Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before Part 16

The moon was _the timekeeper of the year_. The year was divided into twelve lunar months, and each month was known by a name in common use all over the group. To this there were some local exceptions, and a month named after the G.o.d, who on that month was specially wors.h.i.+pped.

It is said that of old it was universal to name the month after the G.o.d whose wors.h.i.+p at that particular time was observed. Among a people who had no fixed astronomical dates intercallation was easy, and the names of the twelve moons kept uniform.

JANUARY.

1. This was called Utu va mua, _first yam digging_. And so named from their then digging wild yams before the cultivated ones were ripe, and also from early yam digging.

2. Others say that the origin of Utu va mua was in two brothers, the one called Utuvamua and the other Utuvamuli, who, when there was war in heaven, and their party beaten, fled to the earth and brought the January storms with them.

3. A third account says that Utuvamua was the elder brother and Utuvamuli the younger, and that during a great war on earth they escaped to the heavens. That the hills are the heaps of slain covered over by earth dug up from the valleys, and that when the two brothers look down upon them their weeping and wailing and maddening exasperation occasion the storm and the hurricane.

4. The month was also called Aitu tele, _great G.o.d_, from the princ.i.p.al wors.h.i.+p of the month. At another place it was named Tangaloa tele, for a similar reason.

FEBRUARY.

1. This month was called Toe utu va, or _digging again_, and so named from the yam crop.

2. The name is also explained as the further digging up of the winds to raise storms.

3. Aitu iti, or _small G.o.ds_, is another name, from the wors.h.i.+p of the inferior household G.o.ds in that month.

MARCH.

1. Called Faaafu, or _withering_, from the withering of the yam vine and other plants, which become coloured "like the sh.e.l.ls."

2. Taafanua is another name of the month, which means, _roam_ or _walk about the land_, being the name of a G.o.d wors.h.i.+pped in that month.

3. Called also Aitu iti, or small G.o.ds, from the household G.o.ds then wors.h.i.+pped, and who were specially implored to bless the family for the year "with strength to overcome in quarrels and in battle."

APRIL.

1. This month was called Lo, from the name of a small fish which comes in plentiful shoals at that time.

2. Called also Fanonga, or _destruction_, the name of a G.o.d wors.h.i.+pped at the eastern extremity of the group during that month.

MAY.

1. Called Aununu, or _stem crushed_, from the crushed or pulverised state of the stem of the yam at that time. Others say it was so named from mult.i.tudes of malicious demons supposed to be wandering about at that time. Even the fish of the sea were supposed to be possessed and unusually savage in this month. May is often an unhealthy month, being the time of transition from the wet season to the dry, and hence the _crus.h.i.+ng_ sickness and superst.i.tious vagaries.

2. Called also on one island Sina, or _white_, from the wors.h.i.+p of a G.o.ddess of that name there.

JUNE.

This month was called Oloamanu, or _the singing of birds_, it was thus named from the unusual joy among the birds over a plentiful supply of favourite buds and berries. The bright scarlet flowers of the "_Erythrina indica_" begin then to come out and attract a host of parrakeets and other happy chirpers.

JULY.

Called Palolo mua, or _the first of Palolo_. This is the first month of the half year, called the Palolo season in contradistinction to the other half, which is called the Trade-wind season. Palolo (_Palolo virides_) is that singular worm which swarms out from certain parts of the barrier reefs for three days in the course of a year, of which the natives are very fond, and all the more so from its rareness. If the last quarter of the moon is late in October palolo is found the day before, the day of, and the day after, that quarter. If the last quarter of the moon is early in October palolo does not come till the last quarter of the November moon. The middle day, or the day of the quarter, is the princ.i.p.al day for gathering these swarms of marine worms.

AUGUST.

This month was called Palolo muli, or _after Palolo_. Pa means to burst, and lolo, fatty or oily, and hence probably the origin of the name in the fatty or oily appearance of the worms as they break, burst, and are mixed up in the heaps directly after they are taken.

They are only found for about half an hour before sunrise, after sunrise they disappear.

SEPTEMBER.

1. Mulifa was the name given to this month which means _end of the stem_ of the talo, or "arum esculentum." The month being unusually dry and parching, the scorching rays of the sun left little of the talo stem but a small piece at the end.

2. The _end_ of the season for catching the fish called _Fa_, is another derivation of Mulifa given by some.

OCTOBER.

This month was called Lotuaga, or _rain prayers_. It was so called from the special prayers which were then offered to the G.o.ds for rain.

NOVEMBER.

Taumafamua was the name of this month, _the first of plenty_, that means, fish and other food became plentiful, and then followed what were called the palolo and fly-hook feasts. Public dinners in the houses of the leading men of the village were the order of the day.

DECEMBER.

This month was named Toetaumafa, or _the finish of the feasting_. Food now was less plentiful, and after some of the December gales or cyclones there was a great scarcity.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE ORIGIN OF FIRE, AND OTHER STORIES.

1. The Samoans say that there was a time when their ancestors ate everything raw, and that they owe the luxury of cooked food to one Ti'iti'i, the son of a person called Talanga. This Talanga was high in favour with the earthquake G.o.d Mafuie, who lived in a subterranean region where there was fire continually burning. On going to a certain perpendicular rock, and saying, "Rock, divide! I am Talanga; I have come to work!" the rock opened, and let Talanga in; and he went below to his plantation in the land of this G.o.d Mafuie. One day Ti'iti'i, the son of Talanga, followed his father, and watched where he entered.

The youth, after a time, went up to the rock, and, feigning his father's voice, said, "Rock, divide! I am Talanga; I have come to work!" and was admitted too. His father, who was at work in his plantation, was surprised to see his son there, and begged him not to talk loud, lest the G.o.d Mafuie should hear him, and be angry.

Seeing smoke rising, he inquired of his father what it was. His father said it was the fire of Mafuie. "I must go and get some," said the son. "No," said the father; "he will be angry. Don't you know he eats people?" "What do I care for him?" said the daring youth; and off he went, humming a song, towards the smoking furnace.

"Who are you?" said Mafuie.

"I am Ti'iti'i, the son of Talanga. I am come for some fire."