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American Samoa Culture and traditions American Samoa

Area : 76  sq.mi - Population 57794 hab.
American Samoa

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Culture and traditions American Samoa

 Traditions and customs

Independent Samoa are steeped in tradition and their inhabitants are very respectful of duties and rules - the ones regulating their life as a community. Samoan culture is based on fa'amatai, a government system with a chief, or matai, at its head, ruling over the aigai, or family, in the broader sense of the term. Food and other goods are shared out according to everyone's needs, and each member of the aigai must obey the chief and respect a particular code of honour. The matai represents the family within the village council, in charge of arbitrating conflicts, and makes sure that taboos and religious interdicts are not infringed, particularly as far as the memory of the ancestors is concerned. Samoans are nonetheless devout Christians today, and Sunday mass is the main weekly event in villages. As far as singing and dancing is concerned, the fiafia, originally a sacred ceremony, has now become a folk's show for tourists. Finally, tattooing is current practise among Samoans whose body, as early as in teenage years, is sometimes covered in drawings, from head to toe.

 To read, see, listen

guide Samoa (Lonely Planet).
Novel
"Treasure Island" by Robert-Louis Stevenson.
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