PWMU and the end of the year.
Yes, you know that you are getting close to the end of the year when you begin to have breakups and end of year feasts (that’s if you happen to live in
The service included all the obligatory elements of a normal Sunday service including Bible readings, a number of hymns and choruses (including a couple of hymns performed by special ‘choirs’ pulled together for the event), numerous prayers and a mini sermon slot. In addition to this, the women students/student’s wives/ staff wives who will be leaving at the end of the year were specially welcomed to the service with salusalus (floral garlands given on special occasions and worn around the neck) and sat at the front for the proceedings. They were also given special leaving gifts from the PWMU.
The next part of the proceeding was an end of year exchange of gifts. Some months ago all the women were given a name drawn from a hat of a ‘secret friend’ from among the women on campus. This was the person that each one was to give a gift to. I found out some time later, but fortunately before the actual event, that the way things work here is that you are expected to actually give 2 gifts. One to the person whose name you drew from the hat and another as a thank you to the person who drew your name!! It seems in this culture it is impossible to just receive without giving something back in return.
Another part of the proceedings that I found out about only shortly before the service, was the tradition to give a salusalu as part of the gift. My usual source of information on events such as these is my Australian neighbour, Rachael. This time, however, she wasn’t able to give me a full picture as there hadn’t been a gift exchange at last year’s closing service. She gave me a couple of hours warning about the salusalus but as the real, handmade flower version is rather time consuming to make, one of Connie’s friends who was home from school that day, made 2 for me. Unfortunately, I put them down beside some others when I entered the room and they disappeared! They were used in the opening welcome for the leaving women!
So that left me without anything to give, and as the gift exchange got underway, it was soon obvious that everyone was exchanging salusalus. Rachael whispered to me to get Connie (who had snuck into watch the gift giving) to run home and get some that we had there. These are the artificial variety made from what looks like shredded plastic bags, ones that we had previously been given and fortunately it is ok to recycle them!!. So I was saved from a cultural blunder! Not a too serious one perhaps, but when you operate in a world where you only understand half or less of what is going on, you probably make blunders all the time without realizing it. Therefore it makes sense to avoid making any extra ones if you can help it!
Another interesting component of the gift exchange was the use of powder and perfume. Not everyone did it, but most women, in addition to giving their partner a salusalu and a gift, also showered her with baby powder. This was usually done by pouring a good handful into one’s hand and then smearing this onto the cheeks of the recipient. Sometimes powder was also shaken around head and shoulders a bit and sometimes even wiped on the lady’s feet. We have seen powder used before on a couple of occasions. One was when we were guests at wedding feast, when it turned into an all out powder fight! And other times when special guests were honoured or farewelled from Talua. I have never found anyone to really explain to me why it is done, but I like to think of it as visible demonstration of showering someone with blessing.
The perfume was similarly used by some women on their secret friends. This was usually sprayed in a few points on the recipient’s body. Interestingly, these usually included in the general underarm area! Rachael and I commented that this would never be done in either of our countries. Can you imagine someone you hardly knew smearing your face with powder, or spraying your underarm area with perfume?! What an invasion of personal space, and what are you really trying to say to me?!! It was fine and even enjoyable in this setting, though and added to the general atmosphere of fun and celebration of the day.
My secret friend gave me a new island dress in shades of bright pink and mauve ( a bit nicer than it sounds!) and a wok - type fry pan ( These are usually used here for cooking a deep fried, 8-shaped,doughnut type bread called gateaux - pronounced cato). The other friend gave me a set of nice glasses. I gave (thanks to Granddad’s recent visit) some NZ tea towels, a NZ pen and some biscuits I had baked. Other gifts ranged in size and probably value, and included lots of handmade dresses, hand woven baskets and mats and plastic bowls. I imagine that lots of the students have very little spare money to spend on gifts and it could have been quite embarrassing, except that no one actually opened their gifts in front of anyone else. This is done later in private. All except for difficult to wrap things like baskets and mats, and dresses which are usually put onto the recipient when they are given.
As you can imagine with a room full of people this all took quite a long time. There were also a few awkward moments when someone forgot or didn’t know who they were to give to. Hopefully a master list will be kept next year!
The next part of the afternoon’s activities was refreshments - a range of snacks and a drink served to everyone by the executive, followed by a bit more singing, a bit of dancing and general hilarity, and a couple of skits. A skit here is usually a song performed with actions to the words, done to a tape. The whole afternoon went off very well, although it did take the whole afternoon - over 4 hours! We will have to wait and see how many more feasts and gift exchanges we will have before the end of the year. Fortunately Granddad brought plenty of tea towels!!
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