The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-08-23
FIRE WALKING CEREMONY
STRANGE RITE LATELY SEEN AT
RAIATEA.
Men Walk Bare Footed Through an
Immense Oven Filled With Red Hot
Stones, Uninjured.

The curious and ancient rite of
fire walking" still exists in some of
the South Sea islands. \ correspond
ent of the Auckland Star who was on
the cruise of the Union Steamship
company's steamship Waikare
through the Enchanted Isles" thus
describes it:
The most interesting sight witness
ed during the trip was the curious
and rare exhibition of fire walking,
given by number of natives at the
island of Raiatea, in the Society is
lands. When the Waikare was at
Tahiti a number of Raiatea natives
gave an exhibition of fire walking
there, but at Raiatea, where the fight
ing between the natives and
the French soldiers took place
some time ago, the ceremonies of pas
sing through the fiery furnace was
repeated on a far larger scale. The
passengers all landed and were es-
corted up to the place where the eX-
hibition was to be given. The fact is
not generally known that the art of
fire walking is known amongst the
natives of the Society islands. 1t is
practiced on a small island of the Fiji
group, where some exhibitions were
given not long ago. On Raiatea this
ceremony is known as the "Umu-ti,'
the word "umu" signifying oven, and
"ti' plant, synonymous with the
til or cabbage tree of New Zealand.
A large oven some 25 feet long by ~
feet wide was prepared, the form be-
ing sloping upwards, and the eXcava-
E11oI Nxyifh lnnC and yynn1
and covered with large stones. The
fire had been kept burning for about
a day. The stones were heated to a
red and white heat, and when every
thing was in readiness and the fur
mace pouring out it's intense heat,
about fifty natives marched up with
bare feet to the edge of the furnace,
which they entered, waving branches
of the "ti'' plant, and the leader re-
peated some words in the native lam
guage.
Waving their green branches, the
natives marched in procession several
times around and across the open,
stepping from stone to stone. This
was repeated several times, and the
natives emerged from the fiery oven
without their garments or themselves
being injured, except in few cases,
where two or three of the natives had
their feet somewhat burned. They
did not appear to have had any prep
aration whatever on their feet, and
their immunity from hurt is attribut-
ed to their hardness and thickness of
the soles of their feet, and the insen-
sibility of the natives to pain. The
leader, or priest, of the party was a
man named Taero, the descendant of
a priest. The heather priests of Raia"
tea were in olden times supposed to
possess the power of causing their
people to walk in procession through
the "umu-ti' and there are only two
men now living (Tupua and the above
mentioned Taero) who are endowed
according to the natives, with this
gift. The ti-leaf which is found all
through the Pacific, is supposed to
possess great magical power and was
much used as wands, or as garlands,
by warriors and priests, and was also
said to have enabled fugitives by wav-
ing the branches before them to fly
over precipices and ravines away
from their pursuers in trobulous
times. Only a certain section of the
Raiatea people practice this singular
custom. It was performed on a pre-
vious occasion on Raiatea on Septem-
Der 20, 1885.