Fiji Villagers Apologize for Cannibalism:
Villagers in a remote Fijian community staged an elaborate ceremony of apology Thursday for the relatives of a British missionary killed and eaten here 136 years ago.The Rev. Thomas Baker and eight Fijian followers were killed and devoured by cannibals in 1867 in the village of Nabutautau, high in the hills of the South Pacific island of Viti Levu. Residents say their community has been cursed ever since.
In a mixture of ancient pagan and modern Christian rites, the villagers have staged a series of ceremonies hoping to erase the misfortunes they believe have kept them poor.
If you’re staging ceremonies to lift the curse that has left you poor, I’m betting you’ll stay poor for a long, long time.
It’s the little details that make the story — like trying to eat his boots:
The rituals — which started about a month ago — culminated Thursday with the offering of cows, specially woven mats and 30 carved sperm-whale teeth known as tabua to 10 Australian descendants of Baker.“This is our third apology but, unlike the first two, this one is being offered physically to the family of Mr. Baker,” Ratu Filimoni Nawawabalavu, the village’s chief, told The Associated Press.
Nawawabalavu is the great-grandson of the chief responsible for cooking the missionary in an earthen oven.
Past apologies have not helped. In 1993, villagers presented the Methodist Church of Fiji with Baker’s boots — which cannibals tried unsuccessfully to cook and eat.
Why did they kill and eat the missionary?
There are differing accounts of Baker’s demise. A villager said last month the incident started when the chief borrowed Baker’s hat. Baker tried to take it back without knowing that touching a chief’s head was taboo and punishable by death.Others say the missionary lent the chief a comb, then touched his head as he tried to retrieve it from the chief’s tight, curly hair.
Back to my original point:
Villagers believe that since 1867, either Baker’s spirit or disapproving gods have made sure that modern developments like electricity, a school, piped water supply and other essentials enjoyed by most Fijian villagers have been kept from them.