|
Tui Fiti
Tui Fiti or Tuifiti is the name of a figure referred to in different legends in Samoan mythology and in other parts of Polynesia. In other stories, "Tui Fiti" means "high chief of Fiti." Savai'i On the island of Savai'i in Samoa, a spirit deity called Tui Fiti resides in Fagamalo, a village said to have once been settled by Fijians. The special abode of Tui Fiti was a mound within a grove of large and durable trees called '' ifilele'' (''Afzilia bijuga''). Tui Fiti's abode is called the ''vao sa'', a sacred part of the forest which is tapu in Fagamalo. Tui Fiti is referred to as the ''ali'i'' (high chief) of Fagamalo. There are no other ''ali'i'' chiefly titles in the village where all the ''matai'' chief titles are of orator ''tulafale'' status. Fagamalo is one of the ''pito nu'u'' sub-villages of the greater Matautu village on Savai'i island's central north coast. The missionary George Turner wrote in ''Samoa, a Hundred Years Ago and Long Before'' (1884) that Tuifiti was the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samoan Mythology
Samoan culture tells stories of many different deities. There were deities of the forest, the seas, rain, harvest, villages, and war. There were two types of deities, ''atua'', who had non-human origins, and ''aitu'', who were of human origin. Tagaloa was a supreme god who made the islands and the people. Mafuiʻe was the god of earthquakes. There were also a number of war deities. Nafanua, Samoa's warrior goddess hails from the village of Falealupo at the western end of Savai'i island, which is also the site of the entry into Pulotu, the spirit world. She also is regarded as a peace bringer, having brought peace to Savai'i through winning the wars between the two regions of the island. Tilafaiga is the mother of Nafanua. Nafanua's father, Saveasi'uleo, was the god of Pulotu. Another well-known legend tells of two sisters, Tilafaiga, the mother of Nafanua, and Taema, bringing the art of tattooing to Samoa from Fiti. A figure of another legend is Tui Fiti, who resides at Fagamalo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynesia
Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including language relatedness, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs. In centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars to navigate at night. The largest country in Polynesia is New Zealand. The term was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during a lecture at the Geographical Society of Paris. By tradition, the islands located in the southern Pacific have also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono and Apolima); and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands (Nu'utele, Nu'ulua, Fanuatapu and Namua). Samoa is located west of American Samoa, northeast of Tonga (closest foreign country), northeast of Fiji, east of Wallis and Futuna, southeast of Tuvalu, south of Tokelau, southwest of Hawaii, and northwest of Niue. The capital city is Apia. The Lapita culture, Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan culture, Samoan cultural identity. Samoa is a Unitary state, unitary Parliamentary system, parliamentary democracy with 11 Administrative divisions of Samoa, administrative divisions. It is a sovereign state and a member of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fagamalo
Fagamalo is a village situated on the central north coast of Savai'i in Samoa. It is a sub-village or ''pito nu'u'' of the larger traditional village enclave of Matautu in the political district of Gaga'emauga. The population of the village is 383. Fagamalo is by the sea at the northernmost point of Savai'i. There is a small post office and next door to it is a police station which services the local district. The Tutaga Primary School is at the east end of the village near where a hospital was situated. Cyclone Ofa (1990) and Cyclone Valerie (1991) caused a lot of damage on the north and west coast of Savai'i and destroyed the seaside Itu-o-Tane College Ministry of Education, Samoa. in the village. The school was rebuilt inland in a neighbouring village. Fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fijians
Fijians ( fj, iTaukei, lit=Owners (of the land)) are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and share a common history and culture. Fijians, or ''iTaukei'', are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. Indigenous Fijians are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown. Later they would move onward to other surrounding islands, including Rotuma, as well as blending with other (Polynesian) settlers on Tonga and Samoa. They are indigenous to all parts of Fiji except the island of Rotuma. The original settlers are now called " Lapita people" after a distinctive pottery produced locally. Lapita pottery was found in the area from 800 BCE onward. As of 2005, indigenous Fijians constituted slightly more than half of the total Fijian population. Indigenous Fijians are predominantly of Melanesian extraction, wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapu (Polynesian Culture)
Tapu is a Polynesian traditional concept denoting something holy or sacred, with " spiritual restriction" or "implied prohibition"; it involves rules and prohibitions. The English word ''taboo'' derives from this later meaning and dates from Captain James Cook's visit to Tonga in 1777. The concept exists in many societies, including traditional Māori, Samoan, Kiribati, Rapanui, Tahitian, Hawaiian, and Tongan cultures, in most cases using a recognisably similar word (from Proto-Polynesian '' *tapu''), though the Rotuman term for this concept is "ha'a". In Hawaii, a similar concept is known as "kapu". Outside Polynesian The root also exists outside Polynesian languages, in the broader Austronesian family: e.g. Fijian ''tabu'', Hiw (Vanuatu) ''toq'' ‘holy, sacred’, Mwotlap ''ne-teq'' ‘cemetery’… François (2022). Whether Polynesian or not, all modern forms go back to a Proto-Oceanic etymon reconstructed as *''tabu'' . As for cognates outside Oceanic, they seem to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matautu
Matautu is the name of different villages in Samoa. Places named Matautu are found on the two largest islands, Upolu and Savaiʻi. Matautu, Upolu Island On Upolu Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximatel ... island; *Matautu, a village located on the central north coast of the island to the east of the capital Apia. Apia Harbor, the country's main port is located in Matautu. The village has been subdivided into two parts. Matautu-tai (coastal) and Matautu-uta (inland). Matautu-tai is led by High Chief To'omalatai. Legend has it that wayfarers and travelers by sea must stop and give offerings to the To'omalatai before safe passage was allowed by Moaula the village guardian. Moaula is amongst the most revered spirits of Samoa. *Matautu village (Lefaga), a sub-village or ''p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Turner (missionary)
George Turner (1818 – 19 May 1891) was an English missionary, active in Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ... and elsewhere in the South Pacific. He was the author of Nineteen Years in Polynesia: Missionary Life, Travels, and Researches in the Islands of the Pacific, 1861; and of Samoa A Hundred Years Ago and Long Before, 1884. References * Hiney, Tom. 2000. ''On the Missionary Trail: a journey through Polynesia, Asia and Africa with the London Missionary Society.'' * Turner, George. ''Nineteen Years in Polynesia: Missionary Life, Travels, and Researches in the Islands of the Pacific.'' https://books.google.com/books?id=D7Ltq-fdtBMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false English Congregationalist missionaries Congregationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Cakobau
Ratu Sir George Kadavulevu Cakobau (6 November 1912 – 25 November 1989) was Governor-General of Fiji from 1973 to 1983. A great-grandson of Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the King of Bau who had unified all the tribes of Fiji under his reign in the mid-1800s and subsequently ceded the islands to the United Kingdom in 1874, Ratu Sir George held the traditional titles of Vunivalu of Bau and Tui Levuka and thus was considered by many as Fiji's highest-ranking traditional chief. Ratu Cakobau was appointed Governor-General in 1973, becoming the first indigenous Fijian to serve as the representative of Elizabeth II, Queen of Fiji. Education and early career Cakobau was educated first at Fiji's Queen Victoria School, then at Newington College in Australia (1927–1932) and Wanganui Technical College in Wanganui, New Zealand. He became a member of the Great Council of Chiefs in 1938, where he remained until 1972. When he first joined the Council, it had the power to make laws for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samoan Deities
Samoan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean ** Something of, from, or related to Samoa, a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands ** Something of, from, or related to American Samoa, a United States territory in the Samoan Islands * Samoan language, the native language of the Samoan Islands * Samoans Samoans or Samoan people ( sm, tagata Sāmoa) are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in Polynesia, who speak the Samoan language. The group's home islands are politically and geographically divided between th ..., a Polynesian ethnic group of the Samoan Islands {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
