7 Cyclone Winston: Catholic Women’s Faith …
125
marine conservation practices of the village, a tabu (taboo) was sometimes placed
on a part of the traditional fishing grounds (qoliqoli) for a period of time. Yet in
2009, Tokou set up a 148 hectares Marine Protected Area (MPA) within the qoliqoli
for 15 years in association with Seacology, a non-profit organisation, that in return
pledged to construct a village hall (Sykes et al. 2018). In September 2018 Seacology
funded repairs to the village hall on condition that Tokou extend the MPA for another
decade. After Cyclone Winston, the shortage of fresh food in the village was perceived
as an emergency so the villagers were permitted to fish from the protected area in
front of the village for a month before the ban on the MPA was re-instated and
villagers were forced further out to sea to fish.
In most households in Tokou at least one person is employed by the Pacific Fishing
Company in Levuka (PAFCO) including three women who participated in this study.
Five other women participants supplement household incomes by baking, sewing,
and selling kerosene and cigarettes.
Tokou—Catholic Faith and Women
For indigenous Fijians (iTaukei) the relational term vanua is absolutely central to
their understanding of life, their values and ways of living. It encompasses “various
but related meanings: the people, the land, including living and [inanimate] creatures,
and the ocean and marine life that belong to that land” (Kivi 2018, p. 1). Vanua is
that which binds all this together, and with the adoption of Christianity, vanua and
Christian faith became closely interwoven (Ryle 2010). Though Tahitian teachers
first brought Christianity to Fiji in 1825 Christian mission did not really begin to
grow until after 1835, following the arrival of English missionaries from Tonga. The
first Roman Catholic missionaries of the French Society of Mary religious order
(Marists) arrived from Uvea (Wallis) in 1844 in the eastern-most island group, Lau,
moving from there to the island of Taveuni and then to Levuka, the capital at that
time, on Ovalau.
In 1852 Tokou became the first village in Fiji to convert as a whole to Catholicism
(Foi 2007). In 1885 the ancestors of Sawaniika mataqali (clan) of Tokou offered
gave a 30-acre piece of land beside the village to the Catholic Church for the use
of the Marists. It was named Loreto, after the shrine of the same name in Italy and
devoted to Our Lady of Loreto (Knox 1997); Our Lady of Loreto Church and Loreto
Catholic Primary School were later built there. From 1885 onwards, Loreto became
the centre for the Marist mission on Ovalau and the surrounding Lomaiviti group of
islands.
This history of a strong Catholic (Marist) presence since the mid-19th century
forms a core part of Tokou villagers’ sense of identity and is foundational to the
central place of Catholic faith practices in the village. Furthermore, Tokou prides
itself on having contributed several young men to the priesthood, most of whom
joined the Marist order. Despite significant changes over the past 25 years to church
adherence in Fiji, with Protestant Pentecostal churches gaining increased influence in
125
marine conservation practices of the village, a tabu (taboo) was sometimes placed
on a part of the traditional fishing grounds (qoliqoli) for a period of time. Yet in
2009, Tokou set up a 148 hectares Marine Protected Area (MPA) within the qoliqoli
for 15 years in association with Seacology, a non-profit organisation, that in return
pledged to construct a village hall (Sykes et al. 2018). In September 2018 Seacology
funded repairs to the village hall on condition that Tokou extend the MPA for another
decade. After Cyclone Winston, the shortage of fresh food in the village was perceived
as an emergency so the villagers were permitted to fish from the protected area in
front of the village for a month before the ban on the MPA was re-instated and
villagers were forced further out to sea to fish.
In most households in Tokou at least one person is employed by the Pacific Fishing
Company in Levuka (PAFCO) including three women who participated in this study.
Five other women participants supplement household incomes by baking, sewing,
and selling kerosene and cigarettes.
Tokou—Catholic Faith and Women
For indigenous Fijians (iTaukei) the relational term vanua is absolutely central to
their understanding of life, their values and ways of living. It encompasses “various
but related meanings: the people, the land, including living and [inanimate] creatures,
and the ocean and marine life that belong to that land” (Kivi 2018, p. 1). Vanua is
that which binds all this together, and with the adoption of Christianity, vanua and
Christian faith became closely interwoven (Ryle 2010). Though Tahitian teachers
first brought Christianity to Fiji in 1825 Christian mission did not really begin to
grow until after 1835, following the arrival of English missionaries from Tonga. The
first Roman Catholic missionaries of the French Society of Mary religious order
(Marists) arrived from Uvea (Wallis) in 1844 in the eastern-most island group, Lau,
moving from there to the island of Taveuni and then to Levuka, the capital at that
time, on Ovalau.
In 1852 Tokou became the first village in Fiji to convert as a whole to Catholicism
(Foi 2007). In 1885 the ancestors of Sawaniika mataqali (clan) of Tokou offered
gave a 30-acre piece of land beside the village to the Catholic Church for the use
of the Marists. It was named Loreto, after the shrine of the same name in Italy and
devoted to Our Lady of Loreto (Knox 1997); Our Lady of Loreto Church and Loreto
Catholic Primary School were later built there. From 1885 onwards, Loreto became
the centre for the Marist mission on Ovalau and the surrounding Lomaiviti group of
islands.
This history of a strong Catholic (Marist) presence since the mid-19th century
forms a core part of Tokou villagers’ sense of identity and is foundational to the
central place of Catholic faith practices in the village. Furthermore, Tokou prides
itself on having contributed several young men to the priesthood, most of whom
joined the Marist order. Despite significant changes over the past 25 years to church
adherence in Fiji, with Protestant Pentecostal churches gaining increased influence in