Sawana is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

on the

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

an island of

Vanua Balavu Vanua Balavu (pronounced ) is the third largest island in Fiji's Lau archipelago, and the main island of the Northern Lau Group. Geography and infrastructure This coral and volcanic island has a land area of . Its maximum elevation is . The islan ...

, in the

Lau Lau or LAU may refer to: People * Lau (surname) * Liu (劉/刘), a common Chinese family name transliterated Lau in Cantonese and Hokkien * Lau clan, one of the Saraswat Brahmin clans of Punjab * LAU (musician): Laura Fares Places * Lebane ...

The People of the Sea: Environment, Identity, And History in Oceania, By Paul D'Arcy, University of Hawaii Press archipelago and is part of the '' Tikina'' of

Lomaloma Lomaloma (; officially ''Lomaloma Tikina'', ) is a village at the south of the island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau archipelago of Fiji. The settlement is part of the tribal district of Tikina, Lomaloma and consists of 9 villages, 13 Yavusa (tribe ...

. Sawana is separated from the main village of

only by a large ditch.Village of the Conquerors, Sawana: a Tongan Village in Fiji, By Alexander Philip Lessin, Phyllis June Lessin - 1970. As the population is predominantly of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n origin, church services are conducted in Tongan, as well as Fijian.

The selection of a high Chief

The nomination for the title of the

Tui Lau Tui Lau is a Fijian chiefly title of recent history which was created during the time of Ma'afu and his conquests. A Brief History Ma'afu was disclaimed as a Tongan Prince by his cousin King George Tupou I. Since the Vuanirewa Clan of the Lau ...

comes from the Tongan community in Sawana and is then handed to the

Vuanirewa The Vuanirewa is the ruling tribe (yavusa) of the Lau Islands, a scattered group of more than a hundred islands (16 inhabited) and reefs along the eastern edge of Fiji. Origins The members of this clan all hail from the village of Tubou on the ...

clan on the island of

Lakeba Lakeba (pronounced ) is an island in Fiji’s Southern Lau Archipelago; the provincial capital of Lau is located here. The island is the tenth largest in Fiji, with a land area of nearly 60 square kilometers.Steadman (2006) It is fertile and wel ...

for a final decisionMara, Ratu Sir Kamisese, The Pacific Way: A Memoir, University of Hawaii Press, 1997

References

Sources

*Mara, Ratu Sir Kamisese
"The Pacific Way: A Memoir"
page 91. University of Hawaii Press, 1997. .
Fiji Times Newspaper Article, Title: Fiji Born Actor dies, Content: Talks in reference to Manu Tupou the Hollywood actor, of his ties with Lomaloma with reference to Ratu Mara and Adi Mere and Ratu Dreunimisimisi
''Fiji Times Saturday'' June 12, 2004, ''

Fiji Times ''The Fiji Times'' is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869 by George Littleton Griffiths, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating. ''The Fiji Times'' is owned by Motibhai G ...

'' Archives. *Why these unions were important was due to the Vasu connection that brought different tribes together following are examples documenting the Importance of the Vasu connection or maternal lineage in Fiji: as outlined in this Book ‘Matanitu’ the struggle for power in early Fiji by David Routledge 1985,published by the Institute of Pacific studies and the University of the South PacificFiji, Chapter 1 page 36, also see the Boo
Fiji and the Fijians
By Thomas Williams, James Calvert, Ch 2 page 33,34 *''Lau Islands, Fiji'' By A.M Hocart and Bernice P. Bishop - Museum Bulletin 62 p226, Publication Date: June 1969, Publisher: Kraus Intl Pubns, this book Documents in detail the Rasau and Ratu Keni *''Fijian Heralds and Envoys.'', A. M. Hocart, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 43, Jan. - Jun., 1913 (Jan. - Jun., 1913), pp. 109–118, ,

Arthur Maurice Hocart Arthur Maurice Hocart (26 April 1883, in Etterbeek, Belgium – 9 March 1939, in Cairo, Egypt) was an anthropologist best known for his eccentric and often far-seeing works on Polynesia, Melanesia, and Sri Lanka. Early life Hocart's family had ...

does a comparative study on two chiefs and their heralds and envoys one being the Rasau of Lomaloma. *''20th Century Fiji'', edited by Stewart Firth & Daryl Tarte - 2001 - , this book has a very detailed reference to Ratu Edward and Ratu Mara acknowledges their mothers *Web link reference t
Ratu Edward.
{{Authority control Lau Islands Islands of Fiji

The selection of a high Chief

See also

References

Sources