hamogeekgirl – One Samoana

The two Samoan languages

12 August, 201811 June, 2019
by hamogeekgirl

While I was slowly picking up Samoan from my family and friends, I’d hear references to another, mysterious, ‘higher’ version of the language.

‘It’s different from our everyday Samoan,’

…they would say.

‘It’s the language that matais and ministers use’.

And I would think, OK, so… what is it? Do they just use bigger words?

…because I am an avid reader, and my favourite authors use lots of big words, like Salman Rushdie, for example, who says stuff like ‘cogitate’ instead of ‘think deep’ and ‘imprecations’ instead of just plain ‘swearing’…

So I figured that learning this enigmatic ‘higher’ language, reserved only for important people, would just be a matter of finding a great Samoan dictionary / thesaurus, reading more Samoan literature and maybe paying more attention to the matai speeches at functions.

Yeah, it’s not quite that simple. Many of the words I came across couldn’t be found in the dictionary I had, and even if I did find a definition, it rarely ever helped me to understand a passage. As for those matai speeches… all of them lost me at ‘talofa’.

But I persevered, got myself some Samoan language support, and I think I’ve figured out why this ‘higher Samoan’ has been so difficult to decipher.

What’s the story

In English, people tend to use bigger (more difficult) words for the sake of eloquence – to express complex thoughts and nuances of emotion. Sometimes you just can’t explain exactly what you mean with everyday English.

Samoa’s higher language, however, is founded on poetry, history, legends and myths. To understand the meaning of a difficult word or phrase, you’d have to know the story behind it.

In this pretty word, for example:

Lautinalaulelei

…I recognize a couple of concepts: ‘lauti’ – the leaves of the ti tree – and ‘laulelei’ which talks about being well, or satisfied.

Interestingly enough, this word has nothing to do with agriculture. It is used to refer to a group of talking chiefs (tulafale) in a village who are of a general or lower rank. Why?

I have no idea, except that somewhere in Samoan history, somebody compared this group of tulafale to a field of beautifully grown ti-leaves…

In Context

In English, the use of more difficult words (correctly) can also imply that a person is educated, so your own personal glossary for life can become a status symbol.

…everybody knows at least one person who will happily show off the range of their vocabulary – whether they make any kind of sense or not – for the sake of sounding brainy, right?

In the Fa’asamoa, on the other hand, big, beautiful, complicated words are used to lavish praise on other people. It’s more than just respect… it’s verbal (lyrical) veneration.

So… in our culture, knowledge of this higher Samoan language is not about pride or ego, but rather deep humility and a willingness to defer to others.

Proverbially Speaking

It’s no wonder then that our parents will talk to us about ‘fa’aaloalo’ and remind us…

‘O le ala i le pule o le tautua’

Although it’s not always apparent to natural born cynics like myself, ideals like respect and service and obedience and modesty are foundational elements of Samoan wisdom… passed down to us from our ancestors, preserved so efficiently in our higher language.

Any Samoan function or family get together – a wedding, a funeral, an ava ceremony, a birthday – is an opportunity for our elders and matais to share speeches, lauga.

Learning to compose and deliver a lauga, though, is sacred work, not only because they are used to consecrate and bring honour to an occassion, but also because the language used in these speeches – our higher language – carries proverbs, expressions and figures of speech that teach and reaffirm values that we sustain as Samoan people.

Learning for Life

It worries me now that this higher language is still relatively mysterious to me – partly because it’s not like we can just pick up a dictionary and learn it, but mostly because only a little while ago, I was completely oblivious to what it was all about.

I can’t help but wonder how many other Samoans in my generation – especially those of us raised outside of Samoa – have no idea how important our language is, or how valuable it is to be able to communicate ‘like matais and ministers’. It doesn’t help that the way we live today doesn’t make it easy for us to learn…

…but that excuses nothing.

One thing most of us can appreciate is that Samoans are all about family and respect for our elders. What better way to learn than to spend time serving and talking to our parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts…

Just like in the old days…

—
This article was first published here in March 2009

How to BE Samoan

Samoan Etiquette: Mind your body parts!

12 August, 20188 June, 2019
by hamogeekgirl

Samoans seem to be very body-part-conscious.

You might call it modest or reserved maybe, but all my training in ‘behaving so my mom, aunts and older cousins don’t give me the evils’ seemed to have a lot to do with how I positioned my body in specific situations.

Now that I’m grown, I see the wisdom and the respect behind the Samoan way of carrying oneself. The learning is so instilled in me, it even gets a little offensive when someone (inadvertently or otherwise) breaks one of the following, um… guidelines? around me.

