www.fijitimes.com - 10 July 2008
I WISH to correct a few things published already on the Tui Mavana (FT 3/7).
It is correct that Ratu Josefa Basulu is yet to be traditionally installed as the Tui Mavana.
Ratu Josefa is the eldest in the Nasima family of Mualevu. As the eldest, he is entitled to be called Sau kei Mualevu.
The title of Tui Mavana was initially given by the chief of Mavana to the chief of Lomaji in Mualevu, who then handed the title to the chief of Mualevu.
Later, the chief of Mualevu was installed by the people of Mavana at A place called Buli-ya.
In regards to the superiority of the two titles, the Sau kei Mualevu and the Tui Mavana are related and relevant depending on the situation observed.
The title Sau was bestowed on the eldest of the Nasima family who left Vuna in Taveuni and went to Mualevu in Vanua Balavu. Traditionally, the Sau kei Mualevu was the headchief of all the islands in the Somosomo group.
However, Finau Soko's observation on Ratu Josefa's claim as Tui Mavana, should be considered together with the current move in light of the present situation in Fiji.
Mosese Uluicicia Sasala
Suva
Funny matter
www.fijitimes.com - 3 July 2008
IT is a laughing matter for the Mualevu tikina to hear that Josefa Basulu has claimed that he has been traditionally installed as Tui Mavana.
He is not the title holder of the Tui Mavana and he is from the family of the Sau kei Mualevu and none of the Sau kei Mualevu have ever been traditionally installed, not even his father, since that title had come from Vuna in Taveuni. When that title was to change from Sau mai Vuna to Sau kei Mualevu, there was never any traditional installation.
Secondly, it must be known that these two titles are not the same.
They are two different chiefs altogether and thirdly Basulu knows the reason why the people of Mualevu will not install him as their high chief because there is some other who has got higher ranking than him and their families but they seem to be pushed aside by none other but Basulu and his family.
The sad thing is that these two titles are from the same family but the real kai Mualevu will know that the Tui Mavana is superior than the Sau kei Mualevu.
Finau Soko
Suva
7 comments:
It should be clearly understood by whoever is concerned that Ratu Seru who ran away with the title of Sau to Vanua Balavu from Vuna was never the eldest in the Nasima family of Vuna.
He was the younger brother of Ratu Maiwai, the second Sau Tui Vuna to be installed after the death of the first Sau Tui Vuna , Ratu Tawaketini. Ratu Seru, in his resentment of Ratu Maiwai, murdered him and ran off with the Sau title to Mualevu.
It must also be noted here that his two sons, Ratu Rakai and Ratu Veigisigisi eventually came back to settle in Vuna where they began the other two surviving clans in the Vanua o Vuna, Nonone and Vusaratu.
If the Sau Mai Mualevu claim to be the eldest, he is the eldest to just the two clans of Nonone and Vusaratu. Not to the Nakabu clan of which Ratu Maiwai was the head.
Ratu Seru did not take the blessings of the Sau title with him to Mualevu because the original source of that rests in the village of Nasauvuki in Moturiki where the ancestors of the Nasima family set off from in search of greener pastures with the blessings of the Ratu mai Moturiki or whoever was the eldest of the five brothers.
So it was only natural that when Ratu Seru ran off with the Sau title, this was relayed back to the elders in Moturiki who then send the elders of Nacamaki to Vuna to install another Sau mai Vuna.
This does not and never will mean that as Ratu Seru had taken the Sau title to Mualevu that there is no longer any Sau in Vuna. The final authority of whoever is to be installed in Vuna rest with the Vanua o Moturiki, Yavusaratu in Bau, the Vunivalu of Bau, Roko Tui Viwa in Viwa and the Tui Nacamaki who's only responsibility is to carry out the installation.
The Sau mai Mualevu is never tradditionally installed because there is no one to install him. That duty rests with the chief of Nacamaki who performs it on behalf of the Yavusaratu clan (the descendants of Degei) which has its roots in Verata and not Bau.
The above indicates that the Sau mai Mualevu has no authority over anything as there is no one to install him thus the blessings of the Sau title remains in Vuna.
Vosota Maiqereqere,
Na tikina oqo, a sega ni bau vakadewa taki mai sobu mai. Ena gauna ni carasala ki Bau na Turaga na Sau Mai Vuna o Ratu Ilaitia Makaba (OBE) a ia na lako ki Bau ka sega ki Motoriki. E Dina ni tiko na sala ni veiwekani e Motoriki ia esega ga ni kenai balebale ni ratou lewa na kena mai vaka tokari na i tutu vaka vanua e Vuna aya na Sau Ni Vanua o Vuna kei na Tui Vuna.
Oqo na kena keimami kila tu.
"That duty rests with the chief of Nacamaki who performs it on behalf of the Yavusaratu clan (the descendants of Degei) which has its roots in Verata and not Bau."
http://vuna-yavuonasima.blogspot.com/
As a child of my beloved Vanua O Vuna Nasima, my solemn duty is to love, pray, protect & be kind to my Vanua, it's children & it's relatives & extended descendants & it's land. I take extra care not to say things that will only cause disruptive or negative words that only promotes tensions & wounds that takes a decade to heal. My Vanua O Vuna must stand strong. Be Intelligent in what we do, say or treat one another. Since at the end of each day, our actions speaks louder than words. For me as a child of MY VANUA O VUNA-NASIMA. Blood is thicker than water & if I hurt someone who is born of VUNA, then I am hurting myself. Dou sa bula va'a ca na wekaqu mai na Vanua O Vuna-mai na Yatu Lau E Cake & all my extended relatives across Fiji & the World. Let us appreciate, protect & love each other because Our VANUA O VUNA MUST & is the way the WORLD SHOULD BE.
I thought that anybody familiar with the installation of the Sau in Vuna will know that in the past, when a Tui Vuna needs to be installed as the Sau, the message is relayed back to the four or five chiefs I have already mentioned in my first posting who will give the approval for the sau to be installed. Now why do you think the name of the Ratu mai Moturiki is one of these authorities.
When the late Ratu mai Moturiki passed away, in the announcement of his death, the first chief to be mentioned was the Sau mai Vuna before even the Ratu mai Verata of anybody else for that matter. Now I wonder why???
The irony of all this is that what these people know about their history is far more informative than what we don't know about ours. One will have to travel through Tailevu and through Lomaiviti from Moturiki to Koro to know a lot more about the connections we have to these provinces and its people. One will be very suprised at how little one knows about these things.
Well, I read all your comments, I'm related to the Tui Vuna family. If you are arguing about who is going to install the Tui Vuna title, think again, it lies with Ratu Eroni Qiodravu's children, Ratu Emosi or Ratu Radrodoro or the other family members because we all know that if one chief dies, the next blood relation takes the title, otherwise you all do not want end up in court for installing the wrong person. The Yavusaratu's are the ruling clan in Vuna for they are also Lutunasobasoba's descendant.
I meant that the tribe who's Yavusa is Yavusaratu are the ruling clan in Vuna..
Thanks everyone for the comments....they are worth reading and pretty interesting.
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