festivites
Here are some of the major festivities and holidays celebrated in Samoa:
1. Independence Day (June 1st): Celebrated annually to mark Samoa's independence from New Zealand on June 1st, 1962. The day includes a flag-raising ceremony, speeches from political leaders, traditional dances, and feasting.
2. White Sunday (2nd Sunday of October): A cultural event where children dress up in white clothing and attend church services. After the service, families gather for a feast and gift-giving. It is an important day for Samoan families as it celebrates the importance of children in their communities.
3. Samoan Teuila Festival (Last week of September): A week-long festival showcasing the arts, culture, and traditions of Samoa. It includes traditional dance performances, handicraft displays, sporting events, and a parade. The festival is held in the capital city of Apia and attracts visitors from all over the world.
4. Christmas (December 25th): Celebrated with family gatherings, feasting, and gift-giving. Samoan families often prepare traditional food such as palusami (taro leaves wrapped around coconut cream and baked), roast pork, and fruitcake.
5. New Year's Day (January 1st): Celebrated with church services, family gatherings, and fireworks displays. It is also a time for reflection and setting new goals for the coming year.
Overall, these celebrations are an important part of Samoan culture and provide an opportunity for families to come together and celebrate their heritage.
seasons
Samoa has two main tourist seasons:
1. High season: from May to October, which coincides with the dry season and offers cooler temperatures. This period is great for water activities like swimming, snorkeling, and surfing. It's also a popular time for cultural events.
2. Low season: from November to April, which coincides with the wet season and higher humidity. It is less crowded, and the prices are lower, making it an ideal time for budget travelers who don't mind occasional rain showers. However, some attractions and activities may be closed due to weather conditions.
It's recommended to book in advance during the high season as accommodations, tours, and transportation can be limited due to high demand. In contrast, visitors can take advantage of low-season discounts and enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere. Regardless of the season, visitors should always pack sunscreen, insect repellent, and appropriate clothing for both beach and cultural activities.
visa
Citizens of most countries can stay in Samoa for up to 60 days on a visitor's permit, which can be obtained upon arrival at Faleolo International Airport or Matautu Wharf. However, there are a few special visa rules for certain countries:
1. China - Chinese passport holders require a visa to enter Samoa and must apply through the Samoa Embassy in Beijing or consulate in Hong Kong. The cost for a single-entry visa is approximately USD $150.
2. India - Indian passport holders require a visa to enter Samoa and must apply through the Samoa High Commission in New Delhi. The cost for a single-entry visa is approximately USD $100.
3. Pakistan - Pakistani passport holders require a visa to enter Samoa and must apply through the Samoa High Commission in New Delhi. The cost for a single-entry visa is approximately USD $100.
It's important to note that visa fees may vary depending on the type of visa and duration of stay, and it's recommended to check with the nearest Samoan embassy or consulate for the most up-to-date information on visa requirements and fees.
souvenirs
Some of the best souvenirs to buy from Samoa include:
1. Handmade crafts such as woven baskets, mats, and hats - Average price: $10-$50 USD; Where to buy: Local markets and handicraft stores.
2. Traditional Tapa cloth made from bark of the mulberry tree - Average price: $20-$100 USD; Where to buy: Local markets and handicraft stores.
3. Carved wooden items such as bowls, masks, and figurines - Average price: $10-$100 USD; Where to buy: Local markets and handicraft stores.
4. Samoan coconut oil - Average price: $5-$20 USD; Where to buy: Local markets, grocery stores, and gift shops.
5. Handmade jewelry made from shells, pearls, and other local materials - Average price: $10-$50 USD; Where to buy: Local markets and gift shops.
It's important to note that prices may vary depending on the quality and size of the item, as well as the vendor selling it.
If you have 1 week
Samoa is a beautiful country with lots of natural attractions to explore. Here is a one week itinerary that will give you a taste of what this country has to offer.
Day 1: Start your trip by visiting the To-Sua Ocean Trench, located in Lotofaga village. This unique natural wonder is a giant swimming hole surrounded by lush tropical gardens and cliffs. You can swim in the clear blue water or just relax and take in the stunning scenery.
Day 2: Take a day trip to the nearby island of Savai'i, which is known for its pristine beaches and volcanic landscapes. Visit the Alofaaga Blowholes, where waves shoot up through holes in the rock formations, creating a spectacular sight.
Day 3: Explore Samoa's capital city, Apia. Visit the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, which was the home of the famous author during his time in Samoa. You can also visit the local market, where you can find souvenirs and sample some delicious Samoan cuisine.
Day 4: Take a hike through the lush rainforest on Upolu Island to reach the beautiful Papapapaitai Falls. The waterfall cascades into a pool that is perfect for swimming and cooling off after the hike.
Day 5: Visit Manono Island, which is located just off the coast of Upolu. This tiny island is home to friendly locals and has a relaxed atmosphere. You can take a walk around the island, go snorkeling in the crystal-clear water, or just relax on the beach.
Day 6: Visit the Piula Cave Pool, which is located near the village of Lufilufi. The pool is fed by an underground spring and is surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites. It's a great place to cool off and explore the natural beauty of Samoa.
Day 7: End your trip with a visit to the beautiful Lalomanu Beach. The beach is known for its white sand, turquoise water, and palm trees. It's the perfect place to relax and soak up the sun before returning home.
Overall, this itinerary will allow you to experience the best of Samoa's natural beauty, culture, and history in just one week. Enjoy your trip!
If you have 2 weeks
Samoa is a beautiful island country located in the South Pacific. If you have two weeks to explore, here's an itinerary that will allow you to experience some of the best that Samoa has to offer:
Day 1-3: Start your trip in the capital city of Apia. Visit the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum and learn about the famous author's time in Samoa. Take a drive to Togitogiga Falls for a refreshing swim under the waterfall. Don't miss the opportunity to check out the colorful markets in Apia, selling everything from fresh produce to handicrafts.
Day 4-6: Head to the stunning Lalomanu Beach, known for its crystal-clear waters and white sand beaches. Stay in one of the beachfront fales (traditional Samoan huts) and enjoy some of the freshest seafood you'll ever taste. Take a day trip to the nearby To Sua Ocean Trench, where you can swim in a deep natural swimming hole surrounded by lush tropical foliage.
Day 7-9: Explore the island of Savai'i, Samoa's largest island. Visit the Afu Aau Waterfall and swim in the cool, refreshing pool below. Check out the Saleaula Lava Fields, a stark and surreal landscape that was created by an eruption in the early 1900s. Take a guided tour of the Puapua'a o Alofaaga Blowholes, where seawater shoots up into the air through natural fissures in the rocks.
Day 10-12: Return to Upolu Island and visit the Papase'ea Sliding Rocks, a popular spot for locals where you can slide down natural rock formations into cool pools of water. Continue on to the Piula Cave Pool, a hidden freshwater cave system that's great for swimming and exploring. End your day kayaking or snorkeling around the reefs of Palolo Deep Marine Reserve.
Day 13-14: Finish your trip with a cultural tour of Samoa. Visit the Samoa Cultural Village and learn about traditional Samoan culture, including dance, music, and handicrafts. Take part in a "umu" (traditional Samoan feast) and try some of the local delicacies. Wrap up your trip by watching a "fa'ataupati" (traditional slap dance) performance, accompanied by the rhythms of the "pate" (wooden drum).
This itinerary will allow you to experience the natural beauty and unique culture of Samoa. You'll get to explore hidden waterfalls, swim in crystal-clear pools, and relax on white sand beaches. And by immersing yourself in Samoan culture, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for this beautiful country and its people.
Culture
The fa'a Samoa, or traditional Samoan way, remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics. As one of the oldest Polynesian cultures, the fa'a Samoa developed over a period of 3,000 years, withstanding centuries of European influence to maintain its historical customs, social and political systems, and language. Cultural customs such as the Samoa 'ava ceremony are significant and solemn rituals at important occasions including the bestowal of matai chiefly titles. Items of great cultural value include the finely woven 'ie toga.
Samoan mythology includes many gods with creation stories and figures of legend such as Tagaloa and the goddess of war Nafanua, the daughter of Saveasi'uleo, ruler of the spirit realm Pulotu. Other legends include the well known story of Sina and the Eel which explains the origins of the first coconut tree.
Some Samoans are spiritual and religious, and have subtly adapted the dominant religion of Christianity to 'fit in' with fa'a Samoa and vice versa. Ancient beliefs continue to co-exist side by side with Christianity, particularly in regard to the traditional customs and rituals of fa'a Samoa. The Samoan culture is centred on the principle of vāfealoa'i, the relationships between people. These relationships are based on respect, or fa'aaloalo. When Christianity was introduced in Samoa, most Samoan people converted. Currently 98% of the population identify themselves as Christian.
Some Samoans live a communal way of life, participating in activities collectively. Examples of this are the traditional Samoan fale (houses) which are open with no walls, using blinds made of coconut palm fronds during the night or bad weather.
The Samoan siva dance has unique gentle movements of the body in time to music and tells a story, although the Samoan male dances can be more snappy. The sasa is also a traditional dance where rows of dancers perform rapid synchronised movements in time to the rhythm of wooden drums (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. This is believed to have been derived from slapping insects on the body.
The form and construction of traditional architecture of Samoa was a specialised skill by Tufuga fai fale that was also linked to other cultural artforms.
As with other Polynesian cultures (Hawaiian, Tahitian and Māori) with significant and unique tattoos, Samoans have two gender specific and culturally significant tattoos. For males, it is called the Pe'a and consists of intricate and geometrical patterns tattooed that cover areas from the knees up towards the ribs. A male who possesses such a tatau is called a soga'imiti. A Samoan girl or teine is given a malu, which covers the area from just below her knees to her upper thighs.
Albert Wendt is a significant Samoan writer whose novels and stories tell the Samoan experience. In 1989, his novel Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree was made into a feature film in New Zealand, directed by Martyn Sanderson. Another novel Sons for the Return Home had also been made into a feature film in 1979, directed by Paul Maunder.
The late John Kneubuhl, born in American Samoa, was an accomplished playwright and screenwriter and writer. His play Think of Garden premiered in Auckland in 1993 a year after his death, it was directed by Nathaniel Lees, is set in 1929 and is about Samoa's struggle for independence.
Sia Figiel won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for fiction in the south-east Asia/South Pacific region with her novel "Where We Once Belonged".
Momoe Malietoa Von Reiche is an internationally recognised poet and artist.
Tusiata Avia is a performance poet. Her first book of poetry Wild Dogs Under My Skirt was published by Victoria University Press in 2004. Dan Taulapapa McMullin is an artist and writer.
Other Samoan poets and writers include Sapa'u Ruperake Petaia, Eti Sa'aga and Savea Sano Malifa, the editor of the Samoa Observer.
In music, popular local bands include The Five Stars, Penina o Tiafau and Punialava'a. The Yandall Sisters' cover of the song Sweet Inspiration reached number one on the New Zealand charts in 1974.
King Kapisi was the first hip hop artist to receive the prestigious New Zealand APRA Silver Scroll Award in 1999 for his song Reverse Resistance. The music video for Reverse Resistance was filmed in Savai'i at his villages.
Other successful Samoan hip hop artists include rapper Scribe, Dei Hamo, Savage and Tha Feelstyle whose music video Suamalie was filmed in Samoa.
Lemi Ponifasio is a director and choreographer who is prominent internationally with his dance Company MAU. Neil Ieremia's company Black Grace has also received international acclaim with tours to Europe and New York.
Hip hop has had a significant impact on Samoan culture. According to Katerina Martina Teaiwa, PhD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, "Hip hop culture in particular is popular amongst Samoan youth." As in many other countries, hip hop music is popular. In addition, the integration of hip hop elements into Samoan tradition also "testifies to the transferability of the dance forms themselves," and to the "circuits through which people and all their embodied knowledge travel." Dance both in its traditional form and its more modern forms has remained a central cultural currency to Samoans, especially youths.
The arts organisation Tautai Pacific Arts Trust was an informal collective of visual artists including Fatu Feu'u, Johnny Penisula, Shigeyuki Kihara, Michel Tuffery, and Lily Laita in the 1980s and formalised into a trust in 1995 and is now a leading Pacific arts organisation directed by Courtney Sina Meredith. Marilyn Kohlhase ran a Pacific focused gallery called Okaioceanikart from 2007–2013.
Director Sima Urale is a filmmaker. Urale's short film O Tamaiti won the prestigious Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1996. Her first feature film Apron Strings opened the 2008 NZ International Film Festival. The feature film Siones Wedding, co-written by Oscar Kightley, was financially successful following premieres in Auckland and Apia. The 2011 film The Orator was the first ever fully Samoan film, shot in Samoa in the Samoan language with a Samoan cast telling a uniquely Samoan story. Written and directed by Tusi Tamasese, it received much critical acclaim and attention at film festivals throughout the world.
The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union, Samoan cricket and netball. Rugby union is the national football code of Samoa. In Samoan villages, volleyball is also popular.
