While I was in Fiji I was able to attend two separate funeral gatherings of friend’s relatives.
The first ceremony I attended was for my friend’s best friend who had passed a year before. The people closest to the departed give up one thing for a year (a lot like lent). The most common things to be given up are alcohol and kava. In Fijian culture 1 year after the relatives death friends and family all gather for a celebration of the person’s life. The gathering was really fun. There was a live band, dancing and kava. Everyone seemed to have a really good time despite the situation.
The second ceremony I went to was for a friend’s grandmother. This was a lot more formal and serious as she had recently departed. In Fiji there is 100 day mourning period so this was a lot quieter as it was still mourning time. For the women pretty much the whole night consisted of preparing a MASSIVE amount of food. The men were preparing the meat and drinking kava. When there is a death in the family in Fiji ALL friends and relatives attend. It was more a big family reunion more than anything. Some people hadn’t seen each other in over 10 years so it was really cool seeing a big family gather like that.
I feel very lucky to have been able to experience so much of Fijian culture first hand and to have made the friends that I did. Vinaka to all my friends in Fiji.