Western Samoa - RUles of Etiquette - Project Idea

Inspiration ⁄ Category: scrapbooking

Cheers

Great journaling!

May 30, 2011

Hmmm, maybe I should not visit here, I talk with my hands a lot! LOL And it is not sign language!

February 24, 2011

That's nice that they give you the do's & don'ts.

January 15, 2011

January 11, 2011

I love the way you have typed and presented the journaling. Interesting. x

January 11, 2011

LOL! What a great idea to include dos and don'ts. I was going into withdrawal. Glad to see some LOs from you.

January 11, 2011

Western Samoa - RUles of Etiquette

To help avoid offending local customs, Princess Cruise lines gave everyone a list of rules of Samoan etiquette which honor the Fa'a Samoa (tradional way of Samoan life);

1. Do not use or take anything in a village without first requesting permission from a member of the village. Most of the beaches belong to various villages; some villages object to the use of their beach on Sundays and some villages object to its use on any day.

2. When speaking to a matai, do not call him by his first name. Always call him by his title, even if he is a good friend.

3. Do not address your host in their fales (homes) while standing. Sit down crossed-legged on a straw mat (if a chair is not available) and then proceed to talk. If you host stands up to say hello or good-bye, do the same. Do not stretch your legs out in front of you while sitting, as pointing your feet at someone is an insult. You may cover your feet and legs and then stretch them out.

4. Do not eat while standing inside a fale or walking through a village.

5. When offered a cup of kava, you should not drink the entire amount. Before drinking, tip a small amount onto the ground in front of you and say “Manula” (Good fortune). As the Kava Ceremony is a highly respected custom, you should never turn down a sip.

6. Should you find yourself surrounded by village children, smile politely and greet them with a friends “Talofa” (hello). They are naturally curious and the friendlier you are they more excited they get. If you find yourself annoyed by them, keep smiling and walk away.

7. Gesturing with your hands is considered bad taste, and swaying from side to side indicates anger or contempt.

8. If you notice a family in prayer, keep your voices down and walk past quietly.

As we were touring the island we noticed a lot of activity in the churches and village falas. Our guide told us that the all the activity and decorating, especially using a lot of flowers and wreaths, was in anticipation of White Sunday which was the next day. We knew about White Sunday because they were also preparing for it in American Samoa when we were there the day before. Tomorrow was White Sunday and it was going to be a big day on all the Samoan islands!

A the end of the day the driver/guide took us back to the port and since we had over an hour before we had to be back on the ship, we walked to a huge market. We looked for t-shirts and also noticed some really nice muumuus. When we asked prices they seemed much too expensive for us, priced about the same as the tent city muumuus and t-shirts at the dock. Then as we were leaving the market to go back to the ship we asked for the price for one last muumuu. The woman said, “fifty dollars – thirty American”. We asked her, “You said fifty and you said thirty. Which is it?” She said, “fifty tala or thirty dollar” then we realized that all these people had been saying tala (not dollar) – which is their currency and so we were being quoted good prices. We asked her if she made the muumuu and she told us she did not, but that her husband had made it. We told him he did beautiful work and we loved the muumuu. We purchased it from them, then walked back to the tent city at the port and bought the t-shirt for me that we liked after we realized it wasn't nearly expensive as we thought. “Tala”, said with a Polynesian accent does sound a lot like “dollar”!