A Samoan Funeral

One of Paul's coworkers recently passed away. In fact, Fale was one of our favorite Park employees. As a high chief, yet humble and realistic man, we could always count on Fale for information and humor about different aspects of Samoan life.

Funerals are a big deal in Samoa and it turned out to be quite the cultural experience for me and Paul. The funeral was scheduled for about two weeks after Fale died to give time for the family to prepare for the big event. I had to get a puletasi (traditional Samoan woman's outfit consisting of a coordinating top and skirt) made with fabric displaying the National Park logo and Paul wore the traditional lavalava (wrap skirt) with his Park Service shirt.

The funeral started off in a familiar way with a service at a church. The service consisted of singing, reading scripture, and different people talking about Fale, but we understood little of it as it was in Samoan. Following the church service Fale's body was brought into the family's decorated guest fale (traditional open Samoan house) in the village in which he grew up in and was the high chief of.

This is where the main event, the fa'alavelave, would take place for the next several hours and even days. A fa'alavelave is a traditional Samoan gift giving associated with funerals and weddings. These events can be huge financial burdens to families, as money and gifts are given out. The National Park employees and volunteers arrived for the fa'alavelave with truckloads of fine mats, fabric, bouquets of flowers, and even a fully cooked pig. These are the gifts that we would present to the family, only to have similar items given to the Park by the family. The women, myself included, followed the men up a hill to the fale. The women carried fabric and sang songs as we proceeded up the hill.

The men sat down inside the fale and were addressed by the chiefs as us women sat outside the fale. The men talked for over a half hour (in Samoan, of course), but I was told they were just basically saying what a good man Fale was and thanking each other for the soon to be presented gifts. The family gave each person a huge plate of food and a short time was spent eating.

Then, the gifts were presented. The women first ran in with all of the fabric. I almost tripped as I tried to get my flip flops off my feet in a rush at the stairs up to the fale, as it is not proper to wear shoes in a fale. We laid the hundreds of bolts one by one near the coffin and Fale's wife. We would set the fabric down and then run back outside the fale to get more. It literally was a big circle of women running around and around until all the gifts were given.

The fine mats were presented next. These mats are of great importance in Samoan culture and used to be the main currency for the islands. The mats can take months to weave and they are never used on the floor, but are hung on walls or usually just stay bundled up for the next fa'alavelave. We presented our mats to the family and then it was the family's turn to give the National Park gifts. The Park received cans and buckets of corned beef, mackerel, and sardines, tins of crackers, fabric, money, and fine mats. Each fine mat was unrolled and inspected and declared beautiful before moving onto the next one. At the end of this, the biggest and best fine mat was chosen. This mat was deemed too nice to be accepted by the Park so it was given back to the family.

This whole ordeal lasted many hours and the National Park was just one group that would be taking part in the fa'alavelave. The whole process would be repeated over and over again for each family, village, or church group that came to show their respect for Fale.