Throughout the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga, visitors will experience a relaxed and easy-going welcome. While a 21st-century modernity is often evident, just scratching the surface will reveal traditional values and customs, and family and island alliances from earlier times.
Beneath the Cook Islands’ Westernised veneer (especially on Rarotonga), many aspects of traditional islander culture survive and inform everyday life and society. This culture is evident in the way land is inherited, managed and leased (but never sold), and lives on in dance, music and celebration.
However, it’s important to remember that the Cook Islands has only been a unified country for a relatively short while. Previously, each island celebrated distinct customs, traditions and tribal structures. Many proud Cook Islanders still refer to their own ‘home island’ and can explain exactly how its people are different from those from other islands.
In the few short decades since independence, the Cook Islands has harnessed a remarkably strong sense of national pride. Politics, sport, dance and music are cohesive passions, and Cook Islanders share a collective belief in community, family and the preservation of traditional values.
Beyond the friendly and laid-back nature Samoans present to visitors, the strict conventions of fa’a Samoa (the Samoan way) are rigorously upheld throughout society.
At the heart of fa’a Samoa are ‘aiga (extended family groupings), which give life, culture, education, dignity and a purpose to individuals from the cradle to the grave and beyond. Each ‘aiga is headed by a senior matai (family group leader), who is supported by a junior matai and who represents the family on the fono (village council). The fono punishes such crimes as theft, violence and insubordination with fines, reparation or ostracism. Punishments by the local fono are taken into account if the case also comes before the palagi (Western-style) court system.
In theory, all wealth and property is owned communally by caring, sharing ‘aiga, and decisions about these matters are always made by the matai. You serve and give your wages to your matai, and in return your matai helps you if you become sick or need money for school fees or a trip to New Zealand. ‘Aiga members share their wealth and provide welfare services to needy family members. Children belong to the ‘aiga, not the biological parents, and are often adopted or borrowed by relatives.
Like most South Pacific islanders, Tongans have a deep sense of generosity, hospitality, reciprocity and community. However, tourists are less customary here than in Rarotonga and Samoa, and they may initially be greeted with some reserve. This reserve is also related to traditions surrounding respect and hierarchy.
Effectively, Tonga has three social tiers: royalty, nobility and commoners. Commoners are required to address royalty in a special language and can only approach the monarch while crawling on their hands and knees (though you won't see this in practice if the king is parading along the streets). This deference is further evident in public life: direct eye contact is disrespectful and people generally stoop or duck when passing a person of higher status. Saving face is all-important, and Tongans do not like to disappoint or say no to anyone. Don’t be surprised if you fail to receive straight answers, or are presented with directions and itineraries that go awry.
If you’re keen for a break from schedules, meetings and generally having to be on time, all the time, a few weeks in the Cook Islands, Samoa or Tonga could be just what the doctor ordered. Patience is definitely a virtue in these laid-back South Pacific lands, where time is often a somewhat flexible concept.
Perhaps it’s the tropical climate, the relaxed lifestyle or the fact that you can circumnavigate some of the islands in less than an hour, but local attitudes to time can be quite different from those in the West. If you’re genuinely in a hurry (ie catching a plane), it can be extremely frustrating, but you’ll get there faster if you learn to take it in your stride. So sit back, order another smoothie and make sure you book your taxi half an hour earlier than you think you’ll need it. Come to think of it, better make that an hour…
Sunday in the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga is virtually mandated as a time for reflection and relaxation. Take the time to slow down, attend a church service – bring along your best singing voice – and learn about the importance of Christianity across the Pacific.
Few people today remember much about the pre-European religions of Polynesia, with its sophisticated system of 12 heavens and 70-plus gods.
However, despite the Cook Islands today being overwhelmingly and enthusiastically Christian, echoes of the ancient religion are still evoked in many traditional ceremonies. The investiture of a new ariki (high chief) involves chants to Tangaroa and other pagan deities.
The major local denomination is the Cook Islands Christian Church (CICC). Founded by the first London Missionary Society (LMS) missionaries in the early 1820s, its blend of Church of England, Congregational, Baptist and Methodist teachings attracts about 70% of the Cook Islands’ faithful. The remaining 30% of Cook Islands churchgoers are split between Roman Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals and followers of the Church of the Latter-day Saints.
Visitors are welcome to attend a Sunday service, and it’s a fantastic way to immerse yourself in Cook Islands culture. The service is usually in the local tongue, although if there are any papa’a (foreigners) present there will be a token welcome in English and parts of the service may be in English as well.
Like many other South Pacific islanders, Cook Islanders practised cannibalism, but there’s debate about exactly how widespread it was, and according to oral history the practice was only commonplace under certain chiefs. Cannibalism was usually enacted as a mark of victory in war or as a fearsome punishment. The practice ceased in the Southern Group of the Cooks with the advent of Christianity, although it had apparently already been outlawed by Mangaian chiefs by the time the missionaries arrived.
