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2 unusual facts about Sāmoan


Isaia Tuifua

Isaia Tuifua (born 24 August 1987 in Samoa) is a Samoan rugby union player.

Samoan

Something of, from, or related to Samoa, a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands


2012–13 South Pacific cyclone season

The US Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa David Huebner confirmed the United States had provided NZ$ 60,000 to the Samoan Red Cross for relief operations.

Afoa

Afoa Moega Lutu (born 1947), American Samoan politician and lawyer

Alessandro Duranti

His dissertation at the University of Southern California provided a detailed ethnographic account of the role of traditional Samoan speechmaking in conflict management during the meetings of the village council (fono), which he analyzed following Dell Hymes' model of speech events.

Aunese Curreen

Aunese Curreen (born December 23, 1981 in Motootua) is a Samoan middle distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres.

Avatele

The village was first Christianized in early 1854 when a resident, Muatoga, asked Paulo, the Samoan missionary residing in Mutalau, to bring the gospel to his village in the far-south and Paulo agreed.

Benjamin Franklin Tilley

In one case, a native had caught and eaten a skipjack, a sacred fish which, under Samoan law, could only be eaten with the permission of a local chief.

Churchward

Joseph Churchward (1933 -), Samoan New Zealander graphic designer and typesetter

Emelihter Kihleng

Sāmoan writer Sia Figiel described her poetry as "disturbing and haunting, illuminating and tender", "woven from the violent threads of postcolonialism, laced with patches of Island humour", "a powerful addition to Pacific Literature".

Fa'afafine

Samoan writer Sia Figiel's novel Where We Once Belonged includes a fa'afafine character named Sugar Shirley, known for her exploits on the rugby field.

Fa'asamoa

The fa'asamoa consists of the Samoan language, and customs of relationships and culture, that is a traditional and continuing Polynesian lifestyle of the Pacific Islands and diaspora.

Fagogo

Samoan fagogo has also influenced the writings of contemporary Samoan writers like Sia Figiel.

History of American Samoa

After the war, Organic Act 4500, a U.S. Department of Interior-sponsored attempt to incorporate American Samoa, was defeated in Congress, primarily through the efforts of American Samoan chiefs, led by Tuiasosopo Mariota.

Lofa Tatupu

Tatupu is of Samoan descent; he is the son of the late former USC Trojan and New England Patriots fullback Mosi Tatupu.

Lorenzo Lyons

Samoan writer John Kneubuhl wrote a play based on his life titled "The Harp in the Willows" in 1946.

Malietoa Laupepa

King Laupepa protested the increasing German interference in Samoan politics and the Samoan government by petitioning Queen Victoria of Great Britain for protection in 1883 and again (twice) in November 1884.

Malietoa Talavou Tonumaipe’a

Talavou was a keen student and statesman who was highly respected by resident Europeans on account of his dignified and friendly demeanor, not to mention his impressive command of both the English and Samoan languages.

Malietoa Tanumafili

Malietoa Tanumafili II (1913–2007), Samoan leader who succeeded his father

Malietoa Tanumafili I

The joint commission of Germany, the United States and Great Britain abolished the Samoan kingship in June 1899 and placed Manu'a and Tutuila under American control while Germany received ‘Upolu, Savaii, Manono, and Apolima.

Mau movement

A Samoan hip hop group that was founded in 1990 by Kosmo, MC Kha Tha Feelstyle Orator and DJ Rockit V. The Mau was named for the Mau movement.

Melvin Ember

His assessment of Samoan kinship was subsequently challenged by Derek Freeman, long before the now-famous Mead–Freeman controversy about Samoa.

Music of Samoa

The Katinas, who moved to the United States at one point, is another popular Samoan band.

Papilio godeffroyi

The species, named to honour Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy, is illustrated on a Samoan postage stamp issued on 14 December 2001.

Peter Maivia

Maivia's grandson Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson revealed that they were done with traditional Samoan instrumentation: a small hammer, a needle, and ink.

Pua Magasiva

Pua Magasiva (born August 10, 1980) is a Samoan-New Zealand actor, who is perhaps best known for his roles as Shane Clarke, the Red Ranger from Power Rangers: Ninja Storm, and Nurse Vinnie Kruse in New Zealand soap Shortland Street.

Rough Opinion

Rough Opinion, formerly known as The Mau, is a Samoan Hip hop group comprising MC’s Kosmo, “Khas the Fieldstyle Orator,” (now known as Tha Feelstyle) and DJ Rockit V. Created in 1990, in Wellington, New Zealand, the group first named themselves The Mau, as they took their name from the Samoan organization that agitated the country’s independence under both German and New Zealand colonial governments.

Rudolph Berking-Williams

He is of German and Samoan descent and currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Safune

Flaherty exposed about 240,000 feet of negative on the Safune family, a large amount of footage developed and printed by hand in a cave with two Samoan boys who had no prior film training.

The pe'a tattoo (the Samoan word pe'a is also the word for a flying fox or fruit bat) took six weeks to complete and the master tattooist (Tufuga ta tatau) was from Asau.

Samoa at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Nauruan weightlifter and future president Marcus Stephen obtained Samoan citizenship and competed for Samoa at the 1992 Olympics.

Samoa flying fox

The Samoan word for the flying fox fruit bat, pe'a, is also the name of the traditional Samoan male tattoo.

Samoan Woodhen

The Samoan Woodhen (Gallinula pacifica), also known as Samoan Wood Rail, is a nearly flightless rail endemic to the Samoan island of Savai'i, and probably extinct.

Serafina Akeli

Patsy Serafina Akeli (born December 7, 1978 in Motootua) is a Samoan javelin thrower.

Sili, Samoa

The hydro project had received backing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which had been assisting the Samoan government and its Electric Power Corporation (EPC) to make high priority investment in renewable energy project.

So'oialo

Steven So'oialo (born 11 May 1977), Samoan rugby union footballer, brother of James and Rodney

James So'oialo (born 2 March 1989), Samoan rugby union footballer, brother of Rodney and Steven

Sport in Samoa

Several boxers and kickboxers are of Samoan descent, including former heavyweight contender David Tua, former middleweight champion Maselino Masoe, K-1 World Champion Mark Hunt as well as K-1 Super Heavyweight contenders Ray Sefo, Jason Suttie and also Jimmy Thunder.

Talofa

Another Samoan salutation To life, live long! properly translated Ia ola! also echoes in places such as Aotearoa (New Zealand), where the formal greeting in Māori is Kia ora and in Tahiti (French Polynesia) where it is 'Ia orana.

Tanu

Malietoa Tanumafili I, a Samoan prince who was allied with American and British forces during the Second Samoan Civil War

The Hungarian Barbarian

Born in Hungary and raised in Pennsylvania, after graduating from Delaware Valley High School in 1988, Zoltan Big started attending the Wild Samoan Training Academy where he was trained by WWE Hall of Fame member Afa Anoa'i.

The Orator

The West Australian wrote: "The Orator is a fascinating journey into Samoan life, but the slow pace of this way of life does make for a slow-paced film. There are lots of scenes where Saili is shown deep in thought, or his wife Vaaiga is sitting weaving the mats that are a major cultural occupation. The Orator does have its dramatic highpoints and the verbal-jousting conclusion is well staged by the cast of Samoans, who were drawn from the villages on Upolu".

Third National Government of New Zealand

Falema‘i Lesa, a Samoan born in Samoa prior to independence, wanted to claim New Zealand citizenship under the Citizenship Act 1977.

Tuanaitau F. Tuia

Dignitaries in attendance included Governor Togiola Tulafono, House Speaker Savali Talavou Ale, Senate President Gaoteote Tofau Palaie, Chief Justice Michael Kruse, as well as traditional American Samoan leaders.

Tusitala

Tusitala was the name used by the Samoan people for Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived the last four years of his life in Samoa and is buried on Mount Vaea.

Uafato

The forests surrounding the village contains one of the largest remaining stands of a native hardwood tree ifilele (Intsia bijuga) with many uses in Samoan culture including housebuilding and carving.

Fauna includes two varieties of bat and 22 bird species including the endangered Tooth-billed Pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris), also known as Samoan Pigeon which are confined to undisturbed forests.

Vernon Huber

He also helped add to American Samoan self-government, and was the first governor to serve alongside a Samoan legislature, the American Samoa Fono.

Victor Rodger

Other plays include Ranterstantrum (2002) and My Name is Gary Cooper (2007), produced and staged by Auckland Theatre Company and starred a Samoan cast including Robbie Magasiva, Anapela Polataivao, Goretti Chadwick and Kiwi actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand.


see also