RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS
BRING UNITY, BOOST FIJI: A-G
Acting Prime Minister and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum reiterated that love, compassion and unity must be engraved into our various livelihoods.
He made those comments at the 36th Nacovi Sangam Temple annual fire-walking ceremony at Sonaisali Road in Nadi on Saturday night. While speaking at the event, the Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said: As stipulated in our Constitution, all Fijians are blessed to be able to partake in religious functions.
He said such religious festivals brought unity among people, which made Fiji a richer and culturally vibrant country.
“The basic message is that we need to love each other more, understand each other and have compassion for each other. Every single religion teaches us this,” the A-G said.
“We have to improve ourselves, in our family circle and in our communities. Most importantly we have to think about having unity among us. Our country will prosper.
“We have people of all races, different religions and we are given the freedom to exercise our rights to practise religious festivals freely like Holi and Diwali. In fact, it makes us a richer country as we can experience different faith. When we practise our religion freely it makes us better citizens. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum praised the commitment made by the temple executives and committee members.
“We have many community workers in the country who are not being paid for the work they do but they continue to carry out their tasks very well,” he said. “These buildings we have here are made through the donors who have pledged their support.”
The temple was established in 1932 and this year marked the unbroken 36th year of the fire walking ceremony which is part of the annual Mariamman Pooja and Thirunaal, which began last Monday (April 16) and ended yesterday. Temple secretary Divikash Nair said: “We, the members of Nacovi Sangam Temple, thank the A-G for accepting our invitation.
“It is a great privilege and an honour to have him here among us as the chief guest on the auspicious occasion.
“His presence to this temple is most highly valuable to our community and people.”
He thanked the more than 1500 who graced the event with “Kargam” possession, braved the cold to witness Tirikutu dance and even the fire walking ceremony yesterday morning (Sunday, 5am).