Whispers and Vanities in Samoan Indigenous Religious Culture

The culture of taumusumusu is hinted at when there are competing value systems and
where knowledge is incomplete or withheld and so vulnerable to unfair manipulation.
The conversations of custodians and their nainai in the contemporary Samoan scene
can easily turn from a tala tuumumusu session to a session infused with tala
taumusumusu. The consequence of which is the loss or undermining of what is
beautiful, loving and redeeming of the tala tuumumusu. Nowhere is this more
obvious than when talking about sex and our sexual parts. The following excerpt was
recorded by Kramer who considered the words of the song so offensive that he
couldn’t bring himself to provide a German translation of the Samoan original, instead
recording a Latin translation. 36 Kramer suggests that the song was sung as part of a
kava ceremony. The original Samoan and Latin recorded by Kramer are provided
below:
E le fuia, le fuia, e tagisia
lou vaelau,
E iloga le fafine fiatau.
‘O sa’esa’e le vae taumatau.
Sapini i lalo o le ‘apai.
E melomelo fa’aulatai.
Sega e, sega lava ane!
Sturnus, sturnus, desiderio flagrat
In tua crura varicata.
Noscit femina certare vult.
Tollit crus dextrum,
Intrudit membrum virile.
Rubrum sicut cancer marinus.
Sega sega haeret!
I have taken the liberty of providing an English translation of the original Samoan
words of this song to be read against the English translation offered by Richard Moyle
in his 1975 article “Sexuality in Samoan Art Forms” 37 . Moyle’s work in this article
shows wonderful scholarship. In examining his translation of this song, his use of
question marks in two places suggest that either he was not clear on what the Samoan
words meant and so what the English equivalent would be and/or he was
uncomfortable translating them. His translation reads:
Starling, starling, you cry because of your ? (sic)
It is apparent the woman wants to fuck.
She raises her right leg.
Whips it under the ? (sic)
It is red like the lobster.
Old woman, old woman, there you are! 38
In contemplating whether or not to put my English translation into print I agonised
over how it would be perceived. For a few days I procrastinated on making a final
36
It is not clear from Kramer’s text (1995, vII, p.48) whether he translated the song into Latin or
was merely recording the Latin as translated by someone else.
37
Moyle (1975).
38
Ibid (p. 235).
18