![]() ![]() The raga is put in half coconut shells and baked all night. When mena is cooking in an oven, women must keep away from their husbands that night. One half is kept for making mena, the other half used for making fekei. The root is then squeezed into water and allowed to settle, as is done with arrowroot. There is the same competition to get that work done first and also not to have any left. A woman will ask groups of 6-7 men in different houses to work her raga. Then handfuls of raga root are rubbed or pulled over the stick to grate it. They dig it up and get many basketfuls from all the place.Ī Stick is tied up with coconut fibre and hung over husk and the center of vaka a canoe. Men prepare the raga plant and plant it, but women take care of it and weed it. The people then and today seem to rely on papai in emergencies. In these were buried breadfruit, taro and banana as food reserves. The small of the back was given to the owner of the pig. The head was given to the chief as today the head of a cow is presented to him at the feast. When the ti leaf fekei or package called kokono'o sei was served to a chief, a leaf was always placed on top and this was tied around the stem of the package. ![]() They are sewn one on top of the other, not edge to edge with a strip of bark or coconut leaf. The sa'a leaves are sewn or laced together in thick pads and these are placed over the banana leaves to keep the heat in. This is covered with leaves and then the earth is shoveled over. When the wood fire has burnt out and the rocks are well heated, banana leaves or sa'a leaves sewn together are put over the rocks if the food is not wrapped in leaves, and then the food is laid on. In the earth or sand pit is made a wood fire on which the stones are put as soon as it is burning well. Vakalolo = arrowroot pudding, Fijian name for fekei. Niuafoua = beef and greens in banana or ti leaves. 'Ikou = fish baked in banana or ti leaves. The commoners ate opposite the chief without tables. No man could leave until the meal was over. " All the tables would be turned over and the women would clear away the food. When the meal was finished, the chief would say " Re sor. First they served kava before which there was a fakpeje. Only at a big feast did they use the chiefs' tables 'umefe. The men usually feed the children who are around. ![]() The women took out the food and served it, except meats, pig and now cow. = cooking, making the koua and bringing in and killing pigs. The chiefs in a house eat first on their tables ( umefe ), after which the women eat. The men bring in the food from the plantations and prepare all that is cooked in the earth oven. Thatching was formerly made of the leaves of a different coconut than that now used. This was before the time of the commissioners. Rotuman Custom as told to Gordon MacGregor in 1932įrom notes archived at Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'iĬoconuts were formerly not very numerous on Rotuma until a German came and planted them for copra. ![]()
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