Samoa

Samoa, also known as the 'sacred center' or 'Heart of Polynesia,' is a group of islands located in the Pacific Ocean. The Samoan archipelago is geographically divided into two parts: the larger, independent nation of Samoa and the smaller American Samoa, which is a U.S. territory. Despite the political division, the Polynesian people of both Samoas share a common language and culture, and the traditional hereditary chiefs continue to hold significant influence in the daily lives of the people.

Samoa is located approximately 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii and 1,800 miles northeast of New Zealand. It consists of four main islands, namely Upolu, Savaii, Manono, and Apolima, with the capital city located on Upolu. American Samoa lies 40 miles east of Upolu and includes the main island of Tutuila and the smaller Manu'a group of islands. Independent Samoa has a land area of 2,860 sq. km., while American Samoa has a land area of 199 sq. km.

The population of Samoa is estimated to be around 180,000 people, while American Samoa has a population of about 69,000 people. Significant populations of Samoans also reside in New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, California, Utah, and Missouri.

The islands of Samoa were discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722, and in 1768, French Admiral Louis de Bougainville visited the islands and gave them the name "The Navigator Islands" due to the Samoans' impressive canoe skills. Germany took possession of the western part of the Samoan archipelago from 1899 to 1914, after which New Zealand administered the islands under a League of Nations mandate. Samoa gained its independence from New Zealand on January 1, 1962, while American Samoa was sold to the United States by the traditional chiefs of eastern Samoa in 1900. Today, Samoa has a parliamentary style of government and an education system influenced by its former ties with New Zealand, while American Samoa has a U.S. style of government and education and sends a non-voting representative to the U.S. Congress.

Samoan and English are the official languages of Samoa. Samoan is a major Polynesian dialect and is similar to other island languages such as Hawaiian, Tongan, Tahitian, and Maori. Reduplicated words, such as the capital city of American Samoa, Pago Pago, are common in Polynesian languages. The letter 'g' in Samoa represents the 'ng' sound, and the sounds represented by the letters 'k' and 't' are interchangeable in vernacular Samoa. Polynesian languages use regular and longer-sounding vowels, with the latter sometimes marked with a macron over the letter. The use of a long vowel vs. the same vowel in short form changes the meaning of the word in Samoan.

Fale

Samoan houses, or fales, are an integral part of Samoan culture and village life. Traditionally, fales are constructed using natural materials such as woven coconut fronds, bamboo, and thatch. The design of a fale varies depending on its purpose and the rank of the family who owns it. The most important fales in a village are the fale tele (great house) and the fale fono (meeting house), which are used for important village ceremonies and meetings.

The fale tele is the home of the village chief and is usually the largest and most elaborate fale in the village. It is also where the chief receives important guests and conducts important village business. The fale tele is typically decorated with intricate wood carvings, woven mats, and other traditional Samoan decorations.

The fale fono, on the other hand, is used for village meetings and gatherings. It is typically a large open-sided structure with a thatched roof and wooden pillars. The fale fono is also decorated with traditional Samoan decorations, including woven mats and wood carvings.

In addition to the fale tele and fale fono, many families also have smaller fales for different purposes, such as a fale alofa (love house) where newlyweds can spend time together, or a fale ta'avale (car house) where the family's car is stored.

Samoan village life revolves around the fales. Villagers gather in the fale fono for meetings and ceremonies, and the fale talimalo is used to host guests and visitors. In Samoan culture, hospitality is highly valued, and visitors are always welcomed with open arms. The Samoan tradition of offering hospitality to passing visitors is known as fa'aaloalo, and it is considered an important part of Samoan culture.

Homes are now constructed using western materials and designs; but still, each village, indeed usually each extended family in Samoa, traditionally has a fale talimalo (guest house) and/or a fale fono (meeting house) where the chiefs convene. Sometimes they are one and the same. The exact size and lavishness is determined by the power and position of the families and village.

Samoan custom traditionally requires families and villages to offer passing visitors hospitality, extending to overnight accommodations. Such visitors may enter the guest house at any time for a short rest. The immediate family will respond with time-honored traditions and quickly prepare food and water for the visitors.

After the guests are fed and rested, the chief will politely inquire about the purpose of the unexpected visit and the intended length of stay. Should the guests choose to extend their visit for a day or two, they are treated with kindness and consideration and provided bedding. The chief offers any further help if needed.

When pre-arranged guests arrive, the immediate or extended family, or or even the whole village will make sure the proper protocol is carefully and accurately conducted. They will prepare leis (which the Samoans call ula), food and special decorations. Included will be a welcome ceremony, the elaborateness of it depending on rank and importance, especially of the chiefly guests.

Guest houses are constructed in a typical Samoan architectural style with a domed roof, and evenly-spaced posts supporting beams in the Center. Traditionally, no nails or screws were used anywhere in such a building. Instead, coconut fibers are braided into 'afa or sennit rope to lash the beams and joints together.

The floor of a guest house is typically covered with flat, smooth round-shaped river stones which have been found ideal for balancing the temperature of the building. On hot, humid days, the stones cool the building; on cooler days they retain the sun's heat to keep the building warm and comfortable. For comfort, mats are placed over the rocks, starting first with thicker coconut leaf pola, topped with finer-woven laufala made from dried pandanus leaves.

The many posts which encircle the interior of this building have much greater significance than holding up the roof. Whenever any meetings are held in the building, certain participants always sit with their backs to a post, the exact one being rigidly determined by the persons' rank, family, and home village. Other minor participants sit on mats spread around the outside rim.

