About Us
Anava is the name given to ancient Samoan weapons that are kept by families as heirlooms. Today, the phrase, anava tau (literally: weapon of war) means purpose or agenda – it’s the driving force behind a campaign or a movement.
The driving purpose of Anava Tau is to help Samoans (and friends) keep our culture in our line of sight every day.
Nothing can substitute learning our traditions, but wearing our language and humour on our apparel, displaying our wisdom in print, and allowing our art to inspire our home decor can help us to remember, every day, who we are.
Anava Tau is the official merch store for the Anava Samoana Project, a network of websites that teach the Samoan language, celebrate Samoa’s cultural heritage and just loves to love the poetry in our Samoan Lyrics.
Behind the scenes is one Hamo Geek Girl, a.k.a. Lillian (Lils, Lilieni, *me*) with the support of her family, especially her generous, patient, long-suffering professional Samoan-English translator mother.
Make sure to check out the other websites in the Anava Samoana Project:
Every purchase you make here helps us continue to research and share what we learn about the Samoan language and culture.
If you have an idea for a T-shirt or design, please let me know!
Thank you for supporting our love for Samoana.