Samoan wedding

You've seen the movie, right? Here is footage from the Samoan wedding we were invited to. What a party: loads of food, plenty of dancing and lots of people having a good time.


Everyone dances. The older women do a swaying sort of thing with hands and hips that looks very nice, and some are very enthusiastic about it.


Several traditional song and dance numbers were performed, some were very long and involved. It was impressive to see such a crowd do it all in unison, smiling and not miss a beat.


Sewing shops abound on Tutuila, and all the women's dresses are beautifully sewn handmade designs.


The groom and bride, performing an undoubtedly palagi (western) tradition. The blushing bride is Vai's wife's sister.


Gifts were paraded out in a long session, presented to various family members. Most people got a package of corned beef, box of crackers, sparkling cider and a woven mat with colored fringe.

Vai's tatooing

One evening I tagged along with Vai when he went to tattoo this guy, Richard. He has done a lot of work on himself as well as other people, and is an excellent artist.


This work is all freeform, no stencil is used.



The image drawn here is the traditional Samoan kava ('ava) bowl called tala. The arcs to the left are traditional patterns representing things like waves, fish, birds and woven mats.


Finished product, sorry the photo is fuzzy. It took two evenings, over 6 hours of work.

Umu food preparation

A lot of preparation goes into the umu. It is traditional on Sundays in Samoa for the family to have an umu. Men do most of the cooking, and women get the day off! So, the guys thought it was funny that I wanted to help.

Totally worth it, this is some of my favorite food in the whole world!


First, husking coconuts. Adam is using a sharpened stick, which has been pounded into the ground, to remove the husk.


Next, coconuts are grated on the foa'i (the name for the metal part that sticks out, the bench has another name that sounds like "kuai" but I did not write it down). The half shell is spun round on this piece of serrated metal and shredded coconut meat falls into the bowl below.


Milk is squeezed from the meat using a tuft of fiber called tauaga. Vai (right) can do this in about 30 seconds, and spent the rest of the time laughing at me (left).


Siaki is opening bananas with a sharpened stick. They are green, one of about five varieties available in Samoa. All the remaining membrane is carefully removed using the stick as a sort of paring knife.



Peeling breadfruit ('ulu). The fruit is balanced on a stick for paring. Siaki is patiently showing me how to use this tool he fashioned from the end of a pop can to scrape the skin. It goes back into the basket for maybe a half an hour until it turns brown, and then scraped again before cooking.


Vai making palusami, one of my most favorite Samoan foods. Coconut cream is combined with chopped onion and salt. 5-6 young taro leaves are piled in the hand, and a cup of this mixture is poured in. The leaves are wrapped around and twisted tightly. This package is wrapped in foil and carefully placed upright into the umu.


Almost ready for umu. Palusami is in the background, the scraped coconut shells will be filled with a coconut milk and canned mackerel mixture right on the oven, as shown below:



These last two photos are from a different event, but show more traditional food preparations. The oldest boy in the family tends the barbecue. In this case, the chicken he vigilantly bastes with a soy sauce and brown sugar mixture - very popular in Samoa.




Young drinking coconuts, called niu are a popular drink. Dora is opening one, typically the end is just whacked off and the water is sipped or one of the eyes is pushed in. They called it the Samoan 7-up, said it was good for stomach aches. It is very thirst quenching.

umu

Today is Saturday, and we've spent the better part of 2 days preparing for an umu. An umu is an oven built above ground. We pick buckets full of small rocks, and build a big, hot fire over them. This burns down, and gets cleaned off, and then food is piled on and covered with banana and giant taro leaves and left for 1 1/2 - 2 hours to cook. The food is out of this world, I am still full. I may be full for several days.

Here is a step-by-step of the umu. Next time, I'll show you all the food preparation!

All the materials for the fire.

Here is the pile, fire just lit. This burns all the way down before the food goes on.


The hot rocks. The timbers are removed and hosed down, and the rocks are spread out a bit. Left to right: Siaki, Vai and Adam.


Bananas and breadfruit go on first. (Siaki's hands)


Kicking it up a notch with a giant turkey and some chickens wrapped in foil.


Finally, banana and giant taro leaves go on top in alternating layers. and some cardboard thrown on top of all that for good measure. It cooks for an hour and a half or so.


It's done, and now for the unwrapping:


And, the food. These bananas are the best I've ever tasted. They are not sweet/ripe, they are more like potatoes.


Alright. Tomorrow, I will tell you about the food prep. Time to go make some leftovers.

Talofa, Samoa!

Hello, Samoa! After a long few weeks writing papers, I flew all night and arrived in Samoa on a beautiful, sunny Friday. Phil showed me around the island. It's warm with beautiful scenery, and not full of tourists. The site is called Fatumafuti. This name is comprised of two very small islets off the coast by the site. Here is Fatu:




and here is Futi:


At the site, Mary and Adam are already hard at work. Me, I have the day off =)


More tomorrow when I'm rested!