ni Tonga (to the native Christianity was the Tongans religion). Ma’afu was more intent on extending his alliance so that it would encircle Viti Levu and pose a direct challenge to Cakobau”.
The Wesleyan church in Australia had written to Ma’afu that it did not support his campaign. While the rise of Ma’afu increased the number of coverts, many did so because of fear of being killed. The church wanted those who converted to do so with a willing heart and not through force, threat or torture.
“Ma’afu tried initially to take advantage of Paula Vea’s influence among the chiefs but the Tongan minister refused to deal with him. Other means were employed and, by November 1859, two district of Kadavu — Yawe and Nabukelevu — submitted to the Tongan representatives.”
On December 28, 1865 at the age of 49 after a four-month illness, Vea passed away in Richmond. He had served in Samoa, Tonga, Rotuma, Rewa and Ovalau but his impact was the 10 years he spent on Kadavu where he was part of a “religious revolution”. On his bedside he uttered the words “My friends have frequently pressed me of late to return to Tonga, my own land; but I always told them that I had given myself for life to the work of God in Fiji, and my mind is made up to die at my post in Fiji”.
Epironi Silimainabure, the elder and priest of the people of Daku, said the body of the late Reverend Vea was buried on their land. As Christianity grew so did the need to get rid of everything that reminded the converts of their old ways. Dravuwalu, home to the warrior Batisaqato, was undefeated. His source of strength was through paganism.
According to 89-year-old Vilimoni Batinisavu 30 men from Dravuwalu and another 30 from Soso journeyed to Vatukoula to work in the mines for financing of the construction of the church.
Twelve months later when they returned, the site where the burekalou once stood and where black magic and sorcery was practised was blessed by the Christian missionaries, cleansed and converted to be the site of the church and the stewards house.
? NEXT WEEK — We discover something new, we look at the impact of tourism and the changes that have occurred in one of the villagers along the coral coast of mainland Viti Levu.
