Measina Workshop 2: Tuiga

Today, our Samoan bilingual Aoga (early childhood centre) is hosting our second Measina (treasures) a Samoa workshop on making a Tuiga which is a decorated head-dress that is used in special cultural occasions.

We thank the Ministry of Education's Pacific Innovation funding for sponsoring this event as it helps to preserve our measina our treasures for next generations to view and to learn about the importance of such cultural artifacts.

Last month, in doing some research on costings for purchasing a tuiga, I found that tuiga can range anything from $350 - $900 depending on how intricate and what materials are used or wanted for the construction of the tuiga.

It has especially been used at every annual Polynesian Festival on the Samoan stage whereby the final dance or the taualuga features the symbol of a taupou or manaia (male noble) who dances elegantly with the full outfit and almost always sporting a tuiga.

It's interesting that over time of the 4 - 5 parts of the construction of a tuiga have changed into tuiga now consisting mainly of one full head-dress in which each of the 4 components have been attached into the one that include the following:

1. The palefuiono (decorated headband)
2. Hair (formerly bleached hair from ancestors)
3. Feathered tufts
4. Front piece consisting of irridescent shell/s and 3+ decorated long prongs

Looking forward to this workshop in sharing this specialist knowledge with our communities and especially in learning abou the understanding behind the making of this beautiful headpiece for generations to come...