They say children should spend a maximum of three days at a funeral - and only if the deceased is a member of their immediate family.

In a report on Stuff, Amanda Saxton has examined the difficulties Pasifika families have balancing family, church and culture with the reality of living in New Zealand.

Purotu, from Pukapuka in the Cook Islands, has been a butcher, shoemaker and social worker.

She told Saxton that while funerals are a chance to reconnect with tradition and far-flung aunts, their length and frequency can sabotage a child's education.

Kaio told her that he tells parents that as much as he loves to see their children at church, they lose confidence when they're away from the classroom for too long.

He said he can do 20 funerals a year and the same people attend many of them.

Former secondary school teacher ​Siliva Gaugatao​, originally from Samoa, is doing doctoral research at Auckland University. He focuses on Pasifika staff and student engagement.

Looking at eight years of the ministry's truancy data, Gaugatao is unimpressed.

"How have they let it get worse? I'm thinking we haven't really learned anything in that time," he says.

Out of the 88,000 Pasifika students enrolled in schools around New Zealand in 2018, only 52 per cent attended school "regularly" - defined as more than 90 per cent of the time that they were expected to, according to data from the Ministry of Education.

The national average was 64 per cent.

A spokeswoman for the ministry says parents are primarily responsible for making their children go to school, but Gaugatao reckons teachers need to better understand the dissonance between school life and home life for many Pasifika students.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

1. The request must e submitted to the village head man and discussed by the bose vanua (meeting of elders).
2. The teaching and beliefs of the proposed church must be in conformity with the iTaukei and the Crimes Decree.

The new law also requires that every registered village establish a religious committee which will consist of representatives from religious denominations within the village.

This bylaw is one of a number which are being proposed. The Permanent Secretary for iTaukei Affairs, Naipote Katonitabua disclosed them during the Tailevu Provincial Council meeting in Nausori on October 26.

Katonitabua said there were 20 subtitles of the village by-laws and would include a dress code and attending a village meeting.

The village bylaw is focused on safeguarding traditions and culture within the iTaukei communities, particularly within villages. In accordance with iTaukei Affairs Act, Cap 120, the By Law is enacted to:

• Ensure that traditional leadership is upheld, respected and protected;
• Maintain law and order, harmonious and peaceful living in the village;
• Ensure that hygiene, sanitation and environmental standards are maintained; and
• To preserve, safeguard and strengthen leadership, culture, tradition and the vanua to encourage community responsibility.

Katonitabua said they will ensure everything within a village boundary was regulated.

"Any person may enter the village as an individual but once they come within the boundaries of the village, they are bound by the bylaw," said Katonitabua

Over the next eight months a nationwide consultation to discuss the content of the village by-laws will take place.

Source

• fijitimes.com
• fijitimes.com
• fijitimes.com
• fijitimes.com
• fijisun.com.fj
• Image: fijisun.com.fj

Research involving two New Zealand universities has discovered such acts were used by social elites to maintain their power, the Stuff.co.nz website reported.

The study came from researchers from the University of Auckland, Victoria University and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany.

They analysed historical data from 93 Austronesian cultures, using methods derived from evolutionary biology.

It was found that practising human sacrifice made societies more likely to be divided into the haves and have-nots.

"Religion has traditionally been seen as a key driver of morality and co-operation, but our study finds religious rituals also had a more sinister role in the evolution of modern societies," said study lead author Joseph Watts.

Human sacrifice was widespread in Austronesian cultures, which include early inhabitants of the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Madagascar and Easter Island.

Forty cultures included in the study killed humans as part of their religious rituals.

The study divided the Austronesian cultures into three main groups of high, moderate and low social stratification (inequality).

It found societies with high levels of stratification were almost twice as likely to practice human sacrifice as cultures in the moderate category.

Watts said that was because the sacrifices were used by ruling groups to keep the lower classes in line.

"By using human sacrifice to punish taboo violations, demoralise the underclass and instil fear of social elites, power elites were able to maintain and build social control," he said.

Human sacrifice was a particularly effective way of controlling society because it provided a "supernatural justification" for punishment, said Professor Russell Gray, one of the study's co-authors.

"Rulers, such as priests and chiefs, were often believed to be descended from gods and ritual human sacrifice was the ultimate demonstration of their power."

Sources

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Stuff.co.nz