Toso Drua Toso
A strong mix of Rugby, Kava and ancient Voyaging Canoes in Lautoka.
Rugby is a way of life in Fiji, perhaps the way of life in modern Fiji. Wherever one goes across these emerald isles you will see kids tossing whatever roundish object they can find between each other, all vying to break the line with crafty steps and much delight.
According to the Fiji Rugby Union, the sport was first introduced in the 1880’s between European ex-patriates and Fijian soldiers in the Western province of Ba. It didn’t take long to spread and around the turn of the 20th century games were becoming commonplace between the Civil Service and Constabulary.
What is described in England as a ‘thugs sport played by gentlemen’, Fijians play rugby with a flare and candor that the English could only dream of. When the Fijian team went on their first tour of New Zealand in 1939 the local newspaper captured the sentiment;
“Almost uncanny in handling the ball, lightning in the pace of their sprinting, relentless in their dive tackling…and all the time pursuing methods of bright, open football, the Fijians gave a sparkling display and thrilled the large crowd.” (FRU website)
Though the Flying Fijians full 15 side are a force to be reckoned with, it is in the faster-paced rugby sevens where Fiji truly dominates. The men’s team are two-time defending Olympic champions with the women’s ‘Fijiana’ side also achieving a bronze in the 2020 Tokyo competition. The first Olympic hardware for this small Pacific country, these victories led to the minting of marvelous golden $7 notes that are still in circulation.
While you can’t get much deeper into the culture than dedicated billz, a brief review of other Fijian dollar denominations provides an interesting peek into several cultural totems close to the Fijian heart.
The extremely handy $2 coin is adorned with a tanoa, those traditional kava bowls within which grog is mixed and shared in the spirit of talanoa - the pan-cultural Pasifika word for inclusive relationality that binds people to each other and their lands.
Further down the coinage at 50 cents, we find a yet deeper symbol shared across the peoples of Oceania - the voyaging canoe. These remarkable double-hulled vessels are what the Fijians and all Pacific Islanders used for thousands of years to navigate their waters, venture far beyond, and of course - transport kava!
While many designs exist across the Pacific, the Fijian Drua is easily recognized with its crab-claw sail, characteristic crescent mast top, and smaller outrigger hull known as a cama (pronounced dhama). Smaller vessels called camakau that follow a similar design are still used for fishing and inter-island transport in some parts of Fiji, but these have been almost entirely replaced by fibreglass boats with outboard engines.
The Drua are particularly significant as these vessels were much larger and typically belonged to high-ranking chiefs. Legend has it that up to 200 warriors, 40 sailors, and 12 cows could be transported on a single Drua! Undoubtedly, the Drua are some of the finest sailing vessels ever built but their grand scale elegance has not graced Fijian waters in at least 150 years. Due in part to an emphasis on ‘modernizing’ traditional practices driven by Christan Missionaries in the mid-1850’s, ancient indigenous art forms such as canoe building and celestial navigation have faded quietly into the background.
However, as of May 2024, the tide is turning. As I write these words an inspired group of craftsmen from across Fiji are working together to build a 32-meter traditional Drua, the likes of which no Fijian has seen or constructed for at least four generations. It will be my honor to share more about this project, its visionary goal, and its humble characters as the months roll by - but for now one is permitted to smile knowing that a renaissance is afoot…
In truth, most Fijians today would think of a very different kind of revival when hearing the word ‘Drua’. After being granted a license to join the elite Super Rugby Pacific competition in 2021, the Fijian Drua rugby team have taken the nation by storm. One cannot walk 10 paces down the street in Suva without spotting four or five crab-claw logos brandishing t-shirts, bags, and bumpers. With a men’s and women’s roster comprised of entirely Fijian nationals, the side has drawn considerable attention in its first three years of competition on the international stage.
The Fijiana Drua in particular has established itself as one of the premier women’s rugby teams globally, winning back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023 while coming 2nd in 2024. This surge of talent has also stirred remarkable support for women's and girl’s rugby at all levels across the country, a shift that some Fijians have told me was simply unthinkable just a decade ago.
Across many centuries, the Drua has remained a cornerstone of Fijian culture which the entire nation now rallies behind as a new symbol of athletic prowess. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Olympic uniforms worn by the Fijian 7s team as they continue to trounce global competition.
Somtimes referred to as a ‘canoe plant’, it is likely that kava first arrived on Fijian shores aboard a Drua. Because kava does not produce seeds, green cuttings of the stem must be intentionally planted by those who wish to cultivate it. Strong anthropological evidence suggests that canoe voyaging is the most probable reason kava is found across the Pacific Islands. [Check out Chapter 4 on Ethnobotany in Kava: Elixir of the Pacific for more info about this]
One rainy afternoon around Easter Sunday all of these symbols - Rugby, Druas, and Kava - merged into a wonderful mix.
I was in Lautoka on the Western side of Viti Levu to attend my first Fijian Drua Rugby game and see how much kava I could find.
This didn’t take long.
About forty paces from the entrance gate I spied a blue and green awning with a hearty logo I had come to appreciate: Lami Kava. The ‘Official Kava of the Fijian Drua’ was like nothing I could have expected. Prepared in a washing machine-style contraption that had been retrofitted for mixing grog, I purchased my first blue vokete (Fijian for bucket) full of Lami Kava with a wry smile. For $20 FJD I had recieved at least 3 liters of sosoko (strong) mix and a trusty basin that I gleefully carried to the distant sideline where I began to serve anyone who said ‘taki!’.
It was a wet affair out there in the Lautoka downpour but the rugby was fantastic. A good inch of water was pooled on the playing surface such that each thundering step the giants took on the field sent liquid shockwaves into the air. The play was fluid and fast, there was barely time for a round of bilos before another breakaway or crunching tackle spurred the crowd into my new favorite mantra ‘Toso Drua Toso!’
Something akin to ‘Fight on / let’s go’ toso evokes a sense of warriorship that was at one point vitally important to the Fijian way of life. Watching 15 powerful Fijians exert brawn, agility, and precision on the somewhat hapless Western Force team from Australia felt like the healthiest expression of warrior energy I had witnessed in a long time.
The crowd agreed. To date, I do not feel I have experienced a more engaged audience at a soaking wet sporting event than those few precious hours in grey Lautoka. Kids, grandparents, and even distracted teens all seemed to know exactly when to tip up their umbrellas and hurl their support toward the field. There also were plenty of other voketes dotted around the grassy knoll that I had posted up on and a general sense of merriment could be felt ringing in the air as Fiji’s first international sporting franchise delivered the goods.
Only my first Drua game, I was keen to see what the atmosphere would be like in Suva where the grandstands are larger, the population is denser, and kava ever abundant. A tale we shall reserve for next time…
Dex, thanks for bringing us along to the match! The videos really share the experience. ❤️