A Brief History

Samoa is a group of islands (formed about 7 million years ago) in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 15
degrees south of the equator and some 8 degrees east of the International Dateline, that is about
1700 miles north east of New Zealand. It is made up of nine islands. The two largest Savai'i and
Upolu, account for most of population with only two others, Manono and Apolima, being inhabited.
The other five are called Fanuatapu, Namu'a, Nuutele, Nuulua, Nuusafee.

The islands were settled as part of the general settlement of the Pacific by the Polynesian culture.
Briefly, at the end of the last century they played a significant part in the colonisation of the Pacific by
the western powers.

The islands were originally settled about 1000 BC a date arrived at by the dating of shards of Lapida
pottery found at Mulifanua.

By 200 BC Samoa was the center of a flourishing Polynesian community with trade taking place
between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa.



















TII-TIIThe Samoan Hercules.

This demigod was the Samoan island
groups version of the Hawaiian
god Maui. In fact, Mauis longer name is
Maui-Tiki-Tiki and Tii-Tii is pronounced
like Tiki-Tiki but with glottal stops where
the ks would be. Tii-Tii's deeds included:

a) Slaying a land-dwelling octopus who
lived in a cave and had tentacles so long it
could pluck victims from anywhere on the
island and drag them to its mouth to devour
them,

b) Retrieving a floating island and returning
it to its original position in the ocean

c) Slaying a shark-like Devil Fish that was
eating all the fish of the sea and leaving
none for Samoan fishermen,

d) Subduing and returning one of the four winds when it escaped from the cave of the wind god
Faatiu, Freeing the Samoan islands from the reign of terror of a race of giant humanoids with the
heads of dogs. Those giants were especially dangerous because they roamed the islands with packs
of enormous dogs on leashes. Tii-Tii eventually killed them all, Slaying Tetuna the eel god to stop his
attempts to seduce the goddess Sina and Stealing fire for humans by invading the underground lair of
the fire and earthquake god Mafuie. Tii-Tii did this by defeating Mafuie in a wrestling contest. This
was also how he obtained his two wives, the goddesses Faingaa and Sisi, whom Savea, god of the
dead, gave him as a reward for winning his battle with Mafuie. LOSI - A fishing deity and a member of
the race of immortal earth-bound giants who are Samoan mythologys version of the Titans. Losi was
a master fisherman and a trickster deity who loved defying the heavenly gods. Once when the chief
deity Tangaloa ordered Losi to provide all the gods of the heavens with fish for a feast the
mischievous figure caught untold numbers of fish but placed them on the doorway of each of the
gods homes in their heavenly realm. When the gods emerged from their homes at sunrise they each
slipped on the fish and filled Losi with laughter. Angered, the gods ordered Losi from the heavens.
Before he departed the trickster concealed seeds for taro plants (which at the time grew only in the
realm of the gods) in his anal cavity. Tangaloa sensed something was wrong and ordered Losi
searched. The intimate search did not find the taro seeds but did embarrass the master fisherman to
the point where he wanted revenge. Back on Earth Losi rallied his fellow giants to him and they all
stormed the skyland home of the gods. Though nearly all of the worlds belief systems feature a
similar conflict between the gods and a race of giants the Samoan pantheon boasts the only version
of the tale in which the gods get their celestial butts kicked. One of Losis fellows, the giant Lefanoga,
was the god of destruction and led the giants to victory. They then ransacked the realm of the gods
for fruit trees as well as yams and took those items down to the Earth to give to mortals. Previously
only the gods had such things.

She was the daughter of Savea, the god who ruled over the land of the dead, and of one of the tattoo
goddesses (accounts vary as to which). Nafanua was born as a clot of blood and was thus thrown
away by her mother. Savea found her and gave her life. Nafanua could not be defeated in battle by
any of the other deities in the Samoan pantheon. The center of her worship was Falealupo, which was
also where tradition held that the entrance to the land of the dead lay. Nafanuas first battle in the
human world came when her father sent her to the realm of mortals to help Chief Matuna overcome
the forces of a tyrannical war-chief who was trying to conquer all of Samoa. Matunas chief priest Taii
had prayed to Savea for assistance.





















NAFANUA The Samoan goddess of war.

Nafanuas strength was equal to hundreds of men and she wielded a huge fallen tree as a war-club.
The goddess overcame several of the tyrants armies enroute to his capital. Nafanua at last reached
Matunas home where he and his family feasted the goddess and let her drink all of the kava in the
village. Refreshed, Nafanua took the field the next day, leading Matunas armies against the tyrants
forces. The war goddess killed dozens for every one killed by the mortals she led. At length, the wind
blew Nafanuas tiputa (warshirt) up far enough that the opposing forces could see her breasts and
realize it was a woman decimating them. The rest of the tyrants army surrendered in shame. Before
starting wars chiefs would often make a pilgrimmage to Falealupo to pray to Nafanua for her help in the
upcoming battles.


PILI
The black lizard god who was the son of Tangaloa and the ancestor of the four main ruling
families of Samoa. Though his primary form was that of a large lizard Pili, like all the other gods,
could take human form at will. When his sister Sina was courted by the king of Fiji and then
taken away to be his bride she invited him to come with the party on their journey by sea.
Enroute to Fiji the food ran out and Pili had to save Sina from the royal partys plans to try to
eat her. He did so and multiplied the ships existing food to make enough for the rest of the
voyage. Unfortunately the king and his crew
deceived Sina into thinking Pili was behind
the food shortage in the first place and so she
took her brother by surprise and tossed him
overboard. Pili was saved by his brothers
Fuialaio and Maomao, then followed Sina to
Fiji. The kings evil nature had brought a
famine to all of Fiji just as it had done to the
royal party at sea. The vile king began killing
his own subjects to provide food for the
nobility. Pili saved the day by planting magical
yams that grew immediately and saved the
people from starvation and from being eaten
themselves. Sina rejected the king and left Fiji
with her brother. Pili himself eventually
married a mortal woman and had four sons
Tua, who founded Atua; Ana, who founded
Aana; Saga, who founded Tuamasaga and
Tolufalo, the greatest of the four, who settled
all of the island of Savaii. Years later the
brothers had a falling out, thus beginning the
War of the Brothers, a real war but the history
of which is complicated by the layers of
mythology and folklore that have evolved
alongside it. The rivalries between the four
factions of Samoas noble families linger to
this very day.