Most Samoan’s attend church on Sunday which is then followed by the Sunday meal called the to’ona’i. Since this is our first Sunday in Samoa Jackie, our academic director picked us up and took us to her church and house. She happens to be Catholic, which was nice for me. Her church also happens to house the only home for the aged in Samoa which is run by an order of nuns by I don’t remember which order at this moment. Interestingly enough they do still wear the habits. When we were in Hawaii someone had told me that they still did services in Latin so I was really excited about that but he was mistaken and they are actually done in Samoan. When I was in France one of the nicest things was that I could go to Mass and it was exactly the same. It was truly universal. Even if I understood nothing else the Mass was the same. Not so when each country prays in their own language. Especially in a day and age were globalization is the theme, how sad is it that the prayers of the Mass are no longer understandable by all travelers. On the other hand however the choir was beautiful. Everyone sings and everyone sings in harmony. No books. People just know their parts. I don’t think churches could have walls because the sound could not have been contained. It was really incredible.
To’ona’i was also an interesting experience. The matai, elderly, and visitors eat first. You eat an open fale, seated cross legged on the floor off of mats with your hands. It is not a culture were leaving food on your plate is seen as food. Anything that guests do not eat is eaten by those who prepared the meal. Oh and get this. The men serve the food. They cook, they serve, they clean. No wonder so many American girls like Samoan men. I mean seriously! I could get used to this. Women traditionally were important because they were the ones who created wealth in the form of fine mats. They were also important because through marriage they would bring more wealth and honor to their family. But back to the meal. Let me just say- there was a lot of food: breadfruit, taro, palusami (which is coconut prepared in some very tasty way and wrapped in taro leaves), squid, tuna, salad, potato salad, squash, some other meat, some kind of noodles, and something else that was soupy and good but I don’t remember what it was. Oh and after that came dessert- pudding cake, ice cream, and cocoa Samoa. It was literally a feast. The men get up at 6am to prepare the umu which is the big oven made of stones where most of the food is cooked. It was an experience. Supposedly we’ll be learning how to prepare an umu when we do our village stays so I’m really looking forward to that.
