HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. Today's post is about:
If you didn't know, Samoa is a State made of a group of 💫paradisiac💫 islands in Polynesia, near New Zealand and Australia, riiiiight here:
The best place for a vacation, right?
Samoan people are bilingual (speaking English and Samoan), so if you happen to be in Apia (Samoa's Capital) and want to make friends, you can say:
Hello = Malō (informal) / Tālofa
How are you? = Ua mai oe?
I don't know = Ou te leiloa
Have a nice day! = Ia manuia le aso!
I understand = Ua ou mālamalama
I don't understand = 'Ou te lē mālamalama
I miss you = Ou te misia ia te oe
I love you = Ou te alofa ia te oe
One language is never enough = O le gagana e tasi e le lava
A collection of useful phrases in Samoan, a Polynesian language spoken mainly in Western Samoa and American Samoa
👉 You wanna learn the Samoan writing System? No problem.
The Samoan Language uses the latin alphabet plus 'Okina, the symbol (') used in writing to represent a glottal stop, similar to the sound between the syllables of "oh-oh", and kahakō, which when written over a vowel indicates that the vowel is long.
🌴But let's look more into Samoan Culture
Samoan culture is based on Faʻa Sāmoa, the 'Samoan Way'.
It includes the behavior and the responsibilities that spell out all Samoans' relationships to one another and to persons holding positions of authority.
Faʻa Sāmoa includes the way one stands, walks and speaks, for example by saying "tulou" when one walks in front of someone who is seated. Likewise, it is extremely disrespectful to eat or drink when walking through a village.
"Family" in samoan is ʻAiga.
'Aiga consists of a wider family group of blood and marriage or even adopted connections who all acknowledge the matai (head of the family) who can be either male or female.
All members of the 'Aiga don't have to live under the same roof or even in the same village but it will assemble when the occasion requires it, generally at the residence of the matai, to discuss family affairs, deaths or weddings.
Samoan matai protestors outside Parliament. On 28 March 2003, this group of 3000 Samoans, among them hundreds of transnational matai, protested against the Citizenship [Western Samoa] Act 1982 outside Parliament. Image: Mark Mitchell
🔥Dancing is a huge part of Samoan culture.
There's many traditional samoan dances:
The Fa'ataupati, or "Samoan Slap Dance". Only performed by males, it's the only dance withouth music but with the clapping of the hands and stomping of the feet.
The Maulu'ulu. Literally it means "light rain" - due to the refreshing movements and style, as a "light rain" would cool the stifling tropical heat of a summer day.
The Sasa can be performed by both males and females.
The Siva Afi, a ceremonial dance using the fire knife.
The Manu Siva Tau is a Samoan War Dance, performed by the Samoan sporting teams before each match.
The Taualuga, considered the apex of Samoan performance art forms.
Even though same sex relationships are illegal, Samoa has a large transgender or "third gender" community called fa'afafine.
Faʻafafine are people who identify themselves as having a third gender or non-binary role in Samoa.
They are assigned male at birth, and embody both masculine and feminine gender traits. Their behaviour typically ranges from extravagantly feminine to conventionally masculine.
A curious fact about Samoa is that male relationships are forbidden, while female ones are not.
A book about this general topic was written by the Samoan artists Dan Taulapapa McMullin and Yuki Kihara.
If you read until now and learned something new, I'm proud of you!
And so are some Samoan characters you didn't know were Samoan, like:
If you want to learn Samoan or just want to look more into its culture, check this:
Nafanuatele Lafitaga Mafaufau, the creator and writer of O Le Aiga Samoa comic, is the passionate founder and teacher of the Nafanua Communication and Culture Samoan language classes.
This comic helps to make the Samoan language accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, and its goal is to make especially young people engage in Samoa's beautiful culture.
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/o-le-aiga-samoa
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