Post #24: A Fijian First Birthday
- Nana Beryl Jupiter
- Feb 15, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: May 24, 2020
As this is my 24th entry since I began my blog one year ago, I greatly thank my subscribers and readers for your attention and praise. I hope that publishing about two blogs per month has been enough to keep your interest but not overburden you in the attention-grabbing cyber world we find ourselves these days. This blog is one of my shorter ones, but is also filled with several accompanying photos. I suppose the old adage is still true: a picture is worth a 1000 words. But usually less time-consuming to mentally process.
So how do you follow up a lovely, intimate beachside wedding? The one in which our family had just participated in Fiji on Sunday, August 13, 2017. As I had described in Blog #23, my just-married daughter Stacy and new husband Jason were living “the celebrity way,” child first, marriage to follow. And indeed Stacy had promised me two celebrations for the airfare of one if her dad and I would return to Fiji only two months after our prior trip to the faraway South Pacific island nation where she had made a home for the past nine years. So we did.
After the full afternoon of wedding ceremony, toasting, feasting and all-around celebrating, the still jet-lagged grandparents succumbed to early retiring, only preceded by grandson Cooper’s snoozing in his stroller.
So we missed the after-party, which continued in The Pearl Resort’s bar throughout the evening. No regrets. I imagine I had already imbibed the equivalent of two bottles of champagne throughout the celebratory afternoon.
In the glow of wedding euphoria, we had some time on Monday morning to have family breakfast at the Pearl and hang out briefly at the beach. Despite the overcast skies, we still enjoyed watching Cooper play in the sand by the water’s edge.
Of course, the newlyweds did not pass up the opportunity to dunk in the sea with little Cooper.
Upon return to their home base in Suva, our new son-in-law went to shop and begin preparations for celebration, part 2, Cooper's first birthday party. Chef Jason would be catering with some assistance from trusted restaurant staff.
Stacy and Jason’s birthday party invitation list extended way beyond the wedding guests, including many friends and their children, and their work associates. Perhaps 50 guests or more were expected. As most had previously learned, when Jason cooks, show up for a feast. And of course he did not disappoint, providing an ample buffet of every available meat, seafood, vegetable and local favorite creatively and festively prepared.
A special attraction for the kids was the bouncy house prominently inflated in the front yard, courtesy of their friends who generously lent their colorful fun house for many parties with kids attending.
Their Fijian babysitter Marama, a grandmother herself, was directing the customary Fijian process for the presentation of a one-year old, a very special occasion in the family life of Fijians. When most guests had arrived to the party, the proud parents were situated on a traditional Fijian bark cloth mat with their one year-old adorned with a decorative name collar, and the obligatory birthday cake. In this case, the cake had been designed, baked and created by Chef Jason in the shape of a Mini Cooper car. How appropriate! I am not sure how long they all had to sit their receiving guests and gifts, but I was admittedly worried about my possibly wearying grandson (he had already climbed quite a lot on the bouncy house) now adorned with a rather large and potentially uncomfortable straw collar, despite how cute and festive our own mini Cooper looked.
Proudly directing the first birthday party ceremony, Marama explained to me that it was customary for the grandmother to receive and keep the traditional Fijian mat after the ceremony. I really could not figure out how I would manage packing up the large mat for international transport or where I would display it in my home. To decline gracefully, I suggested that the mat be given to Cooper’s other grandmother from Australia who had also come for the dual celebrations. And I think Jason’s mother Lyn appreciated that too.
But I was very happy to join Marama, Nan Lyn, and two more Fijian women in a congenial grandmother photo.
For hours our little birthday boy was passed around among many partiers through many activities, worrying me about his napless stamina. Finally, when Nana was especially weary from the busy day, I encouraged Cooper to snuggle with me on the large round bamboo pillow chair. It did not take long for sleep to overcome our little fellow. I was relieved for him, and gave me a good excuse to rest too.
Cooper’s room was so full of toys and books already, fairly well organized by Stacy, that I could not imagine how they would incorporate all the birthday gifts. This is probably when colorful Cooper world started expanding out of his room into the previously neatly organized living room of South Pacific wooden furnishings and indigenous arts.
Eventually Papa Jesse and I retreated from the party-ending disarray to our refuge at the Grand Pacific Hotel, for one last Fiji night before returning stateside with delightful new memories of a beautiful island wedding and quite the celebratory birthday bash presented by the proud parent newlyweds.
Truly enjoyed vicariously sharing Cooper’s Fijian first birthday. Loved seeing how much he has grown, learning of the Fijian customs, and seeing such a happy immediate and extended family. Your writing and pictures make it all come alive! 😊🎂