Passing in front of people. Especially when people are seated, if you have to move in front of them to get somewhere, you MUST excuse yourself. In Samoan, the word is ‘tulou‘ (excuse me).You should also try to stay low. For example, if you are passing between two people who are standing, you should should bow down as you move (and excuse yourself), so that you don’t obstruct their view of each other.
Sitting. And you thought you already knew how to sit.If you’re sitting on the floor, omg fold your legs! (making sure, of course, that all your ‘bits’ are covered up properly).
It’s very rude to extend your legs so that the bottoms of your feet show to anyone else in the room. If for some reason you can’t fold your legs, then tuck them under you somehow.

Oh, and never ever draw your knees up to your chin while you’re sitting (you know, like when you’re hugging your legs) unless all your business is covered up properly. If you’re sitting amongst a group of elders, just don’t do it at all.

Sitting on a chair? It’s all universal common sense. Just keep your knees together unless they’re covered up properly.
Standing while people are sitting. The only time you should be standing in an area where a group of people are sitting is if you’re taking yourself out of that area or you’re serving them (in which case the guideline above about excusing yourself would apply).If you need to speak with someone who is sitting, especially if this person is older than you, you need to bring yourself down physically to their level. Just sit or crouch down so that you’re at eye level or lower.
It’s just wrong for them to be eye level with your stomach or somewhere worse while you’re beseeching their attention.
Legs and Pants. Pants are not in the traditional Samoan wardrobe, so even in the modern world, we’re mindful of how they’re worn.For ladies, if you’re going to be at a gathering of Samoans (i.e. family) and happen to be in pants, don’t be surprised if someone hands you an ie lavalava to wear over them, especially if you’re going to be walking around amongst others (i.e. serving tea, etc.).
For men, pants are more acceptable of course, but for formal occasions and cultural-type gatherings, it’s always better to see them in ie lavalava or ie faitaga (the more dressy version of ie lavalava, that usually includes pockets)
Boobage and lavalavas. This one kind of surprised me. You always see images of islander women in ie lavalava wrapped high, up under their arms and over their breasts. I guess that’s okay for other Pacific islanders, but for Samoans, not so much.I was taught that my ie should be worn around my waist only (with a shirt or something to cover my top half, obviously). Wearing it the other way (up under my arms) should be reserved for the privacy of your own home / shower / husband.
I’m not sure what the reasoning is behind that. Maybe someone can enlighten me (in a comment below).

Other guidelines about minding your body parts include not sticking your elbows in people’s faces when you’re passing an object to someone near them and not wearing bikinis / speedos when you’re swimming in public (Samoans wear shorts and tee-shirts or even jump in fully clothed. Seriously).

I think, though, that if you have the attitude that your body is sacred and so is everyone else’s, the Samoan way of positioning your body in social situations should make a lot of sense to you.

I would hope so, anyway.

xx HGG

===

Have I missed anything? Please leave me a comment below.

Visit Samoa

The many uses of the Samoan ili

24 March, 2018
by hamogeekgirl

Samoans call this the ili, or fan. This hand-held version is Polynesia’s personal cooling system, except in the often relentless heat of Samoa, I’ve noticed it’s not the most effective tool for the job.

It’s just as well they make these ili so pretty then or I wouldn’t have bothered getting one. It got me wondering though… When I’m back in NZ where it’s usually too cool for hand-held fans, what else could my Samoan ili be used for?

I asked the always helpful One Samoana Natives, and they were oh so full of great ideas:

Use it to swat at flies and other annoying insects
Use it to spank naughty children (and naughty adults)
Pretty ili can be used as hanging decorations, or to cover up an unsightly hole in the wall
A lot of ili are adorned with feathers. You can use those to annoy people by tickling their noses while they’re sleeping
Shove the handle end of the ili up your nose when it’s itchy
Wave down taxis, a bus or people across the room; Ili can double as Samoan signal paddles
Use it to fan the smoke away from an umu, or to fan the flames higher
The ili might be the perfect thickness to level an uneven table
Depending on the shape of your ili, you could use it to replace a missing spade from your deck of cards (hmmm…)
Bend and shape a few ili to accentuate an artificial flower arrangement for the chapel
Play quarters (or checkers?) on the patterns of your ili
Use it as a canoe paddle
A shovel?
Use it to hide your face when you encounter your husband on the street while you’re walking hand in hand with another man
A beach umbrella?
Use it to cover up all your business when you’re trying to sit down in a itty bitty mini skirt
The ili is great for when you’re talking face to face with someone whose breath stinks. Use it to fan the smell away.
If you have two ili, you can be a flappy bird

Have we missed any great uses for the Samoan ili?

