Indian Mission in Fiji by LILLIAN CHESSON

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 18, 1915

Indian Mission in Fiji

By LILLIAN CHESSON

LILLIAN CHESSON

[So many have come from India to Fiji, that it has seemed best to start a special work for these people.—Ed.]

THE experience gained in the sanitarium is truly invaluable to foreign missionaries. Indians, as a rule, are fearful of developing disease, and usually seek aid as soon as possible when they become ill. Their children may run about uncared for; but when they become sick, the parents manifest much concern and love.

When visiting the homes, the reason for so much sickness is apparent. One day I visited a sick mother lying in a dirty corner, covered with thick blankets, another thick cloth serving as a mosquito net. The young baby had a cold, and to cure it they had put on its head what seemed to be oily sawdust, as a part of the black art practiced by them.

In another home, partly occupied by poultry and used as a grain storeroom, we found a mother and a boy very sick, and all that protected them from the damp ground was a grass mat. We visited a Moslem family, who were rather suspicious of us; but after we had treated their sick, they made us a gift of some poultry.

A short time ago we attended an Indian wedding, the ceremony taking place at midnight. The bride was seated on the ground, covered with a sheet, and bedecked with ornaments of colored paper. The bridegroom's attire consisted of a pink skirt fourteen yards wide, a red coat, black socks, white shoes, and on his head what appeared like a wedding cake covered with colored paper. The bride, who in this instance was only eleven years old, fasts with her people a day before the wedding, and during the ceremony sits between her father and mother, in front of the bridegroom and the priest. The bride first places her hands in those of the bridegroom, and Indian bread is placed on them by the priest, who then puts their great toes together and pours water on them, which the father of the bride catches in his hand and drinks. This ceremony is thrice repeated, and then the priest throws some rice over both bride and bridegroom. Afterwards the mother and the grandparents go through the same ordeal. Next the priest ties the end of the groom's coat to the sheet that covers the bride, and they encircle a pole, while the women screech weird chants, and the orchestra—composed of an Indian banjo, a clanging brass gong, and a deafening shotgun—tries to outdo the chanting. Parched rice is thrown over them, and after the presents have been received, the bridal party retire to a hut to talk and play dice till the feast at day-break. Marriage to them is destitute of that love which to us makes and keeps it so sacred.

Pray for these people, that some of them may attend the marriage supper of the Lamb.