Beqa Firewalking Festival

Beqa Firewalking traces to a five-century-old Sawau tribal legend in which a young man traded a captured spirit's freedom for his bloodline's power to walk unharmed across burning stones. Descendants perform the ritual both on Beqa Island itself and, in abbreviated form, at Pacific Harbour, Coral Coast and Denarau Island resorts. Expect a striking but tourism-adapted show at most mainland venues, with the fuller ceremonial version reserved for Beqa.

Roughly five centuries ago, according to Sawau tribal legend, a young man named Tuinaiviqalita went searching a creek near the highland village of Nakarovu on Beqa Island for an eel to present as a gift to a village elder, and instead caught a spirit, or veli, who granted him and his descendants the power to walk unharmed across burning stones in exchange for its release.