How to BE Samoan

Tulou – the magic word in Samoan etiquette

12 February, 20188 June, 2019
by hamogeekgirl

Our Samoan etiquette series is for people who are new to our culture or just want to brush up on the kind of behavior expected from ‘good’ Samoans. It’s especially helpful if you want to make a good impression on Samoan elders, perhaps the parents of your (hope to be) significant other?

I wrote a couple of articles on the topic a while ago:

…and then we got a lot of feedback in the comments listing a bunch of other things we learned as Samoan children. So I figured we need to devote an entire section of this site to the Samoan way of doing (everyday) things. You know… in case we forget.

Lesson number one for me, and probably every other Samoan past the age of 2, was to say, “tulou,” (pronounced: too LOW).

This word means, “Excuse me,” and it goes together with a small bowing action.

We first learn to excuse ourselves when we’re walking past someone, especially if this person is seated. We’re instructed to say, “tulou,” and bow your head, or even crouch a little, until you’re in the clear.

Other times to exercise your ‘tulou’ muscles include:

When you have to reach across someone for any reason
When, to get past them, you have to walk between two people (seated or standing) who are talking to each other
When you’re telling a story in the presence of people you respect, and it’s necessary to mention something that might offend, like… toilet bowls, or rotting fish, or what consenting adults do in private, se’i tulou…

So basically, any time you obstruct the view of others, or your movements take you into their personal space, or you’re worried about offending them, you excuse yourself.

And now I feel like a kid again, listening to my aunts call out, “What’s the magic word? Tulou!”

Samoan Food

How do you like your Koko Alaisa (Samoan cocoa…

19 December, 2017
by hamogeekgirl

Koko alaisa is yummy anywhere, anytime, but I love it most on cold New Zealand winter nights. A hot, sweet mug of deep, dark Samoan cocoa, mouthfuls of fat rice grains, a speckling of undissolved coconut cream, and pegu – little, nutty koko fibres – to crunch on at the end. Perfection.

Every Samoan will know about koko alaisa, and we all have our own preferences for how it’s made.

Some like the rice to be so thick, you can stand a fork up in your koko alaisa, or eat it like rice pudding. My family prefers it on the just-about-drinkable side, because then you can dunk hot buttered bread in it as an extra treat.

Samoan Language

Samoan Proverb – Sorted like a fishing net in…

19 September, 201711 June, 2019
by hamogeekgirl

As the heart of the Pacific ocean, it makes sense that so many of Samoa’s alagaupu & muagagana (proverbs & idioms) use the imagery of fishing.

Like this one:

O le upega e fili i le po, ‘ae tatala i le ao

Its literal translation: The fishing net is knotted (or braided) at night, but opened (or untangled) in the morning/day.

Dr Schultz explains that after night fishing, fishermen would hang their nets up, but would only come back to put them in order in the morning.

According to Schultz, this proverb is about settling disputes, how we have to really understand what the true cause of the conflict is, first.

I think it also refers to how, when we’re all dark, angry and emotional with each other, sometimes it’s wise to just walk away for a while, to come back in the ‘morning’ (i.e. when we can see more clearly) and sort things out.

I love that these proverbs are somewhat open to interpretation. What are your thoughts about this bit of Samoan wisdom?

~*~

I am working through some alagaupu & muagagana I found in my grandfather’s notebook. Maybe with a little common sense and creativity, I can figure out what they mean all by myself… hmmm… lol

Samoan Culture

Alagaupu ma Muagagana – Samoan Proverbs and Expressions

14 September, 201710 June, 2019
by hamogeekgirl

My grandfather was a diligent note-keeper. He was a faiava, which means he lived with my grandmother in her village (rather than his own), and he kept several notebooks worth of hand-written records on her family’s history and titles.

This grandfather was also a gifted orator. He died when I was very young, but I still hear stories about how so many villages would invite him to their various functions to hear him speak, and how he was paid handsomely – in the currency of food and fine mats – for his eloquence. They say that while he was usually soft-spoken, his words were always very powerful.

I’ve got one of his notebooks right here in front of me now, and I think I’ve discovered the secret to his oratory genius. Filling several pages in this book, he’s made a numbered list of over 400 alagaupu and muagagana – the basic building blocks of a Samoan lauga, or speech.

In English, alagaupu is what we’d call ‘proverbs’. They’re little soundbites of widely-accepted wisdom based on the characters and events in our legends. Muagagana are more like ‘idioms’, everyday expressions that are a little more poetic than straightforward statements. Kind of like when we say, “We have no car, so time to beat the feet.”

