Fiji villagers to say sorry for eating British missionary

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/15/wfiji15.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/10/15/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=199137

Villagers in Fiji whose ancestors killed and ate a British missionary 136 years ago are to offer a traditional apology to his descendants.

The Rev Thomas Baker, of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, was killed in the remote mountain community of Navatusila in 1867, possibly after he took a comb out of a chief's hair. Touching the head of a chief was taboo in Fiji, once known as the Cannibal Isles.

His death helped to foster an image of missionaries as blundering proselytisers who inevitably ended up in a simmering pot surrounded by dancing natives.

The people of Navatusila want to atone for the sins of their ancestors because they believe they have been cursed by Mr Baker's death, with their village suffering a string of misfortunes.

[truthisfreedom]

1. you gotta love British missionaries, with

Hollandaise sauce. ok, bad joke. but after 136 years, sometimes an apology seems a bit late... unless you're the pope.

[izzie]

3. Ever read Far Side?

Two Amimals talking and you see a hat on ground and the animals saying. 'Love those things, soft on the outside ane chewy on the inside'Always makes me laught just to think of it. I loved Far Side.

[Atlant]

10. I always liked the Polar bears at the igloo...

"Yum! Crunchy on the outside and chewy inside!"

Where's Larson when we need him?

Atlant

[Voltaire99]

39. Poem: This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the minister
who was in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
he was delicious
so sweet
and so cold


(with apologies to William Carlos Williams)

[liberalnurse]

2. Can any one say....

Mad Cow Disease.....also known as Creutzfeld Jakob Disease in humans....

inherited disease resulting from canabilism.

[OldEurope]

5. You mean this?

http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant570/Papers/McGrath/McGrath.htm

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. I learned that from the X Files

Season 2 (1995), "Our Town". :evilgrin:

[coda]

4. Cool pic that goes with Yahoo story.

A remote Fiji mountain village which killed and ate an English missionary 136 years ago will next month offer a traditional apology.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)



PICTURE WITH CAPTION
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/031014/241/5ka2c.html&e=7


STORY

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031014/od_afp/fiji_cannibals_offbeat_031014145005

[0rganism]

6. Dear Methodist Church of England...

We're sorry we ate your missionary 136 years ago. According to our tribal lore, he looked tender and delicious, but turned out to be rather stringy. Please, if you lift the curse your volcano god has leveled upon us since that time, we will give his descendants the royal comb he liked so much.

And if you would be so kind, next time you send missionaries, can you pack them with some kind of cheese sauce?

Apologetically yours,
the people of Navatusila

[OldEurope]

7. LOL!

:D

[dbt]

8. Tasteless!

:evilgrin:
dbt

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. That's what THEY said.

[0rganism]

25. That's Methodists for ya

j/k

[Devils Advocate NZ]

9. So when are the missionaries going to apologise...

for the 136 odd years of trying to wipe out Fijian culture?

[tlcandie]

11. ALL Polynesian culture! Hawaiians went barefoot before the

missionaries planted things that grew thorns! They've taken Hawaiian lands from its people while they starve and live in poverty. Yet, the land just sits idle...not to mention that it isn't the best land! What people have done in the name of God is hellacious in their holier than thou, puritanical attitudes! :puke:

Look at all the indigenous peoples of the world and weep! It mirrors what we've done to this planet...

[brainshrub]

26. Amen!

Those natives shouldn't have to appologise to anyone!
If some missionary came to my house & put his hand on my gf's butt I'd kick his ass.

[GregW]

12. Reminds me of that Monty Python skit ...

Man: Um, er...excuse me, um, are you... are you suggesting we should eat my mother? (pause)
Undertaker: Yeah. Not raw, not raw. We cook her. She'd be delicious with a few french fries, a bit of stuffing. Delicious! (smacks his lips)
Man: What! (he stammers) (pause)
Man: Actually, I do feel a bit peckish - No! NO, I can't!
Undertaker: Look, we'll eat your mum. Then, if you feel a bit guilty about it afterwards, we can dig a grave and you can throw up into it.
Man: All right.

[mumon]

27. LOL!

I can't eat him! He's not Kosher!

[baldguy]

41. "There is no cannibalism in the British Navy!"

Absolutely none! And when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount . . .

[Zero Gravitas]

13. I always thought Rev. Baker was an American

well you learn something new everyday.

WPE (in a white wine sauce with shallots, mushrooms, and garlic... yum yum).

[JPace]

14. Isn't there something in the Bible that says....

"feed my people"?

Well Rev Thomas Baker did just that!

[Snellius]

15. Love those English muffins.

Pass the marmalade. Yum. Yum. Eat'em up.

[Don_G]

16. I Wonder If They Would Like A "Certain" Cubs Fan?

:grr:

[bobthedrummer]

17. A curse or the conceptual framework to allow for a curse caused this

public apology for ancestors. That is interesting. 136 years interesting historically.

A curse?:wtf:

[starroute]

19. It makes me wonder how Christian they really are

"Fiji is now staunchly Christian and many Fijians regard their cannibal heritage as primitive and embarrassing."

but

"The people of Navatusila want to atone for the sins of their ancestors because they believe they have been cursed by Mr Baker's death, with their village suffering a string of misfortunes."


Does anybody but me see a bit of cognitive dissonance there?

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

18. An A-1 steak sauce moment

:)

[0rganism]

24. A-1: Great for missionaries, and keeps curses away!

I can see the ads now...

[emad]

21. Does it still go on, do you think?

Anyone got any spare airmiles to send to Tony Blair, for his Xmas break abroad?

[Bridget Burke]

31. That would be cruel.

A previous poster mentioned the danger of Mad Cow Disease. All British beef is a bit suspect...

Hmmm. Some have been wondering about Tony's recent nosedive in mental status. Could he have ingested a contaminated bit of prime rib?

[snippy]

22. I never apologize when I eat someone.

[Jackpine Radical]

28. Yeah. If you do it right

you don't have to apologize.

[rocktivity]

29. WHEW!!!

Before I clicked on the link to this thread, I thought "PLEASE let this have happened, like, a hundred years ago..."


rocknation

[Ganja Ninja]

30. So when are the British going to apologize...

for putting clothes on all the natives?

[monkeyboy]

32. Just like Limbaugh, NOW they're apologizing

Now that the curse has affected them, oh sure, NOW they're sorry...

[Myra]

33. Please people. There is plenty of room for missionaries in this world.

Right next to the mashed potatoes.

Ba boom!
Thank you ladies and germs.
I'll be here all week.

[9215]

35. LOL!

Nice one.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

34. Can we send some Southern Baptists and fundies over there?

Covered in a nice bacon drippings gravy?

[fujiyama]

38. exactly what i was thinkin...

pat robertson could feed a family

[snippy]

40. Excellent idea.

[et in Arcadia ego...]

36. Top 10 bubblegum hit by the band 'Fiji Express':

"Yummy, Yummy, Yummy (I got British missionary in my tummy)". They later recorded the follow-up hit: "Chewy, Chewy"!
:wow:

[duvinnie]

37. traditional apology?

i wonder - what's their definition of "apology"?
think i'd rather not find out!