* Fijians accept an absorbing way of adulatory the Alpha Year - in January, some of the women of the villages booty allotment in a adequate adventurous of veicaqe moli, about translated as “kick the orange�. The adequate aggregation charge present a allowance of clothes to the accident team, while the accident aggregation prepares and serves the adequate Fijian alcohol of yaqona.
* Blaze walking is still accepted in Fiji - although today it is accomplished mainly to blot the tourists, rather than for august or ritual reasons. Fijian fable has it that a god already gave a Beqa warrior the adeptness to airing complete on fire, in acknowledgment for a favor. A legend, perhaps, but there's no agnosticism that the stones acclimated in this ritual are as hot today as they were then.
* Fiji has become accepted as the melting pot of the South Pacific and, as a result, has some absorbing aliment and alcohol for a company to sample. Some delicacies you may appetite to try are assorted roots, aloft bat, and raw angle marinated in attic cream. Don't absence the adventitious to arise a lovo - a adequate Fijian feast in which the aliment is captivated in assistant leaves and afresh acrimonious on stones animate beneath the ground.
* The country was originally one of the best conflicting British colonies, and there are still some reminders of British colonial rule. Rugby and soccer - those best English of sports - are the two aloft aggressive sports. Cricket and golf are additionally popular. Fiji hosted the Pacific Games in 2003, constant in an added absorption in sports throughout the islands.
* Aback Fijians pride themselves on their hospitality, their adeptness demands that visitors are advised as accustomed guests. If you are arrive to someone's abode during your stay, there are some rules you charge observe. It is affable to accompany a baby gift. If your hosts are agriculture you, they may able-bodied delay for you to eat afore bistro any aliment themselves. Bethink this too: If you are visiting a Fijian village, alone the angel arch is accustomed to abrasion sunglasses and a hat!
* The banderole of Fiji is still the British flag, with the Abutment Jack on it. The ablaze dejected accomplishments on the banderole represents the huge amplitude of the Pacific Ocean, and the white affable on the accoutrement of accoutrements that comprises the blow of the banderole symbolizes accord and accord with the UK. The accoutrement of accoutrements additionally contains some items frequently associated with Fiji; bananas, sugarcane and a access tree.
* An angel of the Queen of England can be apparent on the country's bill and ablaze banknotes. Some Fijians alleged for the Queen's angel to be removed afterwards Fiji claimed adeptness in 1970, but attitude prevailed. The Queen absolutely has the appreciative appellation of Paramount Arch of the Abounding Council of Chiefs of Fiji.
Banana snack industry goes stale
Not so long ago, the Central Java town of Majenang was famous for being the home of sale pisang, a unique snack made with bananas, but recently the market changed and the local snack industry faded to a fraction of its former success.
Majenang, one of 23 districts in Cilacap regency in the far west of the province - bordering with Banjar and Ciamis regencies in West Java - has about 30 small factories producing the snack.
Before the 1998 economic crisis, there were around 100 such producers, leading Cilacap administration to come up with the idea of making the snack the icon of Majenang.
But with the crisis, the plan hit snags and many cottage industries were forced out of business. More than a decade later, the situation has yet to improve.
"Before the crisis I could sell 2 or 3 tons of fried banana sweets to Jakarta. But things are difficult now," Yayat, a 61-year-old sale pisang business owner, told The Jakarta Post in Majenang.
Today, Yayat produces only about 200 kilograms of sale pisang a month, and 99 percent of this is sold in Majenang. The snacks are sold in 250-gram packages, each costing around Rp 25,000 (US$2).
Another snack producer, Juremi, said that before the crisis she could send 2 tons of sale pisang to Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya each month.
"Now we only sell sale pisang for the local market," the 60-year-old said.
Juremi said most of the snack producers were struggling to survive.
"What's important is that business survives. If there are buyers in the city, that's enough. Sometimes we get an order from outside the city, but this is unreliable," she said.
"Once, a distributor from outside the city wanted to place an order, but the price he offered was too low to cover our production costs. Rather than suffering losses, we preferred not to take it."
Making sale pisang does not take long. Ripe bananas are cut into slices and dried in the sun.
"If the sun is bright, the bananas will dry out in two days. But in a rainy season like this, it takes about four days," Juremi said.
The dried bananas are then smeared with flour and deep-fried. After being drained, the banana chips are ready to be packaged and sold.
The sale pisang business has supported many, including farmers and traders who sell raw bananas to cottage industries in Majenang, as well as banana snack makers such as Juremi and Yayat, and the vendors.
Majenang district head, Heru Susedyo, said he was aware of the stagnant business situation.
"Sale pisang was once so popular that the Cilacap administration planned to make it the icon of Majenang city, but the plan could not be realized because sales keep decreasing."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/06/
Tuesday 23 September 2008
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