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.