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Samoan Material Culture

Prohibitions and Myths

Prohibitions and Myths

An owner may protect his coconut and breadfruit trees by putting up notices on the trunks. A notice consists of a piece of coconut leaf placed longitudinally against the trunk with the butt upwards and three or four leaflets from either side brought around the tree and tied in a knot. Sometimes the notices are more elaborate and are made with a stake beside the path as a warning to travellers. A mature coconut may be suspended to the trunk of a coconut tree by a strip of the husk torn down from one end. In olden days, some of the tapui were rendered virulent by some ritual which caused sickness or death to those interfering with them.

The origin of the coconut tapui is attributed to Nafanua who delivered western Savaii from its oppressors and became a war goddess of the district. Turner (41, p. 39) says that the oppressed people were forced to climb the coconut trees feet upwards and pluck the nuts with their toes. Nafanua, who came from Pulotu, took the lead in the battle for freedom. She covered her breasts with coconut leaflets to conceal her sex and her troops wore coconut leaflets round the waist as a distinguishing badge. After the victory, Nafanua tied coconut leaflets round some of the trees to mark them as hers and from that time coconut leaflets have been used as a prohibitory sign.

Samoan tradition abounds with myths concerning the origin of various plants. The talo, coconut, and kava according to one, were obtained by Losi from the Tangaloans in the heavens after a struggle in which they were given to him to rid heaven of an unwelcome visitor. The paper mulberry and the pandanus were brought to Samoa by Fulualela, a Fijian chief, as part of his daughter's dowry. Various myths occur in different parts, all bearing witness to the spread of useful plants by human agency.