Bringing back the u'a tree to our home in Samoa...

 

One of the neat things upon our return to Samoa was seeing the broadleaf paper mulberry tree for making siapo or tapa cloth now growing in our front garden. We had planted it last July when we were last here having found it in an outer village (July 2023 blogpost).

There were three plants that we planted and we took a couple to the neighbours to plant for safe keeping. However, when we returned our neighbour's plant did not survive in having been mowed along with the other vegetation that her family member unwittingly removed.

Ours, on the other hand, is an amazing feat as I had never seen it before and to now have it growing in our garden is a blessing. This is quite special as I've been working on a couple of books to launch fairly soon having had a break in 2023 from self-publishing and instead concentrating on my doctoral studies.

One of the books is based on an ancient story that tells of the origins of the siapo with the u'a or the paper mulberry tree. It's an interesting story because it talks of the relationship between the u'a and another creeper vine or plant called the silato or Samoan nettle.

The u'a plant is almost not grown in many of the villages as fewer people make siapo in Samoa and therefore do not plant them. When I went looking for a plant, I had to go to a family who were selling them locally to ask if they knew of anyone who had plants and was directed to a family who lived inland (or uta) to find such a plant. The family were very accommodating and let me take photos and some baby plants to take root. I also took the details of the kind lady to add to the credits of the book.

Wow! this is so amazing for me to be able to bring the u'a tree back to our family home in the village of Fasito'o-uta and to now look for more plants to grow that are associated with the original authentic painting of the Samoan siapo...