11/08/2025
Malie mu’a koe fananga ‘ae tangata ko Toki’ukamea he efiafini.. Kava kuo heka kiai…😇
TŪAMASAGA, TAU FEKE AND WAR
In Samoa, Lord Tangaloa Eitumatupu’a brought the Octopus and people of Tūamasaga worshipped the octopus where they built a temple for him out of rocks. Some are still there inland next to Vaisigano.
This temple was called The Fe’e’s House of Rocks. The large tanoa was named the Lipi and was the symbol of this aitu. In times of war, it was decorated with white cowrie shells around the tanoa to show respect for this Sāuali’i.
Accordingly, this was the Taula ‘Aitu’s prayer:
🦑 Le Fe’e e, fa’afofoga mai ia
Oh octopus, hear me now
🦑 ‘O a’u o Pai o le’a tula’i atu nei.
I am Pai and will stand forward now
🦑 Se’i tau a’i le taua lenei.
To fight in this battle.
In the book Old Samoa by R.McMillian the author writes:
“O le Făfā, Sā-le-Fe'e, and Pūlotu are places which occupy a prominent position in Samoan mythology, and seem in some manner to be connected the one with the other.”
“O le Făfā as Hades is alike the entrance to Sā-le-Fe'e, the Samoan Tartarus, or dread place of punishment, and also to Pūlotu, the abode of the blest; the one entrance being called O le Lua-loto-o-Alii, or deep hole of chiefs, by which they passed to Pūlotu. The other, O le Lua-loto-o-tau-fanua, or deep hole of the common people, by which they passed to Le nu'u-o-nonoa, or the land of the bound, which is simply another term for the much-dreaded Sā-le-Fe'e.”
“The idea of the superiority of the chiefs over the common people was thus perpetuated, none but chiefs or higher ranks gaining entrance to the Samoan Elysium. Speaking of the condition of the dead, an old chief of Sāvai’i once told me that there were supposed to be two places to which they went, the one called O le nu'u-o-Aitu, or land of spirits.”
“The other, O le nu'u-o-nonoa, the land of the bound were their bo***ge being superintended by such vindictive spirits as Moso, Ita-nga-tā, and other deities who hold sway there, whilst the significant name itself is, I think, simply another name for Sā-le-Fe'e. It is interesting to notice how much this name O le Fe'e is mixed up with Samoan mythology, whether as the name of a renowned war god and deity.”
“Or as Sā-le-Fe'e, the much-dreaded regions below; as also with a mysterious building of the distant past known as O le fale-o-le-Fe'e, the house of the Fe'e, the ruins of which still remain as mute witnesses of a bygone worship of which the Samoans now have no knowledge or record whatever, save the name. All these facts point to it as a name of deep significance and meaning in the history of the past.”
“And this significance lies in connection with the history of the ancestors of the present race of Samoans or, as many think, with the records of an earlier, but long since extinct, race. A halo of mystery and romance seems thrown around the name which has been selected as the name of the war-god of A'ana, O le Fe'e. At some future time light may be thrown upon the subject, but at present all seems mysterious.”