Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long BeforeTurner, George
History
Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before
Turner, George
Islands of the Pacific -- Social life and customs; Samoan Islands
This was the name of a god seen in the centipede. A tree near the
house was the residence of the creature. When any one of the family
was ill, he went out with a fine mat and spread it under the tree, and
there waited for the centipede to come down. If it came down and
crawled _under_ the mat, that was a sign that the sick person was to
be covered over with mats and buried. If, however, it crawled on the
top of the mat, that was a sign of recovery.
5. O LE AUMĀ--_The red liver._
This family god was seen, or incarnate, in the wild pigeon. If any
visitor happened to roast a pigeon while staying there, some member of
the household would pay the penalty by being done up in leaves, as if
ready to be baked, and carried and laid in the _cool_ oven for a
time, as an offering to show their unabated regard to Aumā.
The use of the reddish-seared bread-fruit leaf for any purpose was
also insulting to this deity. Such leaves were in common use as
_plates_ on which to hand a bit of food from one to another, but that
particular family dared not use them under a penalty of being seized
with rheumatic swellings, or an eruption all over the body called
tangosusu, and resembling chicken-pox.
6. IULAUTALO--_Ends of the taro leaf._
To this family god the _ends_ of leaves and other things were
considered sacred, and not to be handled or used in any way. In daily
life it was no small trouble to this particular household to cut off
the ends of all the taro, bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut leaves which they
required for culinary purposes. Ends of taro, yams, bananas, fish,
etc., were also carefully laid aside, and considered as unfit to be
eaten as if they were poison. In a case of sickness, however, the god
allowed, and indeed required, that the patient should be fanned with
the _ends_ of cocoa-nut leaflets.
7. O LE ALII O FITI--_The Chief of Fiji._
This was the name of a god in a certain household, and present in the
form of an eel, and hence the eel was never used by them as an article
of food. This god was supposed to be unusually kind, and never
injured any of the family. They showed their gratitude by presenting
the first fruits of their taro plantation.
8. LIMULIMUTA--_Sea-weed._
This was the name by which another protector was known. If any members
of the family went to fight at sea, they collected some sea-weed to
take with them. If in pursuit of a canoe, they threw out some of it to
hinder the progress of the enemy, and make the chase successful in
obtaining a decapitated head or two. If the enemy tried to pick up any
of this deified sea-weed it immediately sank, but rose again and
floated on the surface if one of its friends paddled up to the spot.
9. MOSO'OI.
This is the name of a tree (_Conanga Odorata_), the yellow flowers of
which are highly fragrant. In one place it was supposed to be the
habitat of a household god, and anything aromatic or sweet-scented
which the family happened to get was presented as an offering.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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