The ceremony of Fire Walking in Fiji can be considered a religious ceremony. It is an event set apart from any ongoing day-to-day activity. It is a celebration that fulfills meaningful spiritual needs of individuals in the community (Luboshitzky and Gaber).

  The religious aspect of it is perceived to come form the fact that the power to actually walk on the burning stones came from the spirit world. The ceremony focuses on invisible powers that people cannot explain. (Turner and Turner) The power comes from the legend of a spirit god granting Tui-na-viqality the immunity to fire. ( Stanley )

  It is a very systematic ceremony. There are many preparations such as preparing the fire pit and the participants segregating themselves from women and eating coconut. It is also a very orderly ritual in which the chanting, dancing and actions of the ritual are all done in the same order every time the ceremony is performed. This organizaitonal pattern of the ritual reinforces to the people that perform it, that what they are doing is real and that the legend is in fact true to them. (Glickman) The ceremony is also expressed publicly and socially in that everyone is allowed to watch and actually witness the act of Fire Walking.

  Social structure is reinforced because of the fact that only descendants of the Sawau tribes and related tribes have the power to walk on the burning stones. This strengthens their belief in this ritual because they think they are the only people that have this power of walking on fire.

  Fire Walking can also be described as a rite of passage in the sense that individuals of the Sawau tribe prove their belief in the power they have by walking on fire. This rite of passage is split into three separate stages; separation, liminality, and reaggregation. (Turner and Turner)

  First the participants of the ceremony segregate themselves to prepare for the ritual. Approaching the fire pit and actually walking on the stones can be seen as the liminal stage because participants are dressed in the proper attire and possess the proper materials and powers needed to perform the ritual in front of all who believe in this sacred celebration. However, in the liminal stage, the ritual is not yet over.

  The final stage of the “rite of passage” of Fire Walking is reaggregation. This is when the participants actually consume their ankle bracelets from the ritual to indicate that they are back to the norm with their community. “The men appear to fortify themselves with the heat, to gain some psychic power from the ritual.” ( Stanley ) Culturally, the celebration signifies the religious aspect of some internal power that the Fijians of the Sawau tribe possess. This is why Fire Walking is more that just entertainment for tourists. It holds a deeper meaning for members of the tribe and speaks to traditions that have been passed on from ancestors.