6. INDEGENIOUS HEALTH & HEALING
PRACTICES
• Traditional Fijian society is based on communal
principles derived from village life. People in
villages share the obligations and rewards of
community life and are still led by a hereditary
chief.
Traditional Fijian society is based on communal
principles derived from village life. People in
villages share the obligations and rewards of
community life and are still led by a hereditary
chief. They work together in the preparation of
feasts and in the making of gifts
7. • for presentation on various occasions; they fish together, later
dividing the catch; and they all help in communal activities such as
the building of homes and maintenance of pathways and the village
green.
• The great advantage of this system is an extended family unit that
allows no-one to go hungry, uncared for or unloved. Ideally it is an
all-encompassing security net that works very effectively not only
as a caretaking system, but also by giving each person a sense of
belonging and identity.
• On the negative side, the communal system can be restrictive for
the individual, who has no choice but to toe the line. Ambition and
any kind of entrepreneurial instinct are quickly stifled, sometimes
by jealous relatives if someone actually gets too far ahead. This
means one can't really be too different or rebel too much.
8. • One will never grow rich in the village, but there is stability. Land ownership and the security
of village life have provided Fijians with a `safety net', but this has been a burden as well. In a
sense, it has prevented Fijians (who own more than 80% of the land) from competing with
the Indians, who have never had the luxury of land ownership.
• The communal life has put Fijians at a disadvantage with people whose lot has always been
to struggle and make the most of what little they have; in the transition from a communal,
subsistence-farming society to a capitalist money economy, Fijians have had to adjust much
more than the Indians.
9. FIJIAN WOMEN BELIEFS
• : Dau veiqaravi, being of service;Taucoko ni vei
qaravi itavi, completion and completeness of
tasks; Na veiwekani, maintaining harmony in
relationships; Kena I raira, outward reflection or
physical appearance; and Bula
vakayalo, spirituality.
10. INDO-FIJIAN BELIEF
• : Ghareloo, domesticated/being of
service;Kamasooth, completion and
completeness of tasks; paarwarik, maintaining
harmony in relationships; saundariye, outward
reflection or physical appearance;
and , spirituality.
11. Beliefs For Fijian Male
• Chief-rules makers
• Matanivanua[spokesman]
• Bati[warrior]
• Bete[priest]
• Gonedau[fishermans]
• Matai sau[carpenters]
12.
13. • Ethnic Fijians often attribute sickness to supernatural
entities in their pre-Christian belief system. Illnesses
that are due to natural causes are treated with
Western medicine and medical practices, but illnesses
that are thought to result from sorcery are treated by
traditional healers, including seers, diviners, massage
masters, and herbalists. Healing occurs in a ritual
context as the forces of good battle those of evil.
Muslims and Hindus also turn to religious leaders to
request divine intervention in the case of illness.
Read more:http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-
Ga/Fiji.html#ixzz4EtX67Ule
14. Beliefs For Indian Male
• Kamao, breadwinner, malik , head of the
house/boss,/decision maker
• Cast systems-
• Priest
• Higher class-rich people
• Low cast-cleaners etc..
15. Cultural Practices
• i-taukei :Births
• First child-[bogi va ] feast[womens carry the baby during the feast]
• 1 year feast
• Boy-maturity circumcise -na teve[mostly done by 10yrs -12yrs ]
• Followed 4 nights feast
• Female-puberty[menstruat]-12yrs-14yrs,followed by 4 night feast.
• Celerbration on 16yrs
• Celebration on 21yrs .
16. Indo-fijian –births
• Before birth – no preparations done – belief child can be born dead/disable
• After birth – 6th day – celebration (chatti)
• Shaving of head- to take away dirty hair from conception till birth
• Black spot on forehead for protection from evil eyes
• Boys – nil function afterwards
• Girls – ritual happens upon 1st time menstrual in lifecycle
18. • Lakovi-aproach,proposal from male family to the female family.