The post 90 degrees to the left side of the entrance is for the highest-ranking person in the visiting party, usually the chief. The post opposite that person is for the highest-ranking person of the home village, again usually the chief. The posts immediately next to the entrance way are for the chiefs' representatives or spokesmen, known as their talking chiefs. The first two posts on the left side are for the other local talking chiefs.

An equally significant post is the fourth post on the left side, or the stranger's post. A stranger coming unannounced to a meeting can summarily walk up to that particular post and rightfully demand that it be surrendered to him. The three large posts in the middle are also important, for from there any food to be served during the meeting is dispensed

This building is also referred to as the fale fono, or chiefs 'meeting house. In the Samoan tradition of diplomacy, the fale fono is always round.

Discussions include monitoring the performance of individual families who are expected to abide by the rules and laws approved and passed by the council of chiefs. In addition, every family is required to participate as a village unit and cooperate in such things as securing public safety; beautifying yards and homes, keeping prayer curfew each morning and evening and observing the Sabbath; planting taro patches to encourage self-reliance, growing food crops including breadfruit, bananas, yam, and sugarcane; and raising pigs and chickens.

The rock foundations of guest houses are usually elevated, sometimes as high as 5-8 feet: In general, the higher the foundation, the more important  the chiefly title and rank of the family and/or village. The height of foundations symbolize the dignity and respect accorded a high chief.

It will usually take a master builder or tufuga and his crew a month to complete such buildings. The tufuga supervises the construction including the correct measurements of all poles, beams, choice of thatching leaves, amount of sennit rope and performance of the workers.

The roof is traditionally thatched with sugarcane leaves and when properly prepared and attached the first time, will last 10-15 years. The cone-shaped roof allows rain to easily fall to the ground without the moisture permeating the leaves and causing leaks inside. Of course, during sunny days the high dome allows the heat to rise and seep through the thatching, cooling the house.

Of course, the open walls of the house allow breezes to flow freely. During rainy or windy weather, or when privacy is required, coconut leaf blinds can be lowered.

Even though such buildings are reserved for important purposes, they remain open and empty most of the time. Samoans accept this fact and acknowledge that their guest and meeting houses stand ready as places of refuge for anyone in need of help. In the highest sense, these buildings represent the power, prestige, generosity and hospitality of the families who build them and their affiliated villages.

Traditionally, the maota tofa or high chief's house is the largest and most elevated house in a village, signifying the chief's prestigious position. As with other Samoan buildings, the high-domed roof helps cool the house.

A high chief's house was usually simply furnished. In ancient Samoa only a chief of the highest rank would sleep on a bed in one end of this building. The bed consisted of mats piled up to a desired height of comfort. Because finely-woven mats are exchanged as items of wealth in Samoa, the more mats a chief possessed and displayed, the richer he was. Such mats are still important as a method of paying tribute at weddings, funerals, and other public events.

The chief's pillow was traditionally made of bamboo or other wood. Samoan legend has it that sleeping on hard surfaces gave Samoans their erect, strong and straight stature.

The tunoa or Samoan kitchen was a man's domain. Preparing and cooking of food in the Samoan way is considered physically demanding, including the daily preparation of coconut meat and milk, which is essential in many Samoan dishes.

Garden

A fa'atoaga or Samoan garden is usually planted close to the tunoa, providing the family with staple foods such as sugar cane, bananas, taro, tapioca, sweet potato, and breadfruit. Cocoa is also grown in Samoa, prepared locally and drunk full-strength. Pork, chicken, fish and shellfish of all kinds are the most common meats.

For faster preparation, Samoans often boil green bananas, taro, breadfruit and other produce. Otherwise, they will bake their food in an umu or covered steam oven. [Note, Hawaiians traditionally cook their food in an imu, which uses the same principle as a Samoan umu, but the imu is done in a hole in the ground while an umu rests on top of the ground.

Once all the food is prepared, it must be cooked. A Samoan umu typically has four logs arranged in a square. Kindling and firewood go inside the square "box," with the rocks piled on top. When the fire has heated the rocks until they're white with ash, any remaining charcoal debris is pushed aside and the food is carefully placed on the rocks. Fire resistant leaves are used to sheath the food to protect them. The whole oven is then covered over with banana leaves and other insulating materials. The food takes several hours to cook.

Samoans traditionally eat two hot meals a day: In the morning they boil food over a fire and in the afternoon the men prepare an umu.

Coconut Cracking:

Samoans traditionally husk a coconut by firmly thrusting it onto the sharpened end of a stout stick, which is firmly planted in the ground or otherwise wedged upright. After piercing the husk, they holding the coconut against the stick with one hand, and press down with the other, separating off sections of husk. This motion is repeated until the entire husk is stripped off the coconut.

All coconuts have a face with one of three seams running between the two "eyes." The point of the seams form a "nose," and the "mouth" is below the nose. While the eyes are shell-hard, the mouth is always the softest part of a coconut, even a dried one, and can easily be punctured by something sharp and thin.

To crack the coconut open, Samoans use a rock, stick, or back of a heavy knife. Simply locate the seam that runs between the eyes, turn the coconut sideways, and strike that seam along the coconut's "equator." One good whack should do it. Of course, some or most of the relatively clear "juice" is going to spill out.

Normally, Samoans only drink the juice of young, sweet coconuts, which can sometimes develop a natural effervescence. To do this, they simply cut off the top of young green coconuts, without husking it. Other times, they may husk the young coconuts, puncture the "mouth" or crack off a small portion of the top, and enjoy one of nature's finest natural fruit juices.