On Faasamoa

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This is not a post about what "FaaSamoa" means. If you are looking to be illuminated on the customs and traditions of the Samoan people, perhaps continue down the list of Google results. Because on that topic, I consider myself to be at the caliber of Jon Snow. I know nothing.

So what is the point of this post then? It is mostly self-reflection on the nothing that I know, and a look ahead at what I would like to know.

The nothing

Although I was born and raised in Samoa, we were never really immersed in things of the Samoan culture. As we lived in a village, we participated in certain aspects, but most of the time it was in the context of church-related activities. Our parents never explicitly taught us about the culture, nor did they take us along to things where we would have perhaps learned by "osmosis". We were so clueless about culture, that when people turned up to our house looking for Fuāmatu, we innocently turned them away because we did not realise it was our own father's matai title. Insert facepalm.

I do not recall ever going to a family talanoaga or a saogamea. I did not know who my extended family were outside of my grandparents' descendants, except for about a handful.

What I did infer by listening to others around me, was that faaSamoa needed a lot of money. People were always looking to earn or borrow money to put towards cultural needs. I knew that funerals were some of the most expensive cultural events, and the grief of the passing of a loved one was often eclipsed by the magnitude of the financial requirements to ensure their funeral was of a culturally acceptable standard.

Why do I consider this knowledge nothing? I guess it's because I consider this to be the observations of an outsider. As with all information, there is much context that is lost in translation. It is easy to label a tradition to be only-for-show, or greedy, or beautiful, or anything else really, when I have not heard the words and the heart behind the people doing these seen, and I have not seen their actions and attitudes outside of what is published or posted.

The journey

When we returned to Samoa in 2019, I was still very much a non-participant of faaSamoa, except for the donations now and then through the parents. But I realised something. Samoans are communal people (for better or worse lol). Our family names tell a story of our lineage, which involves people outside our immediate family. The honour and esteem that may have been earned by our forebears, flow to through us. 

I could not have chosen a worse time to start learning about faaSamoa, with my parents and all their siblings residing overseas. Basically, the game plan is now to take part in extended family events, as my sisters and I are summoned. As a complete newbie, all I can do now is listen and learn. Any financial commitments that arise from these events, I will participate in mindfully. 

Why I am doing this? I have no dreams of cultural grandeur. Essentially my only hope is to increase my understanding about our people and why we do what we do, by watching and listening. Not just learning the words as with text, but gleaning so much more through tone, posture, looks, and engaging all the senses, kind of like our ancestors would have learned. Funny that.

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