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Fijians value their customs and tradition and will go out of their way to be courteous and dignified towards the visitor. There’s a ceremony for every occasion, which may include the presentation of tabua (whale's teeth), food and gifts, or more commonly the drinking of yaqona (kava), which is the national beverage.

There is apparent Polynesian influence in the physical and cultural embodiment of the indigenous inhabitants of Fiji, who are on the other hand, Melanesians. This is more evident in places like the Lau group of islands but less so in the west and interiors of the main islands. Quite a few families and clans that hold chiefly status are able to trace their descent through a dozen or so generations to warriors who sailed or drifted to these shores from distant islands.

A Fijian smile

The strong Polynesian influence in Fiji, is due primarily to visiting war-parties that arrived from Tonga and other islands along the east and west of Fiji.

Melanesians are characteristically dark-skinned with fuzzy hair, while Polynesians are generally tall, with fair skin and straight hair. Because of the intermingling of these two races, Fijians today are a mixture of various physical types, ranging from fair-skinned, tall and aquiline features like people of southern Lau, to the dark-skinned people of the hills. Cultural differences are not so obvious, but social organisation does differ between tribes from East and West.

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