• -10 tabua [1 vulo]20 tabua [2vulo]
• Va vanua
• Loku bogi-date has argreed
• Vaka mau-Wedding ceremony
• -Other functions within-
• Yasawa-2[kuwali ni cucu-separation[groom separates bride from the mother]
19. Fijian Marriages
• Bogi Va-still practises in highly traditional villages
• Tevu tevu,Solevu –after marriages bringing
traditional gifts[both groom and bridegroom ]
20. Marriages –Indian• Differs for north indians / muslims/ south indians
• Rituals – pre-wedding haldi, chandan , mehandi
• Intra- wedding – kaniya daan- donating daughter to groom’s family , prayer to groom’s feet by girls family – requesting for
bride to be kept well , 7 rounds around fire, application of sindoor , tying of mangalsutra around neck
• Post wedding rituals – visitation of families by picking and dropping of bride from her home to husbands place
• Bride stays with in-laws for ever
21. Marriage, Family, And Kinship
• Marriage. Among ethnic Fijians, marriages were traditionally arranged, with the groom's father
often selecting a bride from a subclan with which his family had a long-term relationship; ties
between lineages and families were strengthened in this manner. Today, although individuals
choose their spouses freely, marriage is still considered an alliance between groups rather than
individuals. When parental approval is refused, a couple may elope. To avoid the shame of an
irregular relationship, the husband's parents must quickly offer their apologies and bring gifts to
the wife's family, who are obliged to accept them. Marriage is no longer polygynous, but divorce
and remarriage are common. Intermarriage is rare with Indo-Fijians, but Fijians often marry
Europeans, Pacific islanders, and Chinese. Indo-Fijian marriages traditionally were also parentally
arranged. Religiously sanctioned marriages are the norm, but civil registration has been required
since 1928.
• Domestic Unit. Among ethnic Fijians, leve ni vale ("people of the house") include family members
who eat together, share their economic resources, and have access to all parts of the house. The
domestic unit typically consists of the senior couple, their unmarried children, and a married son
with his wife and children and may extend to include an aged widowed parent, a sister of the head
of the household, and grandchildren. Older people seldom live alone. Nuclear families are
becoming more common in urban areas. The male household head controls the economic activity
of the other males, and his wife supervises the other women. Indo-Fijians in rural areas live mostly
in scattered homesteads rather than in villages. Their households tend now to comprise a nuclear
family rather than the traditional joint-family of the past.
22. • Inheritance. Among Fijians and Indo-Fijians, inheritance is largely patrilineal. Traditionally, a man
inherited the symbols, social status, and property rights of his father's subclan, although men
sometimes inherit from the mother or wife's family as well. Today property other than native land
may be willed to anyone. National law dictates that a surviving widow is entitled to a third of
intestate property, with the remaining two-thirds apportioned among the deceased's heirs,
including daughters.
• Kin Groups. For ethnic Fijians, interpersonal relationships and social behavior are governed by links
of kinship. Households affiliate with households with which they share a male ancestor, forming an
extended family group with extensive social and economic interactions. These lineages combine to
form a patrilineal subclan ( mataqali ), which typically has exclusive claim to part of a village, where
its members locate their homes. A village may have several subclans, among which the chiefly
subclan dominates, receiving hereditary services from the others. These subclans are exogamous,
and the members refer to each other by using kinship terms. Subclans come together to form clans
( yavusa ) that claim a common male ancestor, often from the distant past. Indo-Fijians arrived too
recently to have developed extrafamilial kin groups similar to Indian castes. Kin-related activities
involve actual or fictive paternal and maternal relatives.
•
Read more: http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Fiji.html#ixzz4EtiLCet9
23. Deaths
• Itaukei Deaths-rural settings –villages
• KAU MATA NI SA[yasawa ]-annoluncement of death to relative
• Loku ni siga ni bulu-date arragement for the burial
• Yabo,reguregu-3 days befor actual funeral date
• Doki [mostly ladies-elderly women same tribe]—stay 2night before [mother side][after the funeral-mataqali ][duites-take
lamp to the grave yard every night ,every morning ,bring it back ,]
• Tatatau mai vale-[residence] 1 t abua
• Tatau mai na lotu[church] -1 tabua
• Veibulu
• 2 maginti-1-loloma-magitni ni mate[after the funera],2-mamalaio-feast [thanks given ],wait for 5 nights[feast]-wait for
another 100 nights [last feast]
• -grave site-cemented
• Current Situations
• The burial practice ,everything is done in one day –from 5 nights to 100nights ,together with feastings-due-finianl budge-
immigrates to urban settings.
