What is your favourite loved up pet name for your significant other? It is babe? Baby? Bae? Honey? Hun? Sweetheart? Sweetie? Darling?...
7 Reasons you should watch ‘Return to Paradise’
Want to see real Samoans on screen but from 70 years ago? How about... wanna hear the Samoan language spoken beautifully (mostly) on a...
More from Lilieni
Secrets of the Samoan-style pineapple custard pie
The Short Story Variations of pineapple pie abound in the Pacific but I had never been a real fan of them until one fateful evening function at my Uncle's church, when I was either extra hungry or extra-trying to be polite, because I tasted a pineapple pie that changed my life!...
How to Greet a Samoan Matai (Chief)
The heartbeat of Samoan culture is love and respect, or fa'aaloalo. How we greet people is a very public demonstration of this respect. Like a lot of languages, we have informal greetings for our peers and friends and then formal greetings for people we don't know as well, or...
Why you shouldn’t become a Samoan matai (and also why you should)
While a Samoan matai does not wield the kind of supreme authority you might expect of royalty in other cultures, our fa'amatai - our system of government, our network of chiefs - is still fundamental to the Samoan way of life. For this reason, the bestowing of a matai title...
![Matai – How to become a Samoan Chief [Part 2]](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_1080,h_675/https://anavatau.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/MA_I164488_TePapa_A-Samoan-High-Chief_resized-924x675.webp)
Matai – How to become a Samoan Chief [Part 2]
In the first article of this series, we looked at what it means to be a matai and how you could begin the process of becoming a Samoan chief. So now, let’s say your family has finished deliberating and you are the chosen one… then let’s say you did some soul-searching and...
![Matai – How to Become a Samoan Chief [Part 1]](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_1080,h_675/https://anavatau.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/independence1.webp)
Matai – How to Become a Samoan Chief [Part 1]
How does one become a matai, or Samoan chief? The process is a fascinating mix of inheritance and election. You have to be an heir to a title - but all Samoans are heirs to at least one matai title - and then your family has to elect you to the role. That's generally how it...
Lilieni