IN a bid to keep the knowledge of building and sailing of traditional iTaukei vessels alive, a boat race was held yesterday at the Suva foreshore.
The event was hosted by the Pacific Blue Foundation. Foundation founder Greg Mitchell said the race played a significant role in restoring one of the most important elements of iTaukei culture — the construction of traditional sea-going vessels.
“The Veitau Waqa is a race held to honour the tradition of Fijian (iTaukei) sailing canoes, their construction and their sailing,” Mr Mitchell said.
“Traditionally, Fijian (the iTaukei) people would have races between communities, village to village and island to island. So this is a traditional concept which pre-dates colonial times.”
He said over time, traditional boats had been replaced by petroleum-powered and fibreglass constructed boats.
“These traditional boats had started to lose their way. The concept of this event involved me asking a simple question, what was the most important element of Fijian (iTaukei) culture?
“Essential it is the story telling, the dances and the meke. The songs of the ancestors came through the living humans. Everyone knows that Fiji is spread across a lot of islands and the only way these islands were connected when Europeans arrived were because of these boats.
“The elders are now teaching the youths how to carve these traditional boats. Knowledge of boat building goes back some 3000 years and has been passed from generations to generations verbally. There is no written record of this knowledge in a traditional way.”
He highlighted the foundation had been working with the elders to pass on that knowledge to the younger generations.
Mr Mitchell said one drua and three camakau vessels took part in the race.