• Funerals
• Death evokes strong emotional and elaborate ritual responses in both Fijian and Indo-Fijian communities. But here the similarities end. Ethnic Fijians,
almost entirely Christian, have integrated church-focused Christian practices and beliefs with their traditional funerary customs of gift-giving,
feasting, kava drinking, and observance of mourning restrictions. Favoring burial over cremation, they also erect elaborate and colorful cloth
decorations over their graves. Although Christian ideas of heaven and hell are thoroughly integrated into the Fijians' present-day belief system, old
beliefs in the power of ancestral spirits still linger on. Among Indo-Fijians, Hindus may cremate their dead, though this is not the norm, as it is in India;
Muslims insist on burial. These two religions offer very different visions of life after death: Hindus assume that the deceased's soul will be reborn and
Muslims are confident that the true believer will be rewarded with eternal life in paradise.
24. Medicine and Health Care
• Ethnic Fijians often attribute sickness to supernatural entities in their pre-Christian
belief system. Illnesses that are ascribed to natural causes are treated with
Western medicine and medical practices, but illnesses that are thought to result
from sorcery are treated by traditional healers, including seers, diviners, massage
masters, and herbalists. Healing occurs in a ritual context as the forces of good
battle those of evil. Muslims and Hindus also turn to religious leaders to request
divine intervention in the case of illness.
• Government-provided biomedical services are available at several hospitals, health
centers, and nursing stations. The Fiji School of Medicine is affiliated with the
University of the South Pacific, and there is a Fiji School of Nursing and specialist
hospitals in Suva for the treatment of leprosy, psychological disorders, and
tuberculosis. Treatment is not free but is heavily subsidized by the government.
Government-subsidized contraception is available throughout the islands as part
of the family planning program.
•
Read more: http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Fiji.html#ixzz4EtjlmoKM
26. Indigenous health
• Herbs medicine
• Indigenous are carried away by new technological medicines and putting
herbs aside .Mostly practise by urban life style because of excess to
medicines rather than herbs found in villages and interior.
• Similar to foods and food storage,people are eating canned foods with is
ric in salt and fats rather than simple preservations of food found in villges
eg-smoked fish –vesa,
• Iron in Foods-Vegetarians
• Dried beans and dark green leafy vegetables are especially good sources
of iron, even better on a per calorie basis than meat. Iron absorption is
increased markedly by eating foods containing vitamin C along with
foods containing iron. Vegetarians do not have a higher incidence of iron
deficiency than do meat eaters.
27. • “Exploring the intricate and delicate weaving of Fijian knowledge and Western
philosophies may be the future to improving health and wellbeing for Fijian
women.”
• understanding health and wellbeing from a cultural perspective allows the
health sector to plan and implement strategies that work for the population,
rather than impose something that has worked in other parts of the
world. “The strategy will be unique and appropriate for that particular
community, which can only improve day-to-day living and takes into
consideration strategic gender needs within that community.
28. Green Vegetables
• Iron is an essential nutrient because it is a central part of
hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in the blood. Iron deficiency
anemia is a worldwide health problem that is especially common in
young women and in children.
• Iron is found in food in two forms, heme and non-heme iron. Heme
iron, which makes up 40 percent of the iron in meat, poultry, and
fish, is well absorbed. Non-heme iron, 60 percent of the iron in
animal tissue and all the iron in plants (fruits, vegetables, grains,
nuts) is less well absorbed. Because vegan diets only contain non-
heme iron, vegans should be especially aware of foods that are high
in iron and techniques that can promote iron absorption.
Recommendations for iron for vegetarians (including vegans) may
be as much as 1.8 times higher than for non-vegetarians .
