Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Samoan Material Culture

Summary

Summary

The material for decorative adornment was obtained mostly from the native flora of the islands. The Samoans have a deep-rooted love for flowers and leaves not only for their beauty and shape but even more so for their sweet scented odor. Wreaths and necklaces were further supplemented by fruit of appropriate size and color and by seeds. The leaves and bast of plants supplied the kilts and garments which cannot be dissociated from decoration. Coconut leaves supplied the material of most of the combs and fans. Sennit fiber entered into the fly whisk and furnished material for binding. Wood entered into the lave frame, handles, and the combs and fans of doubtful antiquity. Beyond vegetable matter there was little scope in material. Small shells from land, sea, and fresh water furnished necklaces while the lack of pearl shell prevented its use as a material for breast ornaments. Red feathers that were universally prized by all branches of the Polynesians were scarce and practically monopolized for fine mats. Other feathers were utilized for the few kilts made and in association with the headdress but featherwork as a whole was very restricted in both scope and technique. Human hair figured in the important headdress, in tuinga combs, and the doubtful belt. The pig's tusk furnished armlets and breast ornaments while the teeth of whales supplied material for the valued necklace.

The technique in ornamentation did not progress very far. Wrapped work combined with a wrapped twine and figure of eight turns were utilized as lashing techniques. The poor progress in decorative technique is exemplified by the separate elements of the tuinga headdress. The seizing of the hair tufts is a wide-spread technique used by the Marquesans with tufts from old men's beards and by the Maori with hair from the tail of the native dog. The Samoans went a stage further in binding the seized ends into eye holes for stringing on a cord but they lacked the finish to combine the bark cloth, hair tufts, lave frame, and forehead band into a permanent structure. The high status of the headdress and the physical inconvenience suffered by the wearers should have supplied sufficient incentive, yet Samoan craftsmanship stopped short with the individual elements. It may be that the tuinga page 635headdress had not been incorporated in Samoan culture long enough to allow a special technique to develop; otherwise the lack of a better method of combining the elements of the headdress indicates a lack of initiative in Samoan technique.

The social value of decoration and its accessories is evident. While flowers and leaves were worn by individuals on any occasion through love of them, the more lavish use by the community marked events of social importance. Even for a solitary guest, the person preparing a bowl of kava will often tie a leaf of ti or even a strip of banana leaf around the head or neck to add importance to the occasion. Flowers, leaves, fruit, seeds, and shells were readily available to all classes of society but the pig's tusk and whale's teeth owing to their scarcity and the necessity for more technique in converting them into ornaments, became associated with those of superior rank. The rarer ornaments were the ornamental adjuncts of the superior types of garments, and became a form of wealth, in themselves indicating higher social position.

The staff and the fly whisk also distinguished social position. Thus, the staff distinguished the head builder among the members of a guild who were erecting a new house. The diplomatic talking chiefs restricted the length of their staffs to the height of their own bodies and the superior status of the high chiefs was distinguished by a longer staff. The talking chiefs soothed their own vanity, however, by creating a more ornate fly whisk which not only distinguished them from the high chiefs as a special class but drew particular attention to their high office as public orators. In making such a departure, they were supported by the traditional dictum of the ancestor Pili that the fly whisk symbolized oratory. The tuinga headdress through being restricted to the holders of certain titles was a further distinction of class within class.