May 2023 bring happiness, hope and peace

To my companions in mission,

May 2023 bring happiness, hope and peace. That’s a lot to ask for. But I think we need to trust in God and have confidence in our own limited but honest endeavours.

I remember the first time I celebrated New Year’s Day in Fiji back in 1978. It was a Sunday and I went to say 10.00am mass in the village of Toge, in the parish of Ba. I had been appointed to the parish only two weeks earlier. Mass was said in one of the larger houses in the village. This was well before the church was built. After mass, most of the congregation left for home, leaving about 20 elders to drink kava with me. Shortly after the formal kava ceremony was over, two or three young men came in and took one of the elders outside. A short time later, this gentleman returned sopping wet and the two young men proceeded to take another one of the elders outside. This continued until I was the only one who was dry. I was informed that it was a new year ritual in Fiji. No one was completely sure of the meaning but it seemed to have something to do with the idea of a cleansing ceremony as each person begins a new year.

As I sat there wondering how I had escaped being dunked in the nearby river, there was a argument taking place just outside the front door and I asked my “spokesperson” or, to use the Fijian term, my matanivanua what the argument was about and he told me that a couple of the elders were speaking to the young men and telling them they were not allowed to take the priest and dunk him in the river. So, I said to the elders that I would bring my swimming gear next year.

I didn’t forget. The following year, 1979, New Year’s Day fell on a Monday. So, I went to say mass on the evening of Sunday. After mass I had been invited by the chief of the area, known as the Tui Naloto, to talk about religion and the changes in the Church. He had been away from the Church for some time and wanted to talk with me. As the bamboo guns were set off and people beat their drums to welcome in the new year, villagers came into the chiefly house to pay tribute to their chief and wish him a happy new year. It was a long kava session and I was happy to make my way down to the house where I was staying.

Then, very early in the morning, after very little sleep, I was lightly tapped on the shoulder as I lay sleeping on the floor by a young man. He told me that he another young man had been authorised by the elders to take me to the river and to dunk me in the water. I was ready. Before leaving the house, however, I asked them to wake up my matanivanua because I thought he should accompany me in my dunking. They had great fun in hauling my “spokesperson”, despite his desperate protests, out of the house and down to the river. It was all done with great humour. So I was lightly pushed into the water and had an enjoyable swim to welcome in the new year!

I then returned to the house to change and went outside to get into the parish utility van for the ride back to the Ba presbytery. The village catechist or vakavuvuli intervened and strongly urged me to stay a moment. I said I was very tired and just wanted to get home. Fortunately I had enough cultural sensitivity to realise that the people had to carry out an important ceremony.

So, we went back into the house where a number of people had gathered. There I was presented with a tabua (whale’s tooth), the highest gift that one can receive, a couple of sulu or material that men would wear around the waist. This ceremony is what is called the vakamamaca or the “drying” ceremony. While some people in Fiji throw water over anyone and everyone in gay abandon these days, in more traditional settings you have to be careful to ensure that you have the appropriate gifts to carry out the vakamamaca if a special guest or a person of note was to be included among those to be “dunked” on new year’s day.

As I recall this celebration, I remember the exuberant joy of welcoming in the new year. The challenge is to maintain that sense of happiness that comes from experiencing the joy of being alive. Let us pray that we will not be so weighed down by the responsibilities of life that loose the ability to smile, even in the face of tragedy and disappointment.

An even greater challenge is to believe that the year promises new beginnings, especially when people are returning to homes devastated and inundated by floods, when others, like the people of Ukraine, continue to endure unjust invasions and ongoing wars. Let us pray for that spirit of hope which can still face the frightening realities of life and still trust that the future if worth living for.

Why? Peace. That’s what we hope for. Peace in our minds and hearts as we grapple with the daily news. Peace in our world as we pray for the end of wars, serious efforts to address the issues of climate change and the cooperation of human and religious communities across the world.

May God bless you all as we enter into this new year.

Tom Rouse - Lower Hutt, New Zealand