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| cartoon by Bill Bates |
I personally think that this cartoon is a great depiction of the effects of missionaries on the Pacific. In Fiji women are expected to cover their shoulders and knees majority of the time and pants aren't commonly worn. It's considered very slutty to walk around in a mini skirt in fiji, even in Suva (apart form the tourists) you seldom see a Fijian women wearing short or exposing clothing- and when you do it is a complete shock!
Last Wednesday we were invited to the Conservatorium of Music's annual Christmas party, which was held at the Directors village. The whole day was extremely fun; we swam, played rugby and volleyball and just lounged around on a beach that was rarely visited by "Westerners". The one thing I kept thinking about all day was the fact that everyone who was swimming was fully clothed! Even on a beach where we were pretty much the only ones using it. The comment made by the director before we left for the village reminded me of this cartoon.
"You can wear shirts and shorts, that's fine, just don't wear your skimpy bikinis"
So of course we covered up and wore clothes swimming. I just find the irony of this situation interesting when you look back the introduction of Christianity into the Pacific. Although I have experienced this type of "dress-code" in Fiji, tradition and cultural norms are cracking. The more traveling for education and exposure to other cultures and their ways has seen the introduction of skimpier and more "Western" clothing by youths in Fiji.
Tru dat!
ReplyDeleteBut I kind of enjoyed it. Reminded me of my Samoan family picnics. Different to the Beachouse though.
I guess we are lucky if we can move comfortably in both worlds. And you are one of those few people who can.
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Fiji? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Fiji in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez