My first Fiji Christmas: plus a musical gift

B.M. Allsopp
3 hours ago
3 min read

Christmas in Fiji

In the hundreds of islands which make up Fiji, the indigenous Fijian majority share a deep Christian faith, so Christmas is a religious festival first and foremost. Disposable incomes are low for most people and so there's no retail frenzy, which I always found relaxing. Schools break up just before Christmas for the long summer holidays, adding to the mood of happy anticipation.

Town dwellers try to return to ancestral villages for Christmas, sparking a frenzied transport chaos. People choose practical gifts for their village relatives, such as fabric, garments, soap and groceries. Small ferry boats set off from the main island of Viti Levu, often dangerously overloaded with smiling passengers, cartons of tinned food, sacks of flour and rice, bales of cloth and even building materials.

My first Fiji Christmas

Keen to spend our first Fiji Christmas on a remote island, my husband and I flew by seaplane to a budget resort run by villagers in the Yasawa Islands. On Christmas Eve the staff wrapped palm fronds around the posts supporting the dining shelter roof. Early on Christmas Day they inserted fresh flowers between the leaves: frangipanni, orchids and gardenias. Years later, I would describe this ingenious decoration system in Death on Paradise Island, my first book in the Fiji Islands Mysteries.

It was blissful to sit among this natural beauty to eat my breakfast pawpaw (papaya) on Christmas morning, squishing the soft sand between my toes. What was not quite so blissful was being woken at dawn by sweet carol singing outside our window. I don't know how this Fijian twist on the European custom of carolling on Christmas Eve came about!

We walked to the village a mile away for church, where our spirits soared with the heartfelt singing of Christmas carols. Fijians seem to be born with the gift of four-part harmony! After church some hospitable villagers invited us to their extended family lunch. Delighted to accept, we sat on mats beneath a thatched feasting shelter, pictured here.

A wonderful spread of food was served on a tablecloth several metres-long, laid over the grass. The festive dishes ranged from traditional lovo (earth-baked) chicken and vegetables, fish marinated in lime juice and coconut cream, to tinned supermarket goods. Everyone was happy, in a mood to celebrate the return of family to the island as well as the birth of Jesus.

Your musical gift from Fiji

It's such an enjoyable annual task to select your musical Christmas treat that I spent longer than ever trawling through music websites this year. But I had to come to a decision, and made it slightly easier for myself by bringing you two songs, both from Fiji's elite small choir, Dolce Sounds, whose singing is both inspired and inspiring. The first is simply beautiful, billed 'a snippet from a Christmas piece' performed a year ago at the Kuiviti Fashion Show'. Yes, fashion houses elsewhere my hire pop artists, but in Fiji the first choice for music is a choir. That's one reason I love Fiji!

Plea for help: While I recognise this lovely melody, I can't recall the song's name in English. Can you help me out? If so, please comment on this post or email me on bernadette@bmallsopp.com.

However, the snippet's only a minute long and misses the song's beginning, so I thought you needed more. I've added a happy upbeat Fijian Christmas song by the same outstanding group. Here, the relaxed singers performed in between speeches at a Suva conference, prompting an elderly couple to add to the entertainment with a sedate dance, known in Fiji as a ta-ra-la.

I hope you enjoyed your musical present from Fiji!

My best wishes to you all for Christmas and New Year.

I would love to answer any questions from readers about Fiji, or my books. Please comment on this post or email me on bernadette@bmallsopp.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

again, all the best for 2026,