A Ceremony Of Silence: Echoes Of Mana And A Chief's Ascent

Scoop

11-07-2025

Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist
In Fiji, a new chief from an eminent dynasty emerged before the crowds, shrouded in silence, accompanied only by the sound of birds.
Ratu Tevita Mara - the son of Fiji's first prime minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, was elevated to chiefly status this week in two grand ceremonies that took place on Nayau and Lakeba Islands in Lau.
The crowd, estimated at several thousand, remained silent and still on Thursday as the newly crowned chief walked solemnly out of the church in Tubou.
He was accompanied by an entourage of warriors, religious figures and dignitaries.
A tall, dignified, statuesque figure, commonly known as Roko Ului, he easily towered over the people sitting on the sacred ground.
He too was quiet, head down, which seemed fitting for a high-born chief who is described and humble and private.
What was notable, was the total silence that pervaded. There was only the birds and the breeze and the movement in the environment.
Protocol had dictated that the onlookers maintain complete silence and keep still for up to three hours.
Even the warriors guarding Roko Ului stood still, a sign of dedication and commitment, despite the heat and mugginess that day.
People in the villages on both islands and around the Lau group fell simultaneously silent.
His story is like something out of a Hollywood movie.
He walks in the shadow of his father, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, deemed to be the father of Fiji.
Roko Ului, a former military general, fled to Tonga in 2011 and went into exile after the then Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama wanted him tried for treason.
The royal family sheltered him in their Nuku'alofa palace, where he worked as an advisor to King Tupou VI.
The Bainimarama administration banned him from re-entering Fiji - something that only became possible after Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka's government came into power in December 2022.
He returned to Fiji in 2023 and now there are predictions that he could well enter politics and become prime minister in the future.
A Fijian academic based in Aotearoa says the country is celebrating its new chief, because leadership is innate to iTaukei culture.
Victoria University's Asia-Pacific programme manager Maciu Raivoka told Paciic Waves says silence is a vital and symbolic part of Fijian culture.
Silence is engrained in the Fijian psyche and expected and observed on during a variety of ceremonial occasions.
It was not just a mark of respect for Roko Ului, it allowed him to dominate the space.
Psychologically, from a cultural point of view, it created the right ambience to magnify his mana or status.
It enabled people to be alone in a communal setting, to meditate or engage spiritually in the moment.
Raivoka says the occasion was a chance for iTaukei to celebrate the beauty of culture as a way of life, and as a system of governance, where people can demonstrate the best of themselves.
It was about "spotlighting" the role culture, of time-tested wisdom, that can be applied today.
Culture is something Fijians feel deeply inside, a spiritual connection, because that's what they know best.
The Fijian people subscribe to a communal world where one person represents everybody.
The bigger context is that Fiji as a country is looking at culture as a way of enhancing its leadership capability.
Culture is a way of life for iTaukei, it is not "history", it is being practised today.
Raivoka said people in the developed world do not appreciate that the cultural and modern world compliment each other and they need to be enhanced equally.
At Tuesday's ceremony, Roko Ului took off his ornate ceremonial attire and had a fully-clothed "dip" in a special salt water pit, dug in the sand. He emerged in a bright red sulu (sarong) and white long-sleeved shirt.
Raivoka explained that the practice parallels christian baptism and is a form of spiritual cleansing.
The whole process of being "installed" as a chief is about making connections with ancestors and allowing people in the village to play their specific role.
Chiefs are no longer considered individuals, they become a personification of their people, the vanua (land) the environment, and connections to other tribes and countries.
Sir Kamisese formed the Alliance Party in the early 1960s. It was Fiji's first ruling party from 1966 to 1987, when the party was beaten by a Labour-led coalition led by Timoci Bavadra.
After less than a month in office, the new government was deposed in a military coup led by the then Lieutenant Colonel Rabuka.