ROTUMA & DEATH

“Whenever a person died, the village chief (fa 'es ho'aga) was informed first so that he could assign people to perform tasks that needed immediate attention: a group of men to dig the grave, another to take down the walls of the house where the corpse was laid; others to cut soapstones from the beach and bring them to the grave; men to provide food from their gardens and bake it for the funeral feast; women to prepare kava for the kava ceremony (because kava had to be chewed by young women); others to cut banana leaves to cover the 'umefe for the chiefs in anticipation of the funeral feast.”

-by Elizabeth K. Inia

“Funerals were the only Rotuman functions that people hurried to arrive on time. To be late was an omen of bad luck for the family because it was believed that it foreshadowed the death of another member of the household. Sneezing (he'jia) in the house while the body was lying in state was also considered a sign that another family member would die in the near future.”

PROCEDURES FOR THE ARRIVALS

Before they arrived, the mafua of each la'o had to know who died and the cause of death, and whether the person had died suddenly or after a long illness.

All sudden deaths were believed to be caused by a blow (kafa). Other causes were aging, withering (maimai), or illness. The mafua of the la'o, while crouching in front of the house, announced the name of his chief's local spirit.

The mafua sitting inside the house knew whose party was crouching outside by the name of the spirit with whom they had identified themselves.

FAREWELL; PROCEDURES FOR THE BODY

Before burial, the body was wrapped in fine mats and tied three times—once toward the head, once toward the middle, and once over the legs. If the dead person had been married, the surviving partner and his or her relatives provided the mats for wrapping the body. They had to take the body out through the front door legs first so that his or her eyes faced the direction in which the burial party was headed. As they were about to carry out the body, the mafua inside the house, who was sitting by the back door, called out:

"Kalog, fa sau ta [for a male corpse] or han sau ta [for a female]; täla mariuen se 'on tia ha'a" (Sirs, the gentleman/lady is leaving for his/her holy grave).

Having been farewelled by the mafua in the proper way, the wrapped body was put on a hata, a bier of wood (two long poles with cross pieces), and carried by male relatives to the grave. As soon as the corpse was out of the house, the mafua inside ordered the white mat that had served as a canopy to be lowered and folded, along with the mats on the deathbed. The folding of the mats symbolized the end of the person's life. Folding the mats immediately after the corpse was gone was a way of making a new death in the house unwelcome; if the mats were left in place it might suggest they were waiting for another death to occur.

The pallbearers' bodies were smeared with a mixture of mena and coconut oil, and they wore skirts of fresh ji leaves. Dressed alike, the village men who accompanied the pallbearers as they walked toward the cemetery (tamura) chanted a ki.

A ki summoned the strong spirits of old in funerals, in war, in wrestling matches (hula), and whenever extraordinary strength was needed, for example, when large gravestones were carried from the beaches or when dignitaries arriving by boat were carried on a platform.

LOWERING OF THE BODY AND THE AFTERMATH

The ki was sung until the wrapped body or coffin was lowered into the grave. The bier had to be dismantled soon after the burial and left at the burial site to rot. The mats that covered the bier were given to the owner of the land where the grave was dug. [5] In addition, a white mat and several ordinary mats, along with lengths of cloth, were presented to the gravediggers immediately after the burial. They were given to the leader of the gravediggers' party before leaving the cemetery, and he distributed them among the members of his party.

The crowd attending the burial went back to the house site where the body had lain in state to partake in the funeral feast. The chiefs, the village mafua, and one member of the family sat inside the house, The others waited outside for the feast. The kava plant was brought in, followed by food placed in la (cradles of coconut leaves, called fuarei), rather than the coconut-leaf baskets used on other occasions. [6] (Food containers that are presented to chiefly persons during ceremonies, whether baskets or cradles, are called fono.)

Death of a Nobel

“The respect the people showed to the chiefs was very interesting to me, and I began to study Rotuman customs concerning their roles in ceremonies and in society in general.  The contrast with Fiji was quite evident. In Fiji, high chiefs were treated almost like gods, whereas in Rotuma they were well respected, but much more human.”

-ALAN HOWARD

In days gone by, when a noble died, the body was placed in a canoe-shaped wooden trough, called fugaroto, on top of which was hung an apei (fine white mat) as a canopy. The word aroagvaka (canopied canoe) was thus used when referring to the death of a noble. The term ala is the common word for death, and when a commoner died, his or her body was placed on a mat, with a wooden pillow under the head, and the lower part of the body covered with a mat. The upper part of the body was painted with turmeric powder mixed with coconut oil. The bodies of nobles and commoners lay in state for a day and a night, exposed to view, before burial.

The chiefs of all the districts of Rotuma had to be informed of the death of a district chief so that they could come to pay their last respects to him. The messenger who went around the island informing chiefs about the aroagvaka was the one chosen to be the deceased's successor. The elders of the mosega (descent kin group) whose turn it was to rule the district selected him. The mosega might also meet to discuss such matters prior to the chief's death if it became apparent that his illness was critical.

Land of Tombstones

On my first visit to the island, I went cycling with one of the men, Fatiaki Tui. On the outskirts of each village, or in the center of a few, was a large cemetery containing hundreds of stone memorials of different shapes and sizes.

Fatiaki explained that the islanders call the cemeteries “tumuras”, and that the mourners spend much time by the graves, some even sleeping there for weeks after the death of a relative.
You see, because of a shortage of burial ground, many are buried above ground level in coffins placed on top of huge stone slabs.

About 20 years after a burial, when the villagers think that the corpse has sufficiently decomposed, the coffin is opened and a newly deceased body added to the contents.

“What a large area those burial grounds cover!” I said to Fatiaki.
“You have not seen anything yet,” he grinned,

“not until you have seen the graves of the giants. Come on. It’s only a short distance. I will show you.”

GRAVES OF GIANTS

We walked through the village of Motusa to an ancient tumura filled with huge graves built above the ground. Each grave was an enclosure of four upright slabs weighing several tons each, set in a rectangle with a roof made from another impressive stone. “Where did these slabs come from? How could anyone have carried them here?” I asked in amazement.
“The only possible place they could have come from is the hillsides near Losa. People must have levered them off the hills and then dragged or carried them the mile between Losa and this spot.”
“Wow!” I exclaimed. “What strength that must have required! These rocks are huge. You were not jesting when you called this the grave of giants.”
“No, I certainly wasn’t,” said Fatiaki. “And there is much more evidence which suggests that a race of giants once lived on this island. “You remember the road you cycled on today? When it was built in 1927, the labourers uncovered an old cemetery containing bones of a size that indicated they belonged to bodies at least 12 feet tall.
“They quickly and fearfully re-buried all the bones and changed the course of the road. So those giant bones still rest in the cemetery today.” “Jonathan,” he said, “during the second world war, coast watchers climbed up here and began to build a watch house. As they dug holes for the corner posts, they uncovered shin bones over 3 feet (1 meter) long.”
You can figure this outside for yourself. Again, only a 12 foot man would have leg bones that size.
“They also found human teeth which they described as big like a horse’s teeth.“And in this same general area, while searching for places to hide in case of Japanese invasion, the people found caves filled with giant human bones.”

BY Jonathan Grey