NATIVE WEDDING

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25550, 19 July 1948, Page 2

NATIVE WEDDING

PATH OF HUMAN BODIES FOR BRIDE A description of a native wedding at Tarawa, in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, where she is stationed as a sister at the Central Hospital, was given by Sister Maire Fraser (Christchurch) in a recent letter to her parents, Mr and Mrs lan Fraser (North Parade). The bride wore scarlet flowers in her hair and a long, white frock with real flowers sewn on the skirt, said Sister Fraser. The bridegroom also wore white with green and gold leis of flowers crossed over his chest. After the native ceremony the bridegroom was escorted out, led by the hands, by two bridesmaids, and the guests threw down mats and yards of brightly coloured material for him to walk on to the maniappa (reception hall), where the feast was to be held. Then the bride emerged, led by her father, and all the young men of the village and male visitors, lay down on their faces, and the bride walked over their prostrate bodies. They formed a complete path for her for about 100 feet. After the feast of chicken and pork, there were bridal processions, with children singing and dancing and strewing flowers, and the bridal couple and their attendants following, four young men holding a scarlet silk canopy over their heads. The rest of the guests followed, singing and dancing. Sister Fraser said she had asked the native doctor why the men lay down and formed a path for the bride, and he had said it was a sign that they respected the marriage vows. After the wedding the bride and bridegroom had to spend the night in the maniappa. surrounded by friends and relatives. and the next day they were married again in a mission church. Aboakoro Island Aboakoro Island, where her hospital was situated, was about two degrees north of the equator, and she thought the climate must be about the most perfect in the world, said Sister Fraser. The temperature was very even, both day and night, with a continual breeze, the south-east trade wind. The sun was very hot, of course, but all the paths and roads were completely shaded with coconut palms. Another sisier and herself, the chief medical officer, and another doctor and his wife comprised the entire European population. The launch trio to Aboakoro Island from Bairiki, which was at present the headquarters of the group, took about 24 hours. There was no soil on the island, and the residents were not allowed to import it. The gardens, in which the keen gardeners coaxed tomatoes. a kind of lettuce, and cucumbers to grow, were made from fowl manure and what compost could be gathered, worked into the coral sand. Coconut palms and Pandanus trees seemed to be the only natural plants on the island.