Fijian society greets its guests and welcomes them with a special drinking ceremony. A tourist would have to drink a local beverage (bula) from half a coconut shell in a particular manner. The ceremony starts with everyone sitting cross-legged in a circle. Then each guest is given a coconut bowl with bula. It is essential to clap before receiving the coconut shell to show respect and then clap three times upon giving it back. Just like in England, it would be considered rude for the host, not to poor tea out. Fijian society would consider it inappropriate not to drink bula in one large swig. This particular cultural feature is reminiscent of Chinese, Japanese, or English tea ceremonies.
The bula ceremony is incredibly important to Fijians because it is a cultural tradition that goes back generations. In a large globalizing environment, there is always a possibility of cultural interception (Rowntree et al., 2017). Dominant cultures, such as Western ones, have historically overshadowed smaller indigenous ones through colonization and assimilation, leading to a decline in the usage of their cultural practices. Maintaining traditions is necessary to savor ones ethnic identity and heritage, which is very important to Fijians (Think Pacific, 2021). My country of origin is the United States, where there are no group drinking ceremonies, except alcoholic beverage consumption, where it is considered impolite to refuse a drink. I found it interesting that Fiji and America have some similarities in terms of cultural norms around drinking.
References
Rowntree, L., Krebs C.J., Price M., Wyckoff W. (2017) Diversity Amid Globalization: World Regions, Environment, Development. 7th edition, Pearson.
Think Pacific. (2021). Why maintaining culture is so important to Fijians [Video]. YouTube.