Title: Chicken Origin Myth

General information about the item:

• Myth
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: American Samoa
• Informant: Malouamaua Tuiolosega
• Date Collected: 21 May 2020

Informant Data: Malouamaua is my father. He was born and raised in American Samoa where he currently lives. He joined the military out of High school and pursued a medical degree afterwards. He is now a medical practitioner who runs a private clinic and is a father of three.

Contextual Data: 

• Social Context: Malo heard this story when he was young as a bedtime story told by his elders.
• Cultural Context: This is not a common story told, it’s mainly told in Manu’a. The chicken in Samoan is called “Moa” but in Manu’a they call it “Manu” which refers to both birds and land animals because its considered sacred. In Manu’a chickens are still left alone and considered sacred. Ui are demigods.

Item: The Manu were brought down by the gods and by Ui. Ui’s duties were to protect the chicken coops. They were considered sacred birds only meant for the gods, the Tagaloa and the Tui Manu’a. Nobody was to eat the chickens because the chicken plays an important role in sailing. When navigating the seas you always take a rooster. The roosted will cock three times, so it tells the navigator the time through the night. It also tells you when there’s an island, when a rooster hears another it will answer back and they’ll go back and forth so navigators used that to find the nearest land. So the Moa is an ancient bird brought by the gods. The belief is that when the gods came to earth they landed in Manu’a and from there they went out with their birds and discovered the islands throughout the pacific.

Collector’s name: Jack Tuiolosega

Tags/keywords:

• Myth
• Chicken
• Pacific Islands