Fijians still practise many traditional arts and crafts, some of which have endured the destructive impact of western influences and the relentless campaigning of the Christian missionaries, and some which have been modified and embellished to satisfy the demands of tourism.

Dance is still strong in Fiji and the narrative meke performances rest on strong oral traditions. Dances are passed down from generation to generation, and in their strict forms the dancers’ bodies are said to take on spirits of the netherworld. Mekes accompanied special events like births, deaths, calls to war, marriages and property exchanges. At times of war men would perform cibis with spears and clubs, while women performed deles or wates - dances which sexually humiliated enemy captives. Traditional Indian dances are still taught in Indian communities.

The missionaries brought hymns and choir singing to Fiji, and local church singing is truly divine. Popular local musical artists include Seru Serevi, Danny Costello, Michelle Rounds, Karuna Gopalan, Laisa Vulakoro, the Freelancers and the Black Roses. Cassettes of local music are available in Fijian stores. Music from ‘Bollywood’ films (Indian melodramas) is popular amongst Fiji Indians and local bands play covers of Indian songs. At Indian cultural centres performances and lessons are given in traditional Indian music featuring vocal, harmonium, tabla and sitar ensembles.

Fiji has been famous for pottery since the Lapita people began trading their wares deep into the South Pacific thousands of years ago. The most famous of the contemporary potters are Dian Tugea and Taraivini Wati, both of whom are featured in the Fiji Museum. Wood carving is still important, perhaps mostly because of the steady tourist demand for souvenirs to take home. Fijian carvers make war clubs, spears and cannibal forks. Drinking bowls, or tanoas, are still in daily use in Fijian households. Carvings in areas that have a Polynesian influence (from Tongan and Samoan settlers) feature inlays of shell and bone. Bark cloth, known in Fiji as masi, was traditionally made throughout the Pacific and was usually known as tapa.

Ceremonial robes, waistbands, trains and turbans were once made from masi and the cloth was decorated with symbolic motifs in ochre-rusts and charcoal-blacks. The cloth is made from the bark of the mulberry tree and its production is very labourious. Traditionally, large and highly decorated masi cloths were used as ceremonial gifts and there was much prestige associated with their ownership. The weaving of pandanus leaves into mats and baskets has a long tradition, too. Most village girls still learn the craft, and there are all sorts of variations in style and colour (achieved by scraping the leaves, burying them in mud and boiling them with other plants, for example). The borders of pandanus mats used to be decorated with parrot feathers, but these days brightly coloured wool and yarns are used.

Fiji has a small but strong writers’ community. Notable figures include Joseph Veramu, who has published a short-story collection called The Black Messiah and a novel called Moving Through the Streets about teenagers in Suva. Playwrights Jo Nacola, whose works include the play I Native No More, and Vilsoni Hereniko, and short-story writer Marjorie Crocombe are also worthy of mention. Fiji-Indians, including Subramani, Satendra Nandan, Raymond Pillai and Prem Banfal write in both Hindi and English, and a central thread in their work is the unjust plight of indentured labourers.