Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before Part 3

8. O LE FE'E, _The cuttle-fish (Octopus)._

1. This was a war-G.o.d said to have been brought by a chief called Tapuaau, who swam hither from Fiji with his cuttle-fish. When taken into a house it showed a special fondness for a piece of white native cloth by stretching over to it, and hence this white cloth became an emblem of the G.o.d, and his wors.h.i.+ppers in going to battle were known by white turbans, which they thought would please the G.o.d and be a defence against the enemy.

Before starting all a.s.sembled in the public place of the village, and one of the priests prayed as follows:--

Le Fe'e e! faafofoga mai ia O au o Fale le a tulai atu nei.

Le Fe'e e! au mai ia ou mumu fua Sei tau a'i le taua nei.

Which may be translated as follows:--O Fe'e! listen--I am Fale who now stand up--O Fe'e! give us your red flaming rage with which to fight this battle.

All listened carefully to the enunciation of this prayer by the priest, for if he was observed to _stutter_ in a single word it was a bad omen.

The Fe'e was also supposed to be present in the white sh.e.l.l of the _Cypraea ovula_; hence a string of these sh.e.l.ls was suspended in the house of the priest, and were supposed to murmur, or "cry," when war was determined on. The colour of the sh.e.l.ls was also watched. A clear white was a good omen, but if they looked dark and dingy it was a bad one.

The movements of the cuttle-fish at sea were also looked after at war-times. If seen near the sh.o.r.e when the people were mustering for battle it was a good sign; if far off the reverse.

2. In one place the Fe'e was a general village G.o.d, whose province was not confined to war. The month of May was sacred to his wors.h.i.+p. No traveller was then allowed to pa.s.s through the village by the public road; nor was any canoe allowed in the lagoon off that part of the settlement. There was great feasting, too, on these occasions, and also games, club exercise, spear-throwing, wrestling, etc.

A new temple was at this time erected, to the material of which every man, woman, and child contributed something, even if only a stick or a reed of thatch. Some were drafted off to put up the house, and the rest commenced to fight in real earnest, and settle any old grudges with each other. He who got the most wounds was set down for special favours from the G.o.d. With the completion of the temple the fighting ended, and that was to suffice for the year. A quarrel of neighbours at any other time, and rising to blows, was frowned upon by the G.o.d Fe'e, because it was not left till next year and temple-building day.

In another district three months were sacred to the wors.h.i.+p of the Fe'e. During that time any one pa.s.sing along the road, or in the lagoon, would be beaten, if not killed, for insulting the G.o.d. For the first month torches and all other lights were forbidden, as the G.o.d was about and did not wish to be seen. White turbans were also forbidden during the festivities, and confined to war. At this time, also, all unsightly projecting burdens--such as a log of firewood on the shoulder--were forbidden, lest it should be considered by the G.o.d as a mockery of his _tentacula_.

The priest at this place had a large wooden bowl, which he called lipi, or _sudden death_. This was another representative of the G.o.d, and by this the family had no small gains. In a case of stealing, fine mats or other gifts were taken by the injured party to the priest to curse the thief and make him ill. The priest would then sit down with some select members of the family around the bowl representative of the G.o.d, and pray for speedy vengeance on the guilty; then they waited the issue. These imprecations were dreaded. Conscience-stricken thieves, when taken ill, were carried off by their friends on a litter and laid down at the door of the priest, with taro, cocoa-nuts, or yams, in lieu of those confessed to have been stolen; and they would add fine mats and other presents, that the priest might pray again over the death-bowl, and have the sentence reversed.

There is a story that the cuttle-fish G.o.ds of Savaii were once chased by an Upolu hero, who caught them in a great net and killed them. They were changed into stones, and now stand up in a rocky part of the lagoon on the north side of Upolu. For a long time travelling parties from Savaii felt _eerie_ when they came to the place--did not like to go through between the stones, but took the outside pa.s.sage.

Another fragment makes out that a Savaii Fe'e married the daughter of a chief on Upolu, and for convenience in coming and going made a hole in the reef, and hence the harbour at Apia. He went up the river also at that place, and built a stone house inland, the "Stonehenge" relics of which are still pointed out, and named to this day "the house of the Fe'e." In time of war he sent a branch drifting down the river as a good omen, and a sign to the people that they might go on with the war, sure of driving the enemy.

3. In some instances the Fe'e was a household G.o.d only. If any visitor caught a cuttle-fish and cooked it, or if any member of that family had been where a cuttle-fish was eaten, the family would meet over the case, and a man or woman would be selected to go and lie down in a _cold_ oven, and be covered over with leaves, as in the process of baking, and all this as a would-be or mock burnt-offering to avert the wrath of the G.o.d. While this was being done the family united in praying: "O bald-headed Fe'e! forgive what has been done--it was all the work of a _stranger_." Failing such signs of respect and humility, it was supposed the G.o.d would come to the family, and cause a cuttle-fish to grow internally, and be the death of some of them.

9. FUAI LANGI, _Beginner of the Heavens._

A G.o.d of one of the small islands, and seen in the sea-eel, or _Maraena_. If the sea-eel happened to be driven on to the sh.o.r.e in a gale or by any tidal wave it portended evil, and created a commotion all over the place.

10. GA'E FEFE, _Breathless fear._

A war-G.o.d in some of the villages, and seen in a cocoa-nut-leaf basket. It is said that during a battle between the G.o.ds of Samoa and those of Tonga the former crouched about the trunks of the cocoa-nut trees; but Ga'e fefe hid in a cocoa-nut-leaf basket, and escaped while many others were killed. Hence the _basket_ became a sign of the G.o.d, and no one would step over such a thing, supposing the G.o.d might be in it. Hence, also, if in going to fight they fell in with a newly-plaited cocoa-nut-leaf basket turned upside down it was a bad omen, and sent them back. If, however, the basket was an old one, and not lying _across_ the road, but to the one side, and "fore and aft,"

it was a good sign, and encouraged them to proceed.

11. LA'ALA'A--_Step over._

1. A village war G.o.d in Savaii. Supposed to go before the troops, but invisible. When the people turned out, according to hospitality usage, to take food to a travelling party, they would arrange to lay down ten pigs. If the visitors, in recounting and shouting out in public, as they do, what they had got, said that there were _eleven_ pigs, it was supposed that the G.o.d had added _one_. Then they would compare notes, and say: "Oh yes, it must have been that old woman we saw with a dry shrunk leaf girdle." There were other instances of the "devil's dozen"

in Samoa.

Once, when the people were driven by a war fleet from Upolu, the G.o.d became incarnate in a _yellow_ man, went and lay down in a house, and there they killed him to please the Upolu people and stop the war, which the latter agreed to do in return for killing the G.o.d. Out of respect to the G.o.d the people of that village never used the word la'ala'a for _stepping over_, but sought a new word in soposopo, which is still a current synonym for la'ala'a.

2. La'ala'a was also the name of a G.o.d who took care of the plantations. He guarded them by the help of the G.o.d _thunder_. They never spoke of _lightning_ as doing harm, it is always the thunder.

"Thunder" once struck the house of Fala and Paongo. The family rose up, caught him, tied him up with panda.n.u.s leaves, and frightened him by poking him with firebrands. He cried out in distress:

"Oh! Fala, I'm burning, Oh! Paongo, I wish to live!"

They decided to spare him, and make him a G.o.d to keep the rats away from their food. They made a hieroglyphic scare for him, also, of a basket filled with panda.n.u.s leaves and charred firebrands, and hung it up among the trees, that he might know what to expect if he destroyed a house again. This basket was also a scare for a thief, and an imprecation that _thunder_ might destroy his plantation.

3. La'ala'a was also the name of a G.o.d in Upolu, who was the champion of _wrestlers_. The place was supposed to be filled with G.o.ds who came to wrestle.

4. The same name was given to a G.o.d who predicted in war, sickness, and family events. In sickness the people of the village confessed crimes, and prayed that they might be _stepped over_ or forgiven. He was supposed to dwell in the mountain, and any part of it sufficed as a confessional.

There was a priest also who, when he prayed to la'ala'a, became possessed, told the cause of disease, and forbade the evil conduct of the suffering culprit.

12. LAA MAOMAO--_The great step._

This is one of the names of the rainbow, which was a representative of a war G.o.d of several villages. If, when going to battle, a rainbow sprang up right before them and _across_ the path, or across the course of the canoes at sea, the troops and the fleet would return.

The same if the rainbow arch, or _long step_, of the G.o.d was seen behind them. If, however, it was sideways they went on with spirit, thinking the G.o.d was marching along with them and encouraging them to advance.

13. MAO MA ULI--_Mistake and Black._

Two teeth of the sperm whale, and said to have come from Fiji, were so named, and represented the war G.o.ds of a large village. They were kept in a cave, and when the people went to fight a priest remained behind to pray for success and watch and report the position of the teeth. If they lay east and west it was a good omen, but if they turned over and lay north and south it was a sign of defeat.

14. MATUU--_Heron_, or "_Andrea sacra._"

The heron was the incarnation of a war G.o.d on the island of Manono. If it flew _before_ the troops that was a good sign, but the reverse if it flew across the path.

A story is told of Heron and his brother Destruction. They cooked some food one day, but it was not half done. The enraged family set upon the two. Destruction had his neck broken by a stick thrown at him; but Heron escaped by having his neck pulled long, as it is to this day.

15. MOSO.

1. This was the name of one of the great _land_ G.o.ds, in opposition to Tangaloa, the G.o.d of the heavens. The root of the word is the name of a tree--"_Cananga odorata_"--the yellow flowers of which are highly fragrant. A stone was his representative in one village, on which pa.s.sing travellers laid down a scented wreath or necklace as an offering to Moso.

2. In another place Moso's representative was a large wooden bowl, decorated with white sh.e.l.ls, and called Lipi, or sudden death, as described under Le Fe'e, No. 8. The priest received offerings from the injured, and, in lieu of them, prayed to Moso with loud crying and forced tears to curse with sudden death the unknown thief or other injurer. "Oh Moso! make haste, show your power, send down to the lower regions, sweep away like a flood, may they never see the light of another day." These were the usual imprecations shrieked out over the bowl.

3. One of the kings of the district of Atua was supposed to be a man and move about among mortals in the daytime; but at night he was Moso, and away among the G.o.ds.

4. Moso was also a household G.o.d in some families. In one he was incarnate as a man. He helped himself to food of any kind from the plantations of his neighbours, and, if chased, suddenly disappeared; and hence they considered he was a G.o.d, and prayed to him and laid down offerings.

5. In another family Moso was said to appear, but only one old man could discern him when he came. A visit was known by the old man shouting out, "Your excellency! Your excellency has come!" and some such chief's language. Then would follow a conversation between the old man and the G.o.d, all through the lips of the old impostor himself; and then the family would hear of some new house, or canoe, or food, or marriage, or something else that was wanted.

6. Moso also appeared in one family in the form of a pet pigeon called the Tu (_Phlegoenas Stairi_). When food was brought in, no water was to be spilled on the doorstep. It would make the protecting G.o.d Tu angry, and cause him to go off.

In another family he was incarnate in the domestic fowl, and if any of them ate a piece of fowl the consequence was delirium and death.

In another family Moso was incarnate in the cuttle-fish, and none of them dared to eat one.