Rugby union is the national sport in Samoa and the national team, nicknamed the Manu Samoa, is consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations. Samoa has competed at every Rugby World Cup since 1991, and made the quarter finals in 1991, 1995 and the second round of the 1999 World Cup. At the 2003 world cup, Manu Samoa came close to beating eventual world champions, England. Samoa also played in the Pacific Nations Cup and the Pacific Tri-Nations. The sport is governed by the Samoa Rugby Football Union, who are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, and thus, also contribute to the international Pacific Islanders rugby union team.
At club level, there is the National Provincial Championship and Pacific Rugby Cup. They also took home the cup at Wellington and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens in 2007—for which the Prime Minister of Samoa, also Chairman of the national rugby union, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, declared a national holiday. They were also the IRB World Sevens Series Champions in 2010 capping a year of achievement for the Samoans, following wins in the US, Australia, Hong Kong and Scotland Sevens tournaments.
Prominent Samoan players include Pat Lam and Brian Lima. In addition, many Samoans have played for or are playing for New Zealand.
Rugby league is mostly played by Samoans living in New Zealand and Australia. Samoa reached the quarter finals of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the team comprising players from the NRL and Super League plus domestic players. Many Samoans and New Zealanders or Australians of Samoan descent play in the Super League and National Leagues in Britain, including Francis Meli, Ta'ane Lavulavu of Workington Town, Maurie Fa'asavalu of St Helens, David Fatialofa of Whitehaven and Setaimata Sa, who signed with London Irish rugby club. Other noteworthy players from NZ and Australia have represented the Samoan National team. The 2011 domestic Samoan rugby league competition contained 10 teams with plans to expand to 12 in 2012. Samoa reached the final of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup to face Australia.
Samoans have been very visible in boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, and sumo; some Samoan sumo wrestlers, most famously Musashimaru and Konishiki, have reached the highest rank of Ozeki and yokozuna.
American football is occasionally played in Samoa, reflecting its wide popularity in American Samoa, where the sport is played under high school sanction. About 30 ethnic Samoans, many from American Samoa, currently play in the National Football League. A 2002 article from ESPN estimated that a Samoan male (either an American Samoan or a Samoan living in the mainland United States) is 40 times more likely to play in the NFL than a non-Samoan American.
Religion
Since 2017, Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that "Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".
Samoans' religious adherence includes the following: Christian Congregational Church of Samoa 31.8%, Roman Catholic 19.4%, Methodist 15.2%, Assembly of God 13.7%, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 7.6%, Seventh-day Adventist 3.9%, Worship Centre 1.7%, other Christian 5.5%, other 0.7%, none 0.1%, unspecified 0.1% (2011 estimate). The Head of State until 2007, Malietoa Tanumafili II, was a Baháʼí. Samoa hosts the seventh (of nine current) Baháʼí Houses of Worship in the world; completed in 1984 and dedicated by the Head of State, it is located in Tiapapata, 8 km from Apia.
Demographics
Samoa reported a population of 194,320 in its 2016 census. About three-quarters of the population live on the main island of Upolu.
A measles outbreak began in October 2019. As of 7 December, there have been 68 deaths (0.31 per 1,000, based on a population of 201,316 ) and over 4,460 cases (2.2% of the population) of measles in Samoa, mainly children under four years old, and 10 reported cases in Fiji. It is expected that 70 people will die and up to 6,500 people will be infected.
The population is 96% Samoans, 2% dual Samoan-New Zealander and 1.9% other, according to a 2011 estimate in the CIA World Factbook.
Samoan (Gagana Fa'asāmoa) and English are the official languages. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Samoan than English in Samoa. Samoan Sign Language is also commonly used among the deaf population of Samoa. To emphasize the importance of full inclusion with sign language, elementary Samoan Sign Language was taught to members of the Samoa Police Service, Red Cross Society, and public during the 2017 International Week of the Deaf.
Since 2017, Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that "Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".
Samoans' religious adherence includes the following: Christian Congregational Church of Samoa 31.8%, Roman Catholic 19.4%, Methodist 15.2%, Assembly of God 13.7%, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 7.6%, Seventh-day Adventist 3.9%, Worship Centre 1.7%, other Christian 5.5%, other 0.7%, none 0.1%, unspecified 0.1% (2011 estimate). The Head of State until 2007, Malietoa Tanumafili II, was a Baháʼí. Samoa hosts the seventh (of nine current) Baháʼí Houses of Worship in the world; completed in 1984 and dedicated by the Head of State, it is located in Tiapapata, 8 km from Apia.
Cities:
