Title: Skipjack Tuna 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 growing up when he started fishing. The story is mainly referred to by chiefs during speeches. It is told mainly by fishermen that fish for tuna the traditional way.
• Cultural Context: There’s a tuna with a round hole in its belly “Le ako kaokugu” that’s the leader of the tuna. There’s a rock at the center of a natural spring in Vailo Palaugi. It’s in the middle of a village and it works its way to the sea. In the middle of the spring there’s a rock with a small hole that’s always filled with water and the tuna will come in from the open sea and roll around the rock creating a hole in its belly. Sina means white, it’s a common name in Samoan. The name is usually given to a beautiful woman.

Item: In ancient times there was a magic fishhook that fish are attracted to, it would catch any fish. This fishhook was granted to man in Fiji and it was stolen by two demigods. They brought it to Samoa and it again got stolen and it was given as a gift to a woman called Sina. Sina gave it to her son, Kaokugu, but it got lost, so Sina went out looking for the hook and left her son while the boy was left on shore in Savaii. When Sina found the hook again she brought it back to her son, she swam all the way in, went into the creek where the rock is, and couldn’t find the son. She thought the son had drowned and died. She was so heartbroken that she died. Her son was just mucking around in the ocean. The son came back and found the mother and the hook. He was also heartbroken and he committed the tuna to pay tribute to the mother. So every so often a special tuna will roll around where the rock is and it leads the tuna.

Collector’s name: Jack Tuiolosega

Tags/keywords:

• Myth
• Tuna
• Pacific Islands