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Fijians

 Language: The Fijian language comes from the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language. In every village there is a different dialect of Fijian. Bau is the standard dialect of Fijian. Missionaries translated a Bible in to Fijian for the people. But English is the official language of the country.

 Beliefs:  There's a myth of a Shark God. That protects the people of Kadavu, an island surrounded by sharks. So they have no fear of the sharks that populate the reefs. Many Fijians are Methodist. Because of the translated Bible. Methodist and Catholic churches, schools and missions were established in the 1800s. Fijians have traditional fire walking ceremonies. Before the ceremony men and women are separated for three days. The men eat coconut and then hot coals will be raked over stones and the men will walk across.

Values: Most of the Fijian people are Methodist or Catholic. And since they are Christian sexual relationships are not allowed. In a family If the senior male in the family does not eat some of his food, it cannot be eaten by anyone else. The higher the social position in the family the more respect they recieve. Dancing is very important to the Fijian culture.

Behaviors:  In Fiji you must always remove your shoes before walking into a house. And greet people by saying //ni sa bula,// or the informal //bula//. Fijian people prefer cross-cousin marriage. Men having more than one wife is allowed. Actually the more wives you have the higher your social status is. Many different celebrations are very cultural to the Fijian people. Singing ,dancing, are very traditional, the men and women dance separately. Women's dances are usually some kinds of hand gestures while men's dances is posing with weapons. Western-style instruments and singing have become very popular.

Crocombe, Ron. //The South Pacific: An Introduction.// New Zealand: Longman Paul Limited, 1987. Mayer, Adrian. //Indians in Fiji.// London: Oxford University Press 1963. Siegel, Jeff. //Language Contact in a Plantation Environment: A sociolinguistic// History of Fiji. New York. Cambridge. University Press, 1987 Fijians." //Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life//. Ed. Jeneen Hobby and Timothy Gall. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 245-249. //Gale Virtual Reference Library//. Web. 26 Jan. 2011.