The people of Lekutu, Taveuni say it hurts to know people have commercialised the Tagimoucia without their consent — the original owners.
Turaga ni mataqali o Naituku from Korovou Village in Bouma Iosefo Rapuga said many on Taveuni had claimed ownership of the unique flower.
He said the lake sits on the land which was shared by three mataqali — Naituku, Qali and Matakuro from Lavena.
He said the Tagimoucia was only found on the land of the people of Lekutu and no other place on Taveuni.
“E mositi ‘eitou baleta ni levu era tu’una ni nodra, ‘ei na vu’u ni veiwe’ani e cala tu va’a vanua ena la’ovi tu a drano.” (It hurts when other people say that it’s theirs and because of this they have followed the wrong traditional route to reach the lake.)
There are two known stories of the Tagimoucia — legend is, a princess had an arranged marriage but was in love with another man, so she fled to the mountain lake.
She fell asleep, crying, and her tears turned into the Tagimoucia flower.
The other story is that a young girl was playing when she was supposed to be doing her chores.
The mother became so annoyed that she hit the girl with the broom and spanked the girl with them telling her to get out of their bure (house) and never come back.
Her tears resulted in the Tagimoucia
According to Mr Rapuga the real story is Adi Sova the daughter of Labalaba — one of the first two settlers of Taveuni was in love with the Prince of Laucala.
However, her relatives disliked this. It was said the Prince was very handsome and had fair skin complexion.
Their jealousy resulted in the Prince being killed.
Heart-broken Adi Sova cried her heart out — the colours on the flower resemble the young woman’s bloody tears and the Prince’s body complexion.
