Fiji Religion

Holy Torture in Fiji by Muneshwar Sahadeo and others. Recommended retail price $24.

Sacred ancient rituals involving physical ordeals are performed once a year at certain Hindu temples in Fiji. The rituals include walking on fire, dancing on upturned knife blades, whipping, plunging the hands in burning fat and piercing the body with steel skewers and silver wires. Yet those who go through the ordeals suffer no pain, burns or other injuries (all of which can be explained by science!). Paddy once fire walked when dared to by various bystanders. He emerged at the end of the pit unscathed

This book explains the rituals and the social and sociological context in which they take place. One of the authors, Muneshwar Sahadeo, has undergone almost all the ordeals himself. The other authors studied, interviewed and measured. The photographs were taken by Stan Ritova, one of Fiji’s foremost photographers. Soft cover, 64 pages.

(47k)

  Inheritance of Hope,The : John Hunt, Apostle of Fiji by Andrew Thornley translated into Fijian by Tauga Vulaono. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 9820201594. Recommended retail price $28.

John Hunt was a Wesleyan missionary in Fiji for just a decade, 1839-1848. Nevertheless, his work was of such impact that he ensured the eventual conversion of the Fijians to Christianity. The Inheritance of Hope examines Hunt's upbringing and training in England, his marriage to Hannah Summers and their time of missionary work in Fiji. Surrounded constantly by the vitality and prosperity of a warlike yet welcoming people, Hunt introduced western ideas of education and medicine together with the religious and ethical principles of Christianity. His theological forms of education in Fiji as well as his many translations, including the first Fijian New Testament, are enduring testimonies to his work. Only 36 when he died, Hunt has justifiably earned the title of Apostle of Fiji. Soft cover, 532 pages. Published in 2000.