More from Lilieni
How Samoans treat their elders

How Samoans treat their elders

In general, the Samoan attitude towards aging is pretty similar to other cultures. To us, old age is wisdom and accomplishment. It's a time to sit back and enjoy the spoils of life. But how do younger Samoans treat our elders? Samoan culture emphasizes alofa (love) and...

The Lord’s Prayer in Samoan (with video)

It's been a crazy several weeks on this side of the screen. I could write a very boring book about the 'technical issues' that took this entire site off the interwebs for over a month. (Summary: if you're going to run a website, find a webhost who loves you. Ours didn't. We had...

How do you like your… povi masima?

How do you like your… povi masima?

I grew up in Hawaii, and like a lot of us raised outside of Samoa, my siblings and I were exposed to a wide variety of culinary delights (which sadly included big macs and pop tarts) and we never fully developed a taste for Samoan food. I say 'never fully' because I am familiar...

Fa’alupega and the Samoan lauga

Fa’alupega and the Samoan lauga

Fa'alupega is often the first building block of a Samoan lauga (speech). When addressing a gathering of people, it is custom for the speaker to acknowledge all the other matai in the room, to greet each of them not just by title name, but with an acknowledgement of their...