Another Day, Another Name

I happened to be walking my usual route when I meet an exceptionally friendly Ni-Van who proceeds to talk to me for quite a while. I told him I was hungry and that there were no stores open so he immediately brought me to his village where they gave me some chicken and rice on top of a banana leaf (that’s the plate, you don’t eat it). It was so nice and after talking with a bunch of the villagers I found out that there’s a ded ceremony later that day (a ded is when someone dies and the family makes a bunch of food for everyone). So naturally I went back for dinner and with deds here they celebrate big on the 5 day, 10 day, and every 10^th day after that until the biggest celebration which is the 100 day and then it’s over. Because I was there on the first day, and then again on the 5 day and the 10 day, on the 10^th day the village gave me something special. It wasn’t a material gift, and it was something I could only receive out of respect and it was a name. They honored me with the name of the man who died and now whenever I go to the village of Fatuanga they singout: “Richard Tauroroa” which is pretty damn awesome.