‘We have to keep our culture’: indigenous pageant celebrates Fiji’s traditional afro hairstyle

Arieta Digutu was awarded runner-up of the Buiniga hair pageant, she said she was proud to follow her mother and aunt in wearing the traditional style. Photograph: Katie Edwards/The Guardian

At the annual festival celebrating local culture in the province of Cakaudrove in northern Fiji held in November, alongside celebrations of traditional dress, dance, poetry, song and craftsmanship, the festival held a pageant paying tribute to indigenous hair.