Navunikabi Village - Namosi
Village named after the bamboo raft of the spirits
DEEP in the highlands of Namosi is the village of Navunikabi which is surrounded by lush green forests and deep gorges.
The village has been receiving its share of tourists and visitors from around the world who flock into its eco-retreat seeking refuge from the rowdy busy concrete jungles of the Western world to reconnect with nature.
Tourists visit the village to get a taste of true Fijian hospitality and to enjoy the lush forest walks and doze off their weary minds in crystal clear rivers of the highlands.
These same clear rivers hold the meaning of this mysterious village’s name which is home to over 300 people descended from an ancient race of seafarers who first peopled the island of Viti Levu.
Traversing the mountainous terrains of Viti Levu on a journey that stemmed out of the ancient mountains of Nakauvadra in the highlands of Ra these warriors settled in what we now know as Namosi and have come to call it their home.
Many in the village have forgotten the meaning of their village’s name or they may refer any inquiring spirit to the counsel of their elders.
I was fortunate to be sitting with these elders during a recent visit to the village on a Government tour and had the privilege of interviewing a village elder who explained the meaning of their village name to me. In his story, Navunikabi elder Nikola Rokowai said there were five clans in their village namely - Loma, Nakorowaiwai, Vatuvula, Nasilime and Nadoi.
Mr Rokowai said the strange thing about them was that the original people of Navunikabi’s totem fish was the Vo a freshwater fish while their totem tree was the Mako (Trichospermum richii), a native tree of Fiji.
Mr Rokowai said they heard from their elders in the past that the river beside their village was a passageway for all souls as the journeyed into the afterlife.
“In the past elders would predict the death of a chief by the sound of the legendary bilibili raft which would anchor by the riverside to await the spirit of its passengers to ferry them across to the other life,” he said.
“Elders say they would hear the chains of the bilibili raft being dropped with a loud thud into the river as the raft anchored by the stony outcrop across the river.
“I have even heard the sound of the bilibili anchor which heralded the death of our previous high chief the Tui Namosi.
“However in this age, the phenomenon is hardly witnessed by our people as people begin to lose their belief in the teachings and ways of our forefathers.”
Mr Rokowai said according to legend after a person died their soul would journey down the outcrop of rocks across the river making their way to where the ghostly vessel was berthed taking them on the long journey to the spiritual realm.
“However the name of the village is derived from the rocky outcrop across the river where the canoes would berth at,” he said.
“Navunikabi literally means the tree of the berth, referring to the outcrop where the bamboo would come and berth kabi also means berth because it is used like ‘e sa kabi tu na waqa (the boat has berthed).
“Hence the name for this village it is named after the rocky outcrop where the spirit vessel would berth awaiting its passengers to be ferried across to the netherworld.
“These stories are unbelievable to an educated person in this day and age but such were the beliefs of our forefathers and this is how our village received its name.”
Mr Rokowai said the ancient native man was very much a spiritual person who believed in an afterlife and the presence of another realm where the human soul journeyed once it departs from this realm.
From this, it is apparent that Fijian spirits generally were, and still are, greatly respected and there is a close interrelationship between them and their human descendants.
Studies by anthropologists into ancient Fijian culture reveal that in the old religion spirits were viewed a dangerous, especially if offended by disturbance or neglect.
“They could, however, be approached and appeased by ceremonial presentations of yaqona (kava) or food.
Studies reveal that such spirits could communicate through dreams or trance, and could make their presence known by the appearance of an animate object of a certain category with which they were particularly associated.
Fijian beliefs were and still are tied up intimately with sites associated closely with the ancestors in accordance with the concept of vanua.
The spirit world had and still has a vital part to play in the origins, unification and relationships between polities, and invalidating and legitimising certain ceremonial activities such as the installation of a chief.
It also had a vital role to play in the economic, social and ceremonial life of a polity, and in the behaviour of members to each other and to others.
Even when reality suggests that secular power
was more important in the development of a polity than spiritual power, the wielder of secular power would still seek spiritual support and legitimisation for his military and political activities.
Spirits and people shared a common world, of which the geographical component included places with which both people and spirits were closely and directly associated.
The spirits are usually benevolently provided because respect and attention is paid to them by the living.
Relationship between humans, spirits and places was and is such that Fijians are anxious not to offend spirits or to place themselves in a position where the spirits might be able to exercise their malevolence. Rere (with short vowels) or fear of and respect for the spirits is expressed by taking appropriate measures not to disturb the sites and the spirits and by maintaining distance from the sites.