The favoured method, according to the missionary William Wyatt Gill, was to skewer the unfortunate victim on a long spear, and then barbecue them over an open fire to remove the hair. The body was then steamed in an underground oven and distributed among the warriors of the tribe (women and children were never allowed to join in). The intestines and thighs were the choicest cuts, but diners weren’t overly fussy, and the only body parts remaining at the end of the feast were the bones and nails.
Samoan churches don’t just physically dominate the villages; they’re a vital part of the social glue that holds everything together. Everyone dresses up in their Sunday best and goes to church at least once on the week’s holiest day. The village pese (choirs) practise two or three times a week (with fines for being late or absent), church youth groups organise dance competitions and sports events, and women’s groups raise money by running bingo nights and aerobics classes in the church hall. Sunday school for the children is taken seriously, with a panel of teachers and annual exams. Families compete with each other to donate the most money to the church, and the amount given by each family is called out and written down during the service. Families often give more than they can afford (up to 30% of their income) to maintain their social standing. Some give and expect to receive back good health and other blessings in answer to their prayers.
Tongans are extremely religious, and 99% of the country’s population identifies with a wide range of Christian faiths. Minority religions represented include Baha’i, Islam and Hinduism. Missionaries in Tonga are prevalent and mostly well respected, and local church delegates are frequently on missions around the Pacific. Churches rely on donations and fundraising both in Tonga and overseas, and this often places a hefty financial burden on Tongan families. Many families end up taking out loans or selling heirlooms in the markets around the time of annual church donations.
Many premissionary superstitions linger, such as fear of tevolo (devils), and graveyard protocol retains the trace of ancient rituals. One belief is that if a family member is suffering from a terminal or chronic illness, it is because the bones of ancestors have been disturbed. Many Tongans will return to family burial sites, dig up remains and rebury old relatives to remedy their own ill health. Faito’o (traditional Tongan medicine) is also widely practised in every village, and is often a preferred alternative to Western healthcare.
While relocation to Auckland, Sydney or Los Angeles can slowly weaken intergenerational ties, family remains profoundly important in these island cultures and children are highly prized. Child-rearing is a communal responsibility – you might be wondering where your toddler has got to when he or she turns up carried on the hip of a motherly eight-year-old. Kids are quickly absorbed into games with local children and fun has no language barrier.
Every Cook Islander is part of a family clan that is connected in some way to the ancient system of chiefs – a system that has survived for centuries in an unbroken line. Most people can relate their genealogy over several generations – often in truly bewildering detail – and it’s more than just a matter of family pride. The traditional systems of land tenure and title inheritance rely entirely on family genealogy. As Cook Islands families are often huge, with astonishingly complicated connections, crossovers and intermarriages, it pays to know exactly how you fit into the family tree. Extended families are an everyday feature of most Cook Islanders’ lives, and you’ll often find children living with their grandparents or aunts and uncles. Long-term adoption between families is fairly commonplace.
Family life is at the heart of fa’a Samoa. Parents and other relatives treat babies very affectionately, but when they reach three years old they are pushed away and made the responsibility of an older sibling or cousin. Fa’aaloalo (respect for elders) is the most crucial aspect of fa’a Samoa, and children are expected to obey not just their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts but also the matai and other adults in their village. Any disobedience or answering back is sternly punished. Children are regularly reminded of the Samoan proverb, ‘the path to power is through tautua (service)’. To many Samoan children, however, this service can seem like never-ending servitude to family, village and church. Most parents are strict and force their children to attend church, run errands and do household chores, and often school and homework are not the number-one priority.
Want to get chatting with the locals? A good conversation starter is often sports such as rugby or netball: ‘Can the Cooks/Samoa/Tonga knock over the Kiwis at the next Commonwealth Games?’ Given that many islanders travel around the world, they may want to talk about where you’re from and they’re almost guaranteed to have a relative who moved to Auckland, Sydney or Utah. Here are a few simple rules that will help ingratiate you with your hosts in traditional villages:
ARemove your shoes when entering a home.
ASit cross-legged on the floor, rather than with your feet pointing out.
AAvoid entering a house during prayers.
AAvoid walking between two people in conversation.
AAvoid extended direct eye contact at first meetings, which can be seen as an attempt to intimidate.
ATry to remain on a lower level than a chief to show respect.
Family is the central unit of Tongan life. An average family unit may comprise adopted children, cousins and other distant relatives, alongside the usual smattering of siblings and grandparents. Chores are distributed according to gender: men tend the umu (underground earth oven), grow and harvest food, collect and husk coconuts, and perform all manual labour. The women clean, wash clothes, prepare and cook food, and take on the lion’s share of child-minding responsibilities. The patriarch is generally the head of the family, and land passes down from a father to his eldest son. However, women possess high (even superior) status in other facets of family life. For example, a brother’s fahu (oldest sister) will be accorded the highest level of respect at all formal and informal occasions, from funerals to weddings and births.
Tongan society is devoid of materialism; possessions are communal and ‘borrowing’ is a way of life. Visitors staying with a Tongan family might find that some of their belongings are borrowed. Raising the issue with your hosts is best done with a sense of humour and the understanding that this is how society here operates.