Mana often refers to spiritual power or sacred force, and is normally held by and within people, belongings, land, culture, and much more. Mana is inh...

Made up of the words fale (house) and mata’aga (site to explore), falemata’aga is a Samoan term for museum, gallery, and other institutions for touris...

Kin. Family. This word is applied to the unit of extended family and within. In formal conversations, it can also be used to refer to your spouse.

As the lecturer and educator Dr. Niusila Faamanatu-Etetuati explains, “Land is fanua and is a very important measina* to Sāmoans, connecting them to t...

Fa’alelei comes from the words Fa’a (to make) and lelei (good). Fa’alelei can mean repairing a relationship or, in the museum context, an object. Fa’a...

Samoan customs and attitudes reveal devotion to tua’ā, with the deceased generally buried on family land and property. This allows the family to remai...

The ensemble of Samoan cultural treasures, art, codified movement, language, sounds, and customary practices—essentially all elements considered core ...

In Samoan culture, ancestral remains are sacred, and are kept and looked after by the families and descendants of the deceased. Attitudes toward thes...