The difference in the Samoan language is that these proverbs and idioms are usually only studied by our talking chiefs (tulafale). They are highly valued and guarded like precious jewels. You have to be a skilled speaker to compete against other tulafale for the honor (and the spoils) of delivering commemorative speeches at various functions. So in an oratory culture like ours, alagaupu and muagagana are like sacred ammunition, kept stashed away until absolutely necessary for the task at hand.

That’s great for our community of chiefs, but it means that a lot of everyday Samoans don’t get exposed to these pearls of wisdom and poetry handed down from our ancestors, which is a shame. I know a lot of very fluent Samoan speakers who only know a handful of these sayings, and can’t reaaally explain what all of them mean.

I’m looking at these 400+ in my grandfather’s book and can’t even begin to guess the meaning of most of them… but they’re beautiful. I’ve chosen 12 that I like the most and will work on trying to understand them. I’ll have to talk to some matai in my family and track down a new Samoan language and culture mentor (since my old teacher has passed away). Then I’ll be back to report my findings.

In the meantime, thank the good Lord for Palagi historians like Dr. E Schultz, who was a High Court Judge in Apia back around 1906. He collected a huge number of alagaupu and muagagana AND he explained them. I found an excerpt of his book over at the Journal of the Polynesian Society, then I turned one of his findings into the graphic image I posted above.

Now this one I instantly recognized from that gorgeous Five Star ballad I love so much: Amuia le La. It’s an easier sentiment to understand:

Amuia le masina, e alu ma toe sau.

That lucky moon gets to come back after it sets. People are not so fortunate. We only get to pass through this life one time.

Do you feel that heartbreaking power in one simple, Samoan expression?

—
First published in September 2014

Mystic Samoa

A Samoan Ghost Story, with a chicken and a…

17 August, 2017
by hamogeekgirl

One night my mom and I and some relatives were discussing all the crazy ghost stories we’ve heard from around the Samoan way – and it’s not just a few. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think all Samoans were haunted from birth. Spooky paranormal things just seem to happen to us all the time.

I expressed about as much in our conversation, and my mom immediately disagreed. “No!” she insisted. “I promise I have never experienced anything like that in my life!’ And then in the same breath she goes, ‘Except for when I saw a demon get forced out of my auntie’s body, blasting all the windows and doors open as it left the room… but it’s never EVER happened to me, ever! Except for this one time in Tutuila, with the chicken…”

Okayyyyyy, strange lady.

She proceeded to tell us her story.

How to BE Samoan

Eating and standing in a Samoan house? I dare…

3 July, 20178 June, 2019
by hamogeekgirl

I’ll be the first to admit it. I eat on my feet all the time. Hello, I’m a busy lady. I don’t always have time for a sit down meal, etc. and other excuses like that.

Lucky for me, I’m too big now to get a bashing for such horrible manners… but I still try not to be so rude in front of my mom (gotta avoid those evil glares), and I never do it when we have guests – OMG that would be so mataga (shameful).

But not as bad as sneaking food into your bedroom / garage / car to stuff your face with while the rest of your family and their guests (if any) are hungry in the lounge. That’s a whole other level of le mafaufau etiquette crime that I would never, ever, everrrr commit.

Honest.

*kalé*

Thoughts on Life

Book Review: The Story of Lauli’i, A Daughter of…

20 June, 201721 June, 2019
by hamogeekgirl

Do you know how they made the ava (kava) back in the day? I’m talking over 100 years ago…

Well, the taupou in the village would break off pieces of the ava root, chew them into a pulp, then spit all that good stuff into the tanoa (that’s one of these things), where it would then be mixed with water, strained and served to the matai.

Sexy.

As part of today’s ava ceremony, the drink is served in coconut shell cups by an untitled man of the village, but did you know that in those days, the cup-bearer was always a girl?

Just a couple things I learned about old Samoa from this incredible autobiography I came across at my local library. It’s the memoirs of Lauli’i, a Samoan woman who was born in an Upolu village, also called Lauli’i, all the way back in 1865.

Lauli’i married Alexander Willis, a carpenter from California, who took her to America where they worked with an editor to tell her story, to describe what life was like in Samoa.

Through history books and lots of great period films, I have a fair understanding now of what life must have been like a couple centuries ago for people of other cultures (Europeans, Americans, Indians, etc.), but Lauli’i Willis has blessed me with my first ever telescopic view back into the world of my own ancestors. Read more “Book Review: The Story of Lauli’i, A Daughter of Samoa” →

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