Oceania Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Samoa=== [[File:Fale on Manono Island.jpg|thumb|A [[Architecture of Samoa|fale]] on [[Manono Island]]]] {{Main|Culture of Samoa|Polynesian culture}} The [[fa'a Samoa]], or traditional Samoan way, remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics. Despite centuries of European influence, Samoa maintains its historical customs, social and political systems, and [[Samoan language|language]]. Cultural customs such as the [[Samoa 'ava ceremony]] are significant and solemn rituals at important occasions including the bestowal of ''[[fa'amatai|matai]]'' chiefly titles. Items of great cultural value include the finely woven ''[['ie toga]]''. The Samoan word for dance is ''[[siva Samoa|siva]]'', which consists of unique gentle movements of the body in time to music and which tell a story. Samoan male dances can be more snappy.<ref name="dancesiva" /> The ''[[sasa (dance)|sasa]]'' is also a traditional dance where rows of dancers perform rapid [[synchronization|synchronised]] movements in time to the rhythm of wooden drums ''([[pate (musical instrument)|pate]])'' or rolled mats. Another dance performed by males is called the ''[[fa'ataupati]]'' or the slap dance, creating rhythmic sounds by slapping different parts of the body. As with other Polynesian cultures ([[Hawaiian culture|Hawaiian]], [[Tahitians|Tahitian]] and [[Māori culture|Māori]]) with significant and unique tattoos, Samoans have two gender specific and culturally significant tattoos.<ref name="wwpride" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page