Family & Funeral service faaSamoaNZ way...

This past couple of days I've been at an Aunt's funeral. She was one of the pioneers of her family, as were my parents, in leaving beautiful indigenous Samoan homelands to come to the promises of Aotearoa, New Zealand for Western styled homes, money to send back home and future prospects for their children.

It was such a blessing to listen to the different stories in that she came from a family of 18 siblings (some adopted from close families) and have loved in harmony. Her brother was the paramount chief of one of my father's villages and he too has passed on leaving a legacy for our families.

Her grandparents were ministers and there are connections that I am able to make to them as my mother remembers them ministering in her village when she was very young. They ministered there for over 50 years and the minister was buried in her village as well.

I remember being asked to be a bridesmaid at both my late and uncle and aunty's children's weddings and it was an honour to represent our family at these important family events in solidifying connections. I also met one of my former student's husband (I was also a bridesmaid at her wedding but that's another story) and it was neat to learn that she too has become an English teacher. I must have done something right :)

As for my aunt's day, it was beautiful, although a very sad day for the family, I know she would have been very happy with the outcome of the time. The families, church and friends were able to support her family financially so that when all the bills were paid and there was some left over to be redistributed for the needs.

It was also interesting to see the faaSamoa in action at the reception with fine mats and boxes of chicken and boxes of corned beef distributed to the church and families represented. Many NZ born Samoan stop the faaSamoa in not understanding much of the symbolism, language and money distribution that goes on and in many ways is it quite sad in the ways that our faaSamoa is not understood by this generation.

But for me watching our families working through together it reminded me of why it is important to teach our children about the things that are important in our cultures in order to pass the information to know for the next generations through communicating them.

So now I'm going to enrol in more classes at MIT Manukau Institute of Technology in the faaSamoa matai bilingual classes to continue to grow my understandings of the faaSamoa, my engagements and obligations as a matai in the family and to see how to pass on this imformation for our families...