In Fijian culture, tabua (teeth) are traditionally collected from the lower jaws of beached whales, and since whale beachings are a relatively rare occurrence, the teeth are highly prized.
A tabua is a polished tooth of a sperm whale that is an important cultural item in Fijian society. They were traditionally given as gifts for atonement or esteem (called sevusevu), and were important in negotiations between rival chiefs.
The dead men would be buried with their tabua, along with war clubs and even their strangled wives, to help them in the afterlife. Originally they were very rare items, available only from beached whales and from trade from neighboring Tonga (where the practice may have originated), but when the market became known in the early 19th century thousands of teeth and fake teeth made from ivory and walrus tusks entered the market. This trade led to the development of the European art of scrimshaw.
Today the tabua remains an important item in Fijian life. They are not sold but traded regularly as gifts at weddings, birthdays, and funerals.
The tabua is also increasingly used in advertising as a trusted symbol or brand, for example, Fiji Airways has a Tabua Club (frequent flyer) and a Tabua Class for business class.
They also feature on the Fijian 20 cent piece. The removal of tabua from Fiji is highly restricted, at 225 exports per year, and permits from the Ministry of Fijian Affairs, the Fijian Department of Environment, and CITES are required, as they are regulated both as an endangered species and a cultural item. As such, they can easily command prices above $500.
Tabua (pronounced tam-BOO-ah) roughly translates to “sacred” in Fijian. The valuable relic, associated with good luck and even supernatural powers, has traditionally paved the way for marriages in this nation of more than 300 islands.
With few countries still harvesting whales and laws limiting the international trade of endangered species like the sperm whale and their specimens, the number of tabuas circulating in Fiji is dwindling, causing prices to rise.
A single tooth strung with a braided cord as an oversize pendant on a necklace can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Despite the cost, giving tabuas “is very much still alive and a part of ou
r culture,” said Apo Aporosa, a New Zealand-based anthropology researcher with Fijian heritage. The practice is more common in rural areas, he said, but even in the urban areas, the tradition continues among some families.
Most noble families descended from chiefs keep a cache of tabuas available for when a son is in need. The modern-day romantics who choose to keep the tradition alive, however, often require a few trips to a pawnshop in a city center like Suva.
With about 90,000 people, Suva has the feel of a large town. Colorful buses clog the narrow streets, their windows missing glass to make the humidity a little more bearable.
Just as colorful is the city’s heart: the fruit, vegetable and flower market where villagers make the daily journey to sell their produce. In addition to engagements, tabuas are given at weddings, funerals, and births, and to seal an apology.
Tabuas “essentially communicate that the holder or presenter highly esteem
s the sanctity of the agreement, promise, etc.,” Simione Sevudredre, from the department in Fiji’s government that oversees indigenous affairs, wrote in an email.
During the days of warring tribes, before Fiji became a British colony in the late 1800s if a chief wanted someone killed and was unable to do it himself, he offered a tabua to another tribe to take care of the matter. This was the case for an unfortunate 19th-century British missionary, the Rev. Thomas Baker.
According to national legend, the missionary offended a village chief, who then offered a tabua to another tribe to kill him. In 2003, the descendants of the village that killed — and promptly ate — Baker presented 100 tabuas to the missionary’s ancestors in an effort to break what was viewed as a curse on the area related to the death.
At a handicraft market in downtown Suva, Sarah Naviqa, a shopkeeper, sat in a tiny stall surrounded by mats, bags, and fans woven from pandanus leaves. She plunked a blue plastic bag containing half a dozen sperm whale teeth on the table. Some were cream. Others had a brown hue. Their size varied from the length of a hand to the length of a forearm. The largest weighed about three pounds and cost about $1,000. Buying a tabua ahead of engagement is also about status, she said.
“It means the man’s family is quite well off,” said Ms. Naviqa, whose husband presented six tabuas to her family in 1970.
The parents g
ave
their blessing for the marriage, but Ms. Naviqa said she had ultimately made the decision. “I was working and very independent,” she said.
Ms. Naviqa keeps a supply of tabuas available by buying them from families who run into financial troubles. “Once they get into financial constraints, that is when they have to sell these items,” she said. “Keep on recycling, eh? And a very good business. The more recycling, the better for us.”
A fish specialist for a conservation nonprofit, Waisea Batilekaleka, 34, was recently heading back to Suva from a work trip on one of the many ferries that link the city with Fiji’s outlying islands. Mr. Batilekaleka said that during the time of his engagement and wedding in 2002, he had given almost 20 tabuas to his wife’s family.
Some he inherited from his family and others came from his mataqali, or clan. Mr. Batilekaleka also took three years to save for the four he bought himself. He gave his wife a diamond ring, which remains rare in much of Fiji.
Mr. Batilekaleka said that saving for the tabuas, which 15 years ago cost him about $150 each, had shown that he was “willing to take up this responsibility to become a husband and a father.”
Despite the value placed on tabuas, Fijians did not traditionally hunt whales. Instead, it was hunters from the neighboring island nation of Tonga who killed the whales and traded the teeth with the Fijians. That supply was cut off when Tonga banned
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