Fiji is one of the few places where two entirely unrelated firewalking traditions are practised in the same country, by different communities, for different reasons.
The vilavilairevo, literally the jumping into the oven, belongs to the Sawau people of Beqa island. It is a hereditary privilege, held by descent within a specific lineage, and the account of its origin concerns an ancestor who spared a spirit he had caught while fishing for eels and received the gift in return. Stones are heated in a pit for hours, the walkers enter the pit and cross the stones, and the ritual is surrounded by a set of preparatory restrictions: those who will walk observe a period of separation beforehand, and there are prohibitions on coconut and on contact with women during it. The right is not transferable to people outside the lineage, and the tradition is described by Sawau people as belonging to them specifically. Its performance for tourists at hotels is a live argument within the community.
Indo Fijian firewalking is a separate matter entirely, brought with indentured labourers from South India. It is performed at Hindu temple festivals, above all in the observances associated with the goddess in her Mariamman and Draupadi forms, and it follows a period of vows, fasting and abstinence by the participants. The best known occasions are at temples in Suva and Nadi, where the walk follows a procession and, in some observances, piercing.
They look superficially similar and share nothing else: different peoples, different centuries of arrival, different theology and different rules about who may take part.