Church in Fiji

for the rest of my spare time in Fiji I opted for an organised tour of the local area. The tour included some time in a local village called "First Landing" as part of the village tour they took us into the Church, They follow Christianity. What interested me was the seating layout in the Church, During the service the adults are segregated by sex with the men and women sitting either side of the isle facing the alter, Grandparents sit in the to the left of the isle and children to the right of the alter. The third photograph shows the area where the village chief sits behind the children. Being a “chief” he gets a fan which is the only air conditioning in the building.

The Fijian tribal system has an interesting aspect to it, you are born into a specific role in the community so if you are born into the family of a fisherman you have a responsibility to feed the village, if you are born a chief then at some point on your live you may become the village chief. When the chief dies the village come together and vote for the new chief, they can only vote for people born into a “chief” family if you are from a fishing family you are not eligible to stand in the election.