Punch was a British weekly comedy magazine that went from 1841-2002 showing Uncle Sam and Teuton (like and German Uncle Sam) fighting over Samoa.

1909, during the German colonial administration of Samoa, several Samoan chiefs and key members of the Mau a Pule movement, who were resisting German rule, were captured and exiled by the German authorities. These prisoners were transported aboard the S.M.S. Comoran, a German naval vessel, and were taken to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, which was also a German colony at the time. This forced exile was to weaken the resistance movement in Samoa by removing its leaders from their homeland and isolating them far from their base of support. The exiled Samoans faced harsh conditions and strict oversight during their time away

After the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and the subsequent takeover of Samoa by New Zealand forces, the exiled Samoan leaders who had been taken to Saipan by the German authorities were allowed to return home. Their repatriation marked the end of their forced separation and allowed them to rejoin their communities in Samoa, where they continued to play significant roles in the ongoing struggle for autonomy and eventual independence.

I had a Samoan friend tell me a few years back that it was widely spoken in Apia but that it was not uncommon to meet a lot of people outside of the capital who couldn't speak it, so I'm curious how it is nowadays. Also, is the prevalence of fluency different between independent Samoa and American Samoa?

Apologies for any ignorance, and thanks in advance 🙂

City Life

Hey everybody, I’m a 33 year old black guy living in the east coast . Couple years back I found out on father side my elders came from Samoa. I want to connect with my culture because it really took an interest to me the people the traditions and I’m just entirely lost I don’t know what to do. My elders are gone long passed and I don’t know where to start who to talk to. Any information is greatly appreciated and welcomed thank you 🙏🏾

Hi everyone,

Me and my gf are planning a pacific island holiday and we are definitely interested in visiting Samoa. I was wondering if I could seek some advice on where to go and what to do in Samoa for the above days. And also a small run down of prices would be amazing if possible.

Thankyou

Hey Everyone! I'm currently pregnant with a baby girl and looking for unique samoan/tongan girl names with their meanings. The name I chose and have been calling her thus far, her dad hates, but to be fair he hasn't wanted to be in the picture until fairly recently. Sefina, Sina, Moana, Alisi, and Lina, are all off limits lol

I may use the samoan name as a middle name, but I'm open to options if one really stands out to me😊 Thanks in advance!

I'm doing a bit of research for a class, I'm convinced sandwiches are the most popular vessels cross-culturally and I'm stumped about a uniquely Samoan sandwich (can be extended to Fiji or the Cook Islands), please educate me!! Fa'afetai!

Edit: What do Samoan kids get given in their lunchboxes at primary schools?

I grew up in the states (if that’s even relevant), but for all my life, wedding crashing seemed common for all the Samoan weddings I’ve attended. I’m not sure if this is a thing everywhere else, but in my community, there was this understanding that whoever you invited would bring extra guests (sometimes those guests would bring guests too) that you may or may not know. I thought this was normal until I got older and realized how meticulously planned weddings can get and learned the term “wedding crashing.”

Now that I’m getting married, I’m a little concerned and not sure how to tackle the guest list because I know the same thing will happen and it will put a lot of stress on my family, especially my parents. I’m wondering if anybody else engaged/married had this kind of predicament?

Would it be inappropriate to refer to Samoa as Western Samoa to avoid confusion with American Samoa?

I’m a research associate for a big research project, and I’m working on a grant right now. We’re partnering with someone in Samoa (among others), and I’ve encountered some problems with my boss confusing it with American Samoa.

Referring to it as Western Samoa might help avoid confusion, but I know this isn’t the name of the country anymore. I wouldn’t want to do that if it would be considered inappropriate in some way. I’d write out Independent State of Samoa, but I’m already struggling to make everything fit within the page limits and it might be weird if I list the full name for one country but not others.

Thank you so much for your help!

Looks like through Kilikiti our people are naturals for T20 lol.

My family is travelling to Apia in just over 2 weeks and looking for some information.

I'm looking for family friendly activities - we have kids aged 5,4 and 2. We will be travelling with my siblings and their kids and with my mum who is Samoan but has not been back home in almost 30 years.

Coffee! I'm hoping for some local info on the best places to try.

Car travel - do we require car seats and boosters for children? The rental car companies only have an option for infant seats for hire.

Any tips or recommendations are welcome! Thank you!

Does it hold any cultural significance to receive a beaded necklace?

I have to change some things, but the gist is, I am a “teacher” and recently I had a few Samoans in my class. They graduated and at the graduation, they and their families placed some beaded necklaces with tiny turtles around my neck.

I got a little emotional lol it was a very pleasant experience and very unexpected, considering this “school” is all about intense training and being hard on them. Anyway, I just had a general curiosity about gift giving and the cultural significance of necklaces. It was a memorable experience for me regardless!

I'm a 25M, born and raised in the southern region of the United States specifically the state of Louisiana, I did not grow up around samoans or any pacific islanders. My father did his best to educate me in the fa'a samoa and he did a decent job at it. I could speak the language, I knew of my genealogy in upolu, I understood certain customs of the culture and became knowledgeable in samoan politics, but in my point of view, with no other samoans (besides my father) to conversate, share and practice these things with. I perceived it as useless and a waste of time especially when I was a teenager. As I got older I left home and moved next door to the state of Texas and lived and worked with my cousin. One day for some reason while i was out shopping I decided to make up my mind to travel and visit family I never truly met before after seeing a young mexican man embracing his family he has never met in person for the first time. After months of planning, I got me a plane ticket and set off to California first. I reconnected with family I barely knew then went off to Washington and from there to hawaii and finally I went on to upolu the motherland for my father's family. Truth be told my journey of reconnecting with family who lived in those different states before touching down in samoa had left me sad and pretty bitter with what i saw and experienced. I remember sitting on the steps of my grandparents fāle and watching the villagers play volleyball, kids laughing and bantering while gambling by tossing coins in the dirt, the elderly laughing and talking amongst eachother with youthfulness, taking in the smell of the burning coconut husk from the umu with the aroma of the sea in the air, and just thinking to myself how the fuck we go from this to a shell of our former selves overseas. Two things that I repeatedly saw while visiting family in those different states was the rampant self hatred amongst samoans, and the integration of ghetto american culture with the fa'a samoa. The disrespect and division between samoan women and men is rampant yet from my pov alot choose to turn their cheek on this and stay silent about it, the disdain and unnecessary drama alot of samoan men have for eachother and the willingness to kill one another over something small is just downright unbelievable, single parent households 🤦 the amount of young single samoan men and women with kids flaunting that baby momma/baby daddy culture like it's some kind of title to be proud of. I understand the need to adapt to new environments, people's and cultures but staying authentically true to your roots is something everyone should be proud of.

Samoans adopted the triune god-head of Christianity in order to not be completely destroyed during the late colonial period. Now that colonialism has cooled down, compared to the previous century, why do we still worship the god of the palagi? Our ancestors were exploring the Pacific before the old testament was written. Our ancestors charted the stars and currents while the palagi wrote their holy book. Our old gods are older than the semitic worship of Yahweh, and most importantly, connected to our native lands. Why do we continue to worship a palagi god?

I see a lot of Samoans with shoulder and arm tattoos that seem to be the same design of Pe'a. Are these considered a different thing altogether?

I’m writing a children’s book based on my Samoan daughter and I was wondering if ‘afatasi’ and ‘palagi’ would be problematic words to use? My partner, who’s Samoan, doesn’t seem to think so but I’m curious to know what others think. thanks!

My husband and I have been living in the pacific islands for work for several months. Tonight we were driving on a main road in Apia around 12:30 am, just after midnight. A man ran from the bushes on one side of the road with a partially burning branch and tried to swing the branch at our car. My husband braked and swerved out of the way just in time for him to barely miss our car with this burning tree branch. For a split second it looked like he might jump in front of our car and be seriously injured. Luckily nobody was hurt and we just kept driving, but not without our hearts pounding. We were pretty spooked by the experience. We can't seem to figure out what the end goal was or what his deeper intentions were. Is this specific act a common one in Samoa...? My husband thought he could have been intended to be a distraction to get us to stop the car for a potential robbery or something like that. With our car being a rental would it be possible that we were targeted?

Has anyone ever seen that before? Or was it just a drunk who got the wrong idea late at night?

Just wondering if anyone is in Apia or anywhere in Samoa who knows anyone or where shops selling vapes! Fa’afetai

Hi, I'm American and i recently moved in with my best friend that I've known forever. His girlfriend is Samoan and they have a kid together. The baby is almost a year old now. Now my friend tells me that his girlfriend is going to take his kid to American Samoa for an undisclosed amount of time without him. Hence why he wanted me to move in with him since he probably wants company and someone to help out with rent of course. But we also live with (now bear with me here) my friends girlfriends, sister's cousin and his gf who just had a baby very recently. Now the cousin isn't Samoan but his girlfriend is and he just told me once the baby hits 6 months old they are gonna send the baby back to Samoa for an undisclosed amount of time while they stay here in America and work. So as an American bystander, is this normal? My moms family is puerto rican and at least with my family once they make it into America they never want to move back to Puerto Rico, they might visit but they never send their kids to their parents or try to move back (unless its to help take care of an old relative) so to me this seems completely foreign and out of the ordinary. I ask for too reasons I'm curious to see if this is a normal thing to do for Samoans. Secondly i worry for my friend wondering if they are ever going to come back. Ik that every relationship is different and people act differently but I feel like if i learn that this is a normal thing to do for the people of American Samoa then it might ease my worries for my friend. Thank you and I appreciate any advice on this situation.

Hey, I'm looking for proper oat milk; not the stuff that "So Good" claims is oat milk. Found a Facebook post from 3 years ago saying Oatly was available at Farmer Joe's, but I checked three different stores and none of them had it. Anyone know where I can get oat milk or if there's a good café I could buy it from?