Thousands of people filled the Polynesian Cultural Center and tuned in on social media as several hundred high school students came together in “fealofani” [friendship] to demonstrate their knowledge of Samoan culture on May 11 during the 27th Annual High School Samoan Cultural Arts Festival.
According to the PCC, “The clubs represented Kahuku High School, Waianae High School, Admiral Arthur W. Radford High School and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Polynesian Club; which comprised Iolani School, Sacred Hearts Academy High School and Punahou School.
“Hosted by the [PCC] as part of the We Are Samoa Festival, this annual celebration perpetuates the traditions of the Samoan culture among the high school students of today. Cultural experts observing the festival provided the students with feedback and encouragement to help inspire them to continue embracing the Samoan culture.”
Delsa Moe, vice president of cultural presentations, shared, “The We Are Samoa Festival was established to perpetuate the values and traditions of Samoan culture through learning and performance, thereby increasing knowledge, harmony and respect for self and others. It is not a competition. This is a time when we uplift and encourage others as we learn and appreciate the values of the Samoan culture.”
The festival was comprised of three parts, beginning with a “Lauga” [speech] by an orator from each school, followed by a games section and ending with traditional dances.
Song and dance exhibition
“This year we are trying something different,” Moe explained. “In the past 26 years, the schools got to choose whatever they want to showcase. Last year we thought we would select a theme. All the schools agreed. The theme they selected for this year was legends.
“Each school selected their own legend they are going to portray through their songs and their dances. If you thought they were creative in the past, they are going to be even more creative as they portray these legends of Samoa.”
Radford High School was the first to perform their siva [dance], describing the legend of Pili. Their “taupo” [ceremonial chief], Angelina Augafa, a senior National Honor Society student from La Pietra School for Girls, thanked her parents and siblings and dedicated her performance to her family.
The “faaluma” [jester] for Radford, Kilifi Malapeai, a senior from Mililani High School, dedicated his performance to his brother Loa, “Who refuses to let autism define him. Loa is the epitome of a true ‘faaluma.’ He exudes joy and energy and dances his way through life with a love of music.”
According to Radford advisors, “Pili is the son of Samoa Loa. He had five sons who he assigned to districts to keep Samoan order. As time went on, power and pride started to corrupt their hearts, bringing sibling rivalry amongst the four brothers. The last brother was gifted in uniting his brothers and ending their differences with brotherly love for one another.”
Waianae represented the legend of Tui and Tui. According to their explanation, “Sina wanted the Gogosina, a beautiful bird, to be her husband. Her seven brothers, all named Tui, went out to look for a Gogosina for their sister Sina. After they were gone for a while, Sina called them back. Instead of seven Tuis coming back, a giant named Tui o le Tafue showed up and made Sina his wife.
“The brothers came back and the six older brothers were scared of the giant, but the youngest Tui tied up the giant to the posts of the fale [house] and freed his sister. The fale fell on the giant and killed him. This legend speaks of the feagaiga, or the sacred covenant between brothers and sisters. Brothers sacrifice and care for their sisters for life. It is that same love, respect, and sacrifice that is prevalent today in the Samoan culture that aiga [family] together throughout the generations.”
ILH Poly Club used their siva to explain the origin of the “tatau” [tattoo] with sister Taema and Tilafaiga, which, according to the National Park Service, “The tale proclaimed that the two sisters sang a song, which chanted that women are only to be tattooed, but as they neared the beach shores, the song mistakenly became reversed, indicating that only the men will be tattooed. At first no one was interested in their art and skills.
“It was difficult to convince anyone to give them a chance. But finally one of the Samoan chiefs decided to give these women the opportunity by offering himself to the whole ordeal of getting a tatau. Soon the art of tatau became a family tradition that spread throughout the culture.”
Kahuku High School, 70 members strong, spanned from grades 7-12. According to Steve Laulu, director of islands at PCC, Kahuku High School is the only school in We Are Samoa’s 27-year history to never miss a festival. The students used their performance to tell the story of Nafanua. Laulu shared, “According to their advisors and instructors, this legend has empowered their young girls to learn of the fierce warrior women of their history and how she was the only person in history to hold four prestigious titles in the history of Samoa.”
Games
Moe shared, “These games are actually daily chores for our youth in Samoa. These are things they do every single day as part of their responsibility to the family. Like any chore, they can do it begrudgingly, but we try to make games and make it fun so they feel excited about doing them. For many of these students, this is the first time they are attempting this.”
Kahuku High School dominated the games, winning four of the seven games and finishing in second place for the other three games.
The first game was coconut husking. According to Laulu, “The coconut has to be completely husked with no hair ... That is not easy work. That is a hard job. You want to eat? You want to make sure the food tastes good for your parents? You better make coconut milk.
For the men’s game, they were required to husk four coconuts. ILH Poly started strong and quickly husked all four coconuts. Kahuku finished second, followed shortly by Radford. With three coconuts to go, Waianae had to end when Radford finished husking their coconuts.
The women husked three coconuts. Kahuku pulled into first and maintained a lead, finishing well ahead of second place finisher ILH Poly. Waianae came in third, followed by Radford in fourth place
The men and women competed together for the next game, the basket weaving competition.
Laulu shared the importance of not only speed, but quality of the baskets. “The last part of basket weaving is very important. You have to weave it correctly. Otherwise, there are going to be big pukas [holes], and when you get things, they will fall out of the bottom of the basket, so why have a basket in the first place? It doesn’t matter if it is beautiful, or if the basket is woven all the way around, if the bottom has pukas you’re not going to be able to use the basket.”
He then commented on how the good quality of the baskets weaved by the students means, “Our kids are really learning how to do these things, whether their instructors or their advisors are helping them, or their parents.”
The woman from Kahuku came in first, well ahead of any other competitor, while dancing to the music playing in the background. The ILH Poly woman came in second, just before the Radford woman, followed by Waianae.
The man from Kahuku came first for the men. The man from ILH Poly came in second. Although the man from Radford finished his basket before the man from Waianae, the quality of the Waianae man’s basket pushed him into third place.
For the next game, competitors had to peel bananas. Laulu explained, “This is something all young people in Samoa need to know how to do. It’s not the most favorite thing to do because when you peel banana, there is a lot of sap from the banana peel, and it gets all over your hands.”
The Kahuku man came in first, followed by the Radford man, whose well peeled bananas pushed him from third to second. ILH came in third, followed by Waianae. For the women, ILH came in first and Kahuku came in second, followed by Radford and Waianae.
Competitors had to make a fire with a coconut husk for the last game. Waianae was the first school to produce smoke, followed quickly by Kahuku. Waianae pulled ahead and had successfully lit their pulu (coconut husk) on fire. While waiting for the other teams to light their husks, Waianae demonstrated fealofani (friendship) by joining Kahuku in cheering for their team.
Kahuku narrowly remained in the running by producing smoke in the last seconds of the competition and quickly lighting their coconut husk.
Following the school competition, Kap Tafiti brought laughs to the crowd, showing off his expertise in fire making by lighting his coconut husk while scrolling through social media.
Lunchtime performances
The first performance during the lunchtime intermission came from Le Fetuao, a Samoan language academy in Honolulu. According to Moe, “In addition to our high schools that participate each year, Le Fetuao Samoan Language Academy uses this as a platform to showcase what they have been working on. Le Fetuao Language Center started in 2008. It is a nonprofit institution located in Waipahu Elementary school where they hold Samoan language classes … There are 55 performers. They range from preschoolers to the high school level.”
Moe described, “Penina Ole Vasa was established in 2013. It was founded by Molly Faamai. Molly is an alumnus of Waipahu High School. She participated in We Are Samoa throughout her high school years. She has been dancing since the age of 10 and is passionate about Polynesian dancing. Penina Ole Vasa is from the cold state of Alaska, the only state with dancing skies, known as the Northern Lights. Penina Ole Vasa is a nonprofit, all female dance group with 17 members.”
Faamai shared how, “We are blessed to be a part of the We Are Samoa festival this year, and we are excited to represent our 49th state of Alaska.”
Lauga
During the lauga part of the festival, Moe said, “This is not a competition. It is an exhibition whereby we allow our students to learn and to showcase some of the difficult aspects of the Samoan culture. But we still evaluate them so they have some feedback on what they did well and what they can do to improve, so when they do become a talking chief for their family, they are better prepared.”
Of the young orators, Moe said, “I know Samoan is probably not their first language. To hear them come up and be able to deliver something so eloquent, and it’s not a short speech, and you can tell he understands what he is saying. I commend all their cultures, their parents who taught all our lauga representatives.”
Laulu said the importance of the lauga is not often performed by young people. He said, “The language of Samoa is very rich in the fact it has to do with a lot of respect, a lot of relationships with one another, your status among the community. Chiefs know where they stand among other chiefs. You have your place when you go to the meeting house. You don’t just go and sit down in front of a post. You have to sit in front of the post that is yours because if you don’t, that is not being respectful.”
Writer: Haeley van der Werf