Samoan weapons
 

Hello!
I find the names of samoan weapons. Please, tell me, this correctly or not?
1. Povai - long and thin club.
2. Fa'aaufala - mace, covered with numerous spines.
3. Uatogi - club, made in the form of coconut stem or veins.
4. Talavalu - club witch 8 spikes, 4 on both sides.
5. Fa'alaufa'i - tooth club, made in the form of banana leaf.
6. Amu'amu - club, made in the form of paddle.
7. Fa'alautaliga - club, made in the form of two ears are connected together.
8. Nifo Oti - tooth club, which has on one side a parallel fang.
9. Samoan fire knife - metal version of Nifo Oti.
10. Tao - samoan spear.
11. Faitasi - club of samoanese chief.
12. Samoan war axe - club, made in the form of axe.
13. Katoya (???)
14. Anave - club, made in the form of speare.
15. Ulu manu - club, made in the form of head of the animal (bird).
16. Lapalapa - club, made in the form of elongated triangle.
17. Tafesilafa'i - club of Nafanuna, samoan god of war.
18. Olomoe - samoan throwing club.
19. Aufana - samoan bow.
20. Ma'ata - samoan sling.
21. Unnamed club with root-head.

Any corrections and additions are welcome!

And, please, tell me, these names are pronounced as normal words or there are any features?

It's all right? Tell me, please.

Classification can be a real problem. Often the classification has been made long after the clubs were made for war, usually hindered by the fact that compilers are not of the same cultural origin . Also the same club forms would have been used on many Islands other than the Samoan Islands. This page from "Samoan Arts & Artists, Hawaii university press " is helpful but it is only a scratch on the surface. Other members may have more information. I will look in other books.

Thank you. I'm waiting for the opinion of others.

And I know about samoan glove witch shark teeth. And they had some kind of armor. Images from book by Wood, J. G.

And another question: all of the above weapons also applies to American Samoa, or not?
And someone has information about their armor?

Nobody can help? :(

This is a good resource for your needs. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/schol...i-BucSamo.html

Thanks, I know about this site. But I have a question without an answer:
All this weapons use only in Samoa or in American Samoa (Eastern Samoa) too?

That woven suit of coconut fiber looks like it comes out of Kiribati (Gilbert Islands). Was there something similar in Samoa or not?

F

Wood, J. G wrote that it was used in Samoa.

Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are usually thought of as a group Western Polynesia. Like macro Polynesia for easy of discussion. Sharks teeth, sting ray barbs and other animal parts would have been used for weapons and utensils. Your question about Samoan club forms is probably best answered by looking at the figure sculpture from "Western Polynesia" It is rare, but documented pieces all appear to be carved in a cultural school or pool of style. Clearly there are Island specific forms of club, finding good written and picture documentation is a problem. The early and modern reproductions of Samoan clubs are, I think, extractions from the earlier models.

Thanks. But where I can find images of this sculpture? And what about American Samoa?

Well you have added research. All I can add is what many other will agree with that is; there is generally no instant knowledge. This comes with years of books, museums and handling. Weapons from American Samoa cannot be different from German Samoa and the many Western Polynesian Islands as mentioned before. Although there are extremely desirable rare Polynesian clubs, the common forms one can find, in my opinion are not as interesting as Melanesian clubs.

Thanks. In pre-colonial period this islands had a one culture, yes?

And one more question: how to pronounce the names of these weapons?
As ordinary american words or they have specifics?

Hi KraVseR

I have read your thread and can offer the following input :-

a) In my opinion, the best reference for identification of Oceanic weapons, and other artefacts, is the following :-
"Ethnographical Album of the Pacific Islands" by James Edge-Partington,
reprint 1996.
Its a big, heavy book, but you can find most items there.

b) In my copy of the Rev. Wood book, the cocoa-nut fibre suit is captioned as being from Kingsmill Islands (now Kiribati).

c) I had always thought of those shark tooth weapons as being from Micronesia and Hawaii, but Samoa is relatively close to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, so perhaps there was some crossover, or it could be a simple mistake in the book ?

Regards.

IN MY OPINION THE NIFO OTI IS THE CLUB THAT BEST REPRESENTS SAMOA AS ITS FORM IS NOT FOUND ON OTHER ISLANDS AS FAR AS I KNOW. THE METAL KNIVES EVOLVED FROM THIS AND THE DANCES WITH TWO OF THESE KNIVES LATER EVOLVED INTO THOSE USED IN THE FIRE DANCES POPULAR IN POLYNESIAN SHOWS TODAY. THE USE OF THESE TEETH THAT HAVE 4 SIDES IS MOST NOTED AS A SAMOAN FEATURE FOUND ON SEVERAL DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLUBS. I WILL GET BACK TO THIS SAMOA POST WHEN TIME ALLOWS AS I AM STILL WORKING ON FIJI AND WILL HAVE TO REGROUP FOR SAMOA. GOOD POST AND INFORMATION :D
I HAVE ADDED SOME PICTURES OF THE CLASSIC FORM OF WOODEN NIFO OTI CIRCA 1920 TO 1930'S. THERE IS A PICTURE OF TWO SAMOANS WITH THE WOOD VERSION OF THE STEEL BLADED LATER FORM AND AN EXAMPLE OF THE STEEL BLADED FORM FIRST USED FOR THE SAMOAN KNIFE DANCE AND A PICTURE OF THE MORE SHOWY FIRE DANCE. ACTUALLY THE OLD KNIFE DANCE WAS MORE DANGEROUS UNLESS YOU ACCIDENTALLY CAUGHT YOUR COSTUME OR THE CLUB ON FIRE. :D A CLOSE UP OF THE 4 SIDED TEETH I AM NOT SURE WHEN THIS FORM STARTED OR IF IT WAS PRECEDED BY A MORE ROUNDED FORM OF TEETH ON OLDER CLUBS.

Thank you! I wait for your next posts :D .

There's an old, old thread about the general construction difference between Micronesian and Polynesian sharks'-tooth weapons. Basically, in Polynesia (primarily Hawaii) so far as we were able to determine, a slot was cut for the base of the tooth along with one or more holes in the tooth and slot, and one tooth was tied into each slot (as seen in this thread). In modern replicas, the teeth are often glued on, then a cord is strung down to a hole drilled elsewhere in the club. This is not the way the original weapons were built.

In Micronesia (e.g. Kiribati and Truk), they braced the teeth between two thin splints, presumably of pandanus or coconut wood, and then tied the splinted teeth to whatever the body of the weapon, using cords that went entirely around the weapons and passed from tooth across to tooth (you can see that construction in this article). The neatest trick here was drilling the hole in the shark tooth, since that's harder than it looks, at least in my experience.

Although I'm sure construction techniques are all jumbled together now that island artists are learning from books and selling to tourists, I'm fairly confident that in pre-WW2 pieces, the construction techniques are separate and distinct. That should help you figure out which piece came from where.

Best,

F

Thank you!
But I know the only glove of weapons with shark teeth in Samoa. I did not find war club with such teeth of Samoa.

Hi

Looking into this subject a bit more - seems shark-tooth weapons/implements were also used in Tahiti and New Zealand....