The Samoan Dance

Every culture has its own way of celebrating an event, a birthday, a holiday, a religious day or whatever it is they are celebrating. But what I admire most about mine is the way we grow up to learn how to celebrate, prepare, and enjoy the festivities that come with each celebration. My culture is very traditional when it comes to certain events because of the strong family base that we all have in each of our clans. If one family prepares for an event, the whole village helps prepare even though they're all guests to that day. The same thing happens in the church. Everyone is always lending a hand and it makes life so much easier on that family. As a little girl growing up, I helped out in the kitchen with my mother and older cousins. All the girls were either in the kitchen or cleaning the church, or hall where the event will take place. The guys would be the ones preparing food in the underground oven. We call this the "umu". It's basically cooking food in a hole they dig in the ground with hot stones and leaves. This is another traditional way of preparing food for big festivals in the islands. Back then we didn't have ovens so this was our way of making food. Until this day, people still hold onto this tradition. Another big aspect of preparing for the event is the entertainment. This is huge and still is important here in the states in most or all Polynesian events. One special thing about the Samoan culture is that we all grow up learning how to dance all the dances of Polynesia. I learned Samoan, Hawaiian, Fijian, Tongan, Tokelauan, and Maori dancing. Most Samoan kids know most or all of these dances. And it was really nice to be able to entertain everyone with a colorful mix of dancing from Polynesia and that is something I will always treasure. This youtube video is an example of a Samoan dance at a huge festival (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuO1ktxvmy0). Dances are usually done in a big group that includes teenagers to young adults is matching uniforms. In addition to being a Samoan lady, the event usually concludes with the chief daughter dancing her traditional dance called the "taualuga". In this article (http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/show/videos/74080-taualuga-the-last-dance-shigeyuki-kihara), a lady performs this dance to symbolize many things but most importantly to bring everything to an end.

White Sunday

Just as we celebrate Mother's Day as well as Father's Day, in my culture, we also celebrate Children's Day and we call it White Sunday. It's still a tradition that is remembered and celebrated here in America, but only by the Samoan communities and churches. White Sunday is basically a Sunday to honor and praise all the youth of that church including any visiting guests. All the kids, teenagers, young adults (not married), and youth leaders are to wear all white or mostly white, formal clothes to church. Usually a month or two prior to the service, the youth of the church or village is preparing and practicing a whole show for the church that very Sunday. This Sunday is usually mid-October or the last Sunday of that month. Speaking of which we just had White Sunday this past Sunday at my church in Long Beach. The worship and praise (singing and dancing), that usually starts off the service was led by singers picked out from the youth. These singers are to sing gospel songs to get the crowd going and participating in worship and praise. Throughout the program, the youth is to perform a number of mimes or dances to entertain the crowd but also as a means of praise, glorifying God. Then there's a point in the service where a chosen young adult from the youth is to give the Word of God, which is also called the Sermon or the preaching. So basically, everyone in the youth runs the entire program throughout the whole service because it's their day and it is all about them. This day is huge in the islands and everyone in the village attends church to watch the service put on by kids and the youth. This has been a tradition for many years and it is really nice to still be able to participate in it, coming to America and also see that it is celebrated by all Samoan churches here in the States. In addition to dancing and preaching put on by the children, there are also skits that are usually re-enacted from the bible as stated in this article (http://www.adn.com/2013/10/14/3124120/in-samoan-churches-white-sunday.html). Even though its a tradition to have big feasts for every event that happens, the kids day is also considered very important to everyone in Samoa in celebrating kids and their childhood. This article talks about how grocery stores and markets prepare in advance for when white sunday approaches because people do celebrate big. (http://www.samoanews.com/?q=node/13219).

Here's an image of how kids in Samoa would dress in their traditional and formal wear on White Sunday.

As The Oldest Girl

Things are very different here in America versus being the oldest girl living in Samoa. In Samoa, all the girls in the family are to take care all of the chores and nurture their younger siblings if neither of their parents were home. That's how I grew up in the islands. 

Both of my parents worked full time jobs and I would always take care of all the chore around the house. But our chores aren't like the simple chores kids complain about doing out here. Chores in Samoa included things like showering the little kids, cutting the grass with a sharp blade that we would use, sweep the house numerous times in one day, go hiking in the mountains to look for a certain vegetable or plant usually used to make food, wash all the dishes, and help prepare all meals and clean as soon as everyone is done eating. 

These were all done by the eldest girls in the family or usually all the girls if the younger ones are capable of helping. Moving here was very different for me because I always expected myself to help out in the kitchen or on the yard or in the back, but when I tried helping, my grandparents always told me to just go relax and let the adults handle it. It was a huge change for me but I couldn't complain.

I grew up with two older brothers and they never really helped out in the house. The only time the boys were expected to help out was when we would prepare a feast on Sunday mornings. Other than that, they were outside playing football or running around with their friends somewhere we couldn't see them. Sometimes they would do it purposely so that my parents wouldn't call them for help. 

So I basically learned a lot as a young kid because I came here when I was 8 and my sisters were still young. And as I watched them grow up in the states, they never had to do anything because things were so much easier to take care of and mom and I would always do the cleaning. But I'm glad I grew up learning everything I did because it'll carry over to when I own my own home. For instance in "Females" slide of the presentation in from this hyperlink shows how women usually stayed at home and that was it (http://www.slideshare.net/comst101group04/samoan-culture-final-pp-comst101-group-4). But as I read more articles on women's role in the US, this article shows that until this day, women still do all the work in the house and will be for a while. (http://business.time.com/2012/06/28/more-women-are-in-the-workforce-so-why-are-we-still-doing-so-many-chores/ )

Samoan Food

Food makes a big difference in almost every culture. Here in America, people have a variety of options to choose from because of the many cultures that have come in from all over the world. In the islands, we made our foods from raising crops and running plantations. Plantations are also known as an estate or farm used by residents to grow plants, vegetables, fruits, etc. In these plantations, common vegetables the Samoans love include taro, plantains, breadfruit, cocoa. These vegetables are eaten by most families almost every day with some sort of meat.
A highly favored meat in Samoa is pork. You will almost always see a full pig at big events or feasts such as funerals, weddings, church celebratrions, or graduation parties. Another type of meat the islanders love to eat is beef cooked in salt water. They call it "fasipovi masima" which is translated as a salted piece of beef. Another type of beef that is cooked a lot in most homes is corn beef. Most of these foods are high in sodium and carbs.
Aside from the heavy foods, there are also different fruits or snacks I grew up eating. One of my favorites was chewing and spitting sugar cane what we grew in our backyard. Another is simply a coconut right off the coconut tree. We had a big one right in front of my house and my dad or brothers would always climb it to grab coconuts for my sisters and I.

Hyperlinks:

http://www.samoafood.com/p/samoan-food-culture.html


http://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/American-Samoa.html