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

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

Title: Pig Origin Myth

General information about the item:

• Myth
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: American Samoa
• Informant: Wilson Fitiao
• Date Collected: 24 May 2020

Informant Data: Wilson was born and raised in American Samoa where he now lives. He is a traditional tattoo artist.

Contextual Data: 

• Social Context: Wilson heard this story when he was young as a bedtime story.
• Cultural Context: Tonga is known for having the best pig dishes in the pacific islands.

Item: One day two boys in Tonga had these two maggots and decided to raise them. These maggots ended up growing four legs and started to walk around and became pigs. These two boys have families in Samoa, but the King in Tonga said they shouldn’t share these pigs. The brothers decide that they want to visit their family in Samoa and hide the pigs so they can have them. They can leave with a dead pig, but not a live one. So, they cook the biggest female pig they have and stuff it with two piglets and put it in the canoe. That’s how the pig got to Samoa.

Collector’s name: Jack Tuiolosega

Tags/keywords:

• Myth
• Pig
• Pacific Islands

Title: Sina and the Eel

General information about the item:

• Myth
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: American Samoa
• Informant: Wilson Fitiao
• Date Collected: 24 May 2020

Informant Data: Wilson was born and raised in American Samoa where he now lives. He is a traditional tattoo artist.

Contextual Data: 

• Social Context: Wilson heard this story when he was young as a bedtime story around the ages of 9-11.
• Cultural Context: Sina means white, it’s a common name in Samoan. The name is usually given to a beautiful woman. The nut part of a coconut has three dots on one end, two smaller and one larger, it resembles a face. The Samoans use all parts of the coconut, so the tree and fruit are important in the culture.

Item: There was this woman named Sina in the south pacific. She was so beautiful and gorgeous the stories of this young woman spread out throughout the south pacific. The story gets to Fiji and a prince decides that he would go get her. The guy decided that he would turn into an eel and swim from Fiji to Samoa and turn into a person again. He gets to Samoa, in Savaii, and he can’t turn into a human anymore. He tells his story to Sina and she finds a pond where she can keep him. The eel started to grow bigger and bigger. One day the eel gets weak and old, the eel said to sina, “I know that I’m going to die pretty soon, I can feel it, but when I die I want you to take my head and grow it in front of my house. The tree that grows out of where you bury my head is for you to use.” The eel passed away, Sina decided to chop off the head and grow it in front of her house and it grew into the coconut.

Collector’s name: Jack Tuiolosega

Tags/keywords:

• Myth
• Coconut
• Pacific Islands

Title: Sina and the Eel

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: Malouamaua heard this story when he was young as a bedtime story told by his elders and in primary school. He said that it’s also told when you’re husking or cleaning a coconut around somebody who doesn’t know the myth.
• Cultural Context: In Samoan myth it’s common for the gods to come to humans in the form of animals. Sina means white, it’s a common name in Samoan. The name is usually given to a beautiful woman. Tuna in Samoan means eel. The nut part of a coconut has three dots on one end, two smaller and one larger, it resembles a face.

Item: There’s a beautiful maiden, the daughter of a high chief, named Sina. Sina likes to go bathe in a creek or water pool. It just happens that in the water pool also lives eels and the prince of the eel kingdom watched this human woman and fell in love with Sina. The name of the prince eel is Tuna. He moved up to the woman and he proposed his love to Sina. Sina was so horrified she took off running, but Tuna followed her and begged that he wants to marry her. Sina of course rejected and was able to get her father to kill the eel. As the eel died Tuna tells Sina that he had one wish, “obviously you did not accept my love, but I have one wish, if you could please grant it to me before I die. Cut my head off, dig a hole, and plant it in the dirt. Out of my head will grow a tree and it’s fruits will be a reminder to me.” Sina, heartbroken for killing this creature, cut the head off and buried it in a hole. The next day up came a chute. It started to grow into a trunk, it grew it grew and it bared fruits, the coconut. When they opened the coconut there was the head of the eel, two eyes and a mouth.

Collector’s name: Jack Tuiolosega

Tags/keywords:

• Myth
• Coconut
• Pacific Islands