By: Brittney Poulson

S a m o a n H i s t o r y

Language and mapsBeachesMusic and DancingTattoosFire dancingHousingSamoan dresses foods

Table of contents:

Numeral Samoan English 1 tasi one 2 lua two 3 tolu three 4 fa four 5 lima five 6 ono six 7 fitu seven 8 valu eight 9 iva nine 10 sefulu ten 11 sefulu ma le tasi eleven 12 sefulu ma le lua twelve 20 luafulu or lua sefulu twenty 30 tolugafulu or tolu sefulu

thirty

Samoan language and maps

Languages:Samoan and English. Samoan is a major Polynesian dialect, and as such, is

similar to Hawaiian, Tongan, Tahitian, Maori and other island languages. It is not necessarily mutually intelligible with the other dialects, although many words are identical or nearly identical, with identical or similar

meanings.Reduplicated words — such as Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa —

are common in Polynesian languages; but many people do not realize that the letter 'g' in Samoan represents the unreleased 'ng' sound as in the

English word 'singer' — not the released-G sound as in the word 'finger.'Also interesting, the sounds represented by the letters 'k' and 't' are

completely interchangeable in vernacular Samoa with changing the meaning of the words. For example, there's no meaningful difference

between talofa and kalofa, which both mean 'hello.'Most Polynesian languages also use regular and longer-sounding vowels,

with the latter sometimes marked with a macron over the letter. Polynesian long vowels are not to be confused with English long and short

vowels, as in the words "hate" and "hat," respectively. While English vowels can actually be lengthened in pronunciation, that doesn't change the meaning of the word; whereas in Samoan the use of a long vowel vs.

the same vowel in its regular form changes the meaning of the word.For example, mama means 'ring,' mamä means 'clean' and mämä means

'lightweight' (please note we're using a European-style umlaut over the long vowels since most computers do not have fonts with macron

capability). So, if you want to impress a Samoan, lengthen the first vowel in the word Sämoa.

ʻO le aliʻi, a chief.ʻO le tamaloa, a man.

ʻO le tama, a boy.ʻO le poʻa, a male

animal.ʻO le tamaitaʻi, a lady.ʻO le fafine, a woman.

ʻO le teine, a girl.ʻO le manu fafine, a

female animal.

More Samoan languageEnglish SamoanYes ‘ioeNo leaiPlease fa’amolemoleThank you fa’afetaiThat’s all right ‘ua leleiBig-small tele-la’itiitiQuick-slow vave/tope-geseEarly-late vave-tuaiCheap-expensive taugofie-taugataNear-far latalata-mamaoHot-cold vevela-maluluFull-empty tumu-gaogaoEasy-difficult faigofie-faigataHeavy-lite mamafa-mamaOpen-shut tatala-tapuniRight-wrong sa’o-seseOld-new tuai-fouBeautiful-ugly ‘aulelei-’auleaga

Somoan BeachesThe Samoan Archipelago lies shrouded in a light

fragrant mist which is easily penetrated by the blazing sun. Cool mountain

breezes make things very comfortable here during the southern winter months. Dormant

volcanoes, deep forests and dazzling lagoons are abundant

The road around the island of Savai'i has only recently been paved. There

are no towns only little villages. It's a place where you don't feel the presence of

the twentieth century much. Lavalava-dressed people, roaming pigs and

small tamu plantations on the outskirts of the

volcanic jungle clad interior.Sundays in Samoa is quiet days. Early in the morning blue smoke drifts lazily through the villages and everything is bathed in soft golden sunshine.

Beautiful singing is heard from all directions and the roads are swarming with women in white laced dresses and fine hats and men dressed in newly

ironed lavalavas, shirts and ties.

The two main instruments used before the Europeans arrived were the Pate and the Fala, the pate is a hollowed out log drum that comes in various sizes and the fala is a rolled up mat beaten with sticks. The instruments weren’t the only thing the Samoan’s used to make music. They used their dancing in which made the music more essential. To make different sounds in their music they clapped their hands to produce different range if sounds in the Samoan music. After the Europeans arrived the instrumentation increased dramatically, two more instruments were developed that are now synonymous with Samoan music, the Sielo and the Ukele. The sielo is a stringed instrument made from a broomstick attached to a largish box that acts as a sounding board. The ukele is a small guitar like instrument but with only four strings.

Music made by somoan dancing

There is no documented date or written background of how and when the Samoan Tattoo, or Tatau, originated, because of the fact that back in Polynesia well even before the Europeans

had arrived, every event was spoken by word of mouth.

There was no form of writing or transcribing, it was all by word of mouth until the missionaries arrived, the first being in the the early 1800's by various denominations,eg - Wesley/Togan

missionaries, Tahiti missionaries,

Tatoo’s in samoa culture

Fire Dancing

The Samoan Fire-knife dance or "Nifo Oti" is one of the spectacular highlights of Paradise Cove.

Traditional Samoa fire dancing is one of the great cultural experiences of Samoa. These are

performed at all the major hotels in various forms. The most glamourous is at Aggie Grey's in Apia with professional male and female dancers and traditional costumes of mat dresses and flower garlands performing traditional dance with the

highlight being the Samoan Fire Dance.

The dance routine is performed to upbeat rhythmic drumming, hand clapping and singing. A

dance troupe can include from 2 to as many as ten rows of dancers, with the men jumping up and down and the women moving gracefully from side

to side. The dance recalls stories from the past, from farewells to loved ones, to great fishing

expeditions and war campaigns. The spectacular fire dance is performed by men and boys, some as young as six years old only and is a skilful display

of handling fire sticks in a rotational manner.

Some samoan housing in samoa!

Samoan Houses

The traditional ladies clothing is the puletasi which is a matching skirt and tunic with

samoan designs. The lava lava is a sarong which made worn by men or women. They are

different patterns and colors but tend to be plain for men who may wear it as part of an

offical uniform.

Samoan dresses

Samoan food tends not to be highly spiced or seasoned and consists of a number of cooked ingredients that are relatively unfamiliar or prepared in unusal ways to most Westerners such as cooked breadfuit, taro, taro leaves, cooked green bananas and raw fish.

Umu An umu is the traditional method used by Samoan's for cooking food. A fire is built and

stones placed on it. When the fire is down to the embers green bananas, breadfruit, taro, fish, and lu'au are placed on the stones. When everything to be cooked has been placed on the umu, it is covered with banana fronds and left to cook.

Oka Most cultures eat raw fish: smoked salmon, sushi, Bismark herring, rollmops etc. Oka is

the way Samoans prepare and serve raw fish. It consists of small bits of fish that have been left to marinate in a mixture of lemon juice, coconut cream, salt and onions.

Lu'au/Palusami Lu'au is probably the dish that Samoa is most famous for and once eaten will never be

forgotten. It is made from the leaves of the taro plant and coconut cream, however onions now tend to be added to it. The coconut cream, onions and some taro are wrapped up in whole taro leaves and, ideally, cooked in an umu. When cooked the parcel of taro leaves is opened and the contents eaten.

Pe'epe'e A general purpose sauce made from coconut cream and onions and eaten with taro,

breadfruit or anything you like.

Samoan Taro Foods

Taro foods look like this!

Taro Potatoes Taro delights

These are foods samoan eat

Oka food

Umu foods

Facts

Samoa consists of four main islands: Upolu, with the capital at Apia; the largest island of Savaii; and two small islands between them: Manono and Apolima. American Samoa lies 40 miles east of Upolu. Tutuila, with its deep harbor at Pago Pago, is the main island and administrative center. The smaller islands of the Manu'a group — Ta'u, Ofu and Olosega — are located about 70 miles to the east.Independent Samoa has 2,860 sq. km. of land, mostly divided between the two major islands of Upolu and Savaii. It is slightly smaller than Rhode Island. America Samoa has 199 sq. km. of land, most of it on the main island of Tutuila. It is slightly larger than Washington, D.C.

Samoa population:

Samoa: 180,000 (July 2000 est.); America Samoa: 69,000 (July

2000 est.). Significant populations of

Samoans also live in New Zealand,

Australia, Hawaii, California, Utah and

Missouri. INTERESTING FACTS: The Samoans are known throughout Polynesia as the "happy" people because of their enjoyment of life and their good-spirited nature. Famous author Robert Louis Stevenson, known in Samoa as Tusitala or "story-teller," fell in love with the happiness and giving spirit of the Samoan people and settled here. He is buried on Mt. Vaea in independent Samoa.