Teuila Festival 2008

Last week was the Teuila (pronounced Tu-eela) festival for 2008. It doesn't seem to take much for the Samoans to put on a festival which is great. Lots of entertainment and excitement. Anyway the Teuila is the flower that grows on top of the ginger plant (picture on Flickr) and seems to come in 2 shades, a fuchia pink and a pale pink. This is the national flower of Samoa.

During the week long festivities there was fautasi boat racing, craft stalls, umu demonstrations and performances during the evening by many different culture groups and bands etc. It wasn't until last Friday, the last day of the festival, that I managed to have a day off work and get into town to soak up some of the atmosphere.

I couldn't resist texting Mum to say that I was sitting in the sun with the warm breeze on my back waiting for the Miss Samoa float parade to go past!! While waiting many people stopped to say hello, or Morning, to me including a policeman and I got various waves from people driving past. I think it was the palagi legs shining bright in the sunlight that got their attention.

Anyway in true Samoan Style an hour after the parade was meant to have been and I still hadn't seen it go past so I decided to move on and check out some other things. I came across the St Josephs School students getting ready for their performance. They were pretty impressive dressed in their palm frond skirts and carrying wooden spears. There were lots of them and they were singing and chanting so managed to get some pictures and a couple of movies of them.

I also checked out the stalls that were set up behind the information fale. Some nice craft works on display there for reasonable prices.

In the evening Adam, I and our friend Nicola went to the Miss Samoa pageant. After grabbing a nice dinner at the yacht club (that's the club with no yachts!!) we went to the EFKS youth hall in Mulinuu and joined a few hundred other people for the show. I had been warned that the show could go on for a few hours so we were prepared! Anyway it was lots of fun. There were 9 contestants including Miss Samoa NZ and in between the contestants coming on stage we had Siva Afi fire knife dancing, singers and dancers. The show went for 4 1/4 hours!!! Actually I didn't once get bored but felt a bit sorry for the young children there who were asleep in their parents arms or crying as they would like to be asleep somewhere!

The contestants all introduced themselves then appeared in traditionally inspired attire, sarong attire and puletasi (skirt and top). There were prizes for the designers of these costumes. They also had to do the talent category and had most of us in stitches with their performances which were well thought out and performed. Miss Rugby Union came out complete in her rugby outfit and performed a skit with a whistle in her mouth and goal posts as her props. As seems to be the thing here in Samoa the interviews were OK but nearing disaster! The girls all seemed to struggle to say anything sensible but got there in the end. Our friend Miss Rugby Union managed to admit to being a bit over rugby as it is everywhere in Samoa!!

Anway the winner at the end of the night was Miss Samoa USA - Miss Gwendolyn Tuaitanu. She was lovely and definately completed the interview section the best plus had a great singing voice for the talent category. I am sure she is going to be a great ambassador for Samoa and undertake her duties with enthusiasm and expertise. It is a pity to see the 2007-2008 Miss Samoa - Miss Sherry Elekana - end her reign as she is definitely lovely and we have seen her out and about during the time we have been here so the winner is obviously kept very busy during her 1 year reign.

Anyway I was amazed to see Adam was still awake at the end of the pageant. We hear that next week is the Miss Tuity Fruity where the Faafafines compete for the title of Miss Drag Queen. That should be a right laugh especially as we know some of the people involved from netball!!

Well must sign off for now. Speak to you again soon probably after Latika and Hedley's visit. They arrive this Friday - yay.

Angela