June 2006

Hello everyone,

My letter for this month will be short, as I told you recently about my crossing from New Zealand to Raivavae, in the Austral Islands. My stay in this island, which I had been dreaming to visit for a long time, goes on perfectly. The island is very small, spectacular with its jagged mountains, and surrounded by a vast, shallow lagoon, with many coral heads, and circled by beautiful low islets that really look like small patches of Paradise.

Here, for the inhabitants of the Australs, Paradise comes with a price. Since the arrival of the first missionaries, at the beginning of the 19th century, almost all the inhabitants of Raivavae have been protestant ; for less than 1000 inhabitants, the island has at least three temples (plus two under construction), one parson, and sixty deacons, and last Sunday ended the ceremony of "mê" ( local spelling for the word "may"), where each village vies with others to who will give more money to the protestant mission. During long days, alternating one mass then a huge meal of fish, chicken, pork and many different roots, speakers call out loud the amount given by each family, and it is customary to give each year more than the previous one. It is really strange to see deacons counting out the piles of banknotes in the temple, in front of the altar. But the ceremony is beautiful, and the women are famous for the hats they wear on that day.

I hope your "may" has cost you less money, and I wish you a beautiful month of June. I send you some sun from Raivavae